Released: 16th November 2002
Along with the other two double-CD recordings contained in the Eddie's Archive set, the BBC Archives are also essential to the Iron Maiden die-hard fan and collector. The first four tracks (from the Radio 1 Friday Rock Show back in 1979) are for the first time made officially available, and their quality is far superior to that of the bootlegs that could be found up until now. The line-up has Tony Parsons on guitar prior to the arrival of Dennis Stratton, as well as Doug Sampson on drums before he left to be replaced by ace-drummer Clive Burr. The four tracks are obviously played quite differently to the later versions of the songs and offer an interesting comparison with the current Iron Maiden sound some 40 years later.
The rest of the tracks are excellent live recordings of Maiden gigs back in 1980, 1982 and 1988, highlighting the raw power and energy the band had in those days. This double-CD, along with Beast Over Hammersmith, will certainly delight all those who like Iron Maiden's live recordings, not only for their historical value, but also for their quality – although some bootlegs previously available had a good sound, nothing compares to a proper official recording.
At last the B' Sides. Something you fans have been asking for for years but the timing never seemed appropriate. As you will probably know the first thing I heard from Maiden was the Soundhouse Tapes which impressed me enough to call Steve and arrange to see them at a gig, firstly the Windsor Castle around July 1979, a gig they never played due.to an altercation with the landlord who then banned them from playing in North London. Yes really!! Did not work of course. Then I went to see them at The Swan on Hammersmith roundabout in London. This time Paul was arrested just before they went on stage so, as an early indication of Steve's "no prisoner" attitude, they played without him. Many later classics were in the set like Phantom, Running Free, Wrathchild, Innocent Exile, Remember Tomorrow, but also Burning Ambition; the first track here. The quality of the B' Sides was always as important to us as it was important to the fans and Maiden have never taken the easy route. For many years, the B' Sides were original songs or studio covers of songs they really liked with the occasional live blast. These came out as 7" pieces of plastic with usually one or sometimes two B' Sides. But in the late 1980's singles started to be released on CD with two or three formats so it was good to give the fans value across the formats and not just use the same B' Sides across all of them. The CD made more tracks possible. At this point we started largely using interesting live stuff as it was just not feasible time wise to go in and cut five or six new B' Sides every time. Also, as songwriters, Maiden have always concentrated on songs for the album and worked on the best material to make the album. They don't write and record, say, 15 songs and choose 10, leaving the rest for B's. They would just concentrate on only those 1 O to make them the best they could be. After completing the album, they would choose what songs to use as B' Sides then record them properly - no shortcuts just because they were "only" B' Sides. However later on it became difficult to cut enough new songs as it would take too long and so live tracks often became preferable. The songs we have selected for this album cover all the original songs used and all the key studio covers - at least I hope it does, though such is the detailed knowledge of the fans we cannot always assume to be right!! We have also chosen the live songs, which are of particular interest. We have not, however, included absolutely every live B' Side as this would really be pointless; they are not all historically valid as they have since become available elsewhere and we have no wish to duplicate here. However, we feel these CD's cover appropriately the 8' Side history of Maiden and hope you enjoy them. They certainly brought back a load ot great memories• for us when we played them and I really do think personally that this collection of the B's says as much about the band's freshness, attitude and humour as anything I have seen and heard by them before.
Rod "Sheriff of Huddersfield" Smallwood, Manager 1979-????
CD 1
BBC Radio 1 Friday Rock Show, 14th November 1979
1. Iron Maiden (Harris)
2. Running Free (Harris, Di'Anno)
3. Transylvania (Harris)
4. Sanctuary (Harris, Di'Anno, Murray)
Reading Festival, 28th August 1982
5. Wrathchild (Harris)
6. Run To The Hills (Harris)
7. Children Of The Damned (Harris)
8. The Number Of The Beast (Harris)
9. 22, Acacia Avenue (Harris, Smith)
10. Transylvania (Harris)
11. The Prisoner (Smith, Harris)
12. Hallowed Be Thy Name (Harris)
13. Phantom Of The Opera (Harris)
14. Iron Maiden (Harris)
CD 2
Reading Festival, 23rd August 1980
1. Prowler (Harris)
2. Remember Tomorrow (Harris, Di'Anno)
3. Killers (Di'Anno, Harris)
4. Running Free (Harris, Di'Anno)
5. Transylvania (Harris)
6. Iron Maiden (Harris)
Donington Monsters Of Rock, 20th August 1988
7. Moonchild (Smith, Dickinson)
8. Wrathchild (Harris)
9. Infinite Dreams (Harris)
10. The Trooper (Harris)
11. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son (Harris)
12. The Number Of The Beast (Harris)
13. Hallowed Be Thy Name (Harris)
14. Iron Maiden (Harris)
Source: www.ironmaidencommentary.com
