best of the b'sides - Eddie's Archive review pt 3

Best Of The B’Sides



Some spare time to write another of my be quick or be dead, full of nonsense thoughts on one more album that came with the year 2002/2003 Eddie’s Archive boxset. First in Malay then in English.

Album dua cd yang ada 31 lagu ni lagi satu album dalam boxset Eddie’s Archive.


Even as a sketch, The Trooper Eddie is very pretty.
( Click All Photos to enlarge )

Koleksi ni memang sesuai untuk peminat2 yang mungkin ambik jalan mudah untuk dapatkan majoriti lagu bsides Maiden dari 1980 hingga 2001. Senang pe tak yah buang masa buang duit carik dan kumpul singles individu, first ten years 10 cd, atau yang korang ingat pertengahan 90an dulu ada kejap tu keluar double cd untuk tiap2 album sampai Fear Of The Dark.

Untuk aku, buang ruang betul ler koleksi ni untuk Eddie’s Archive.


If I have another chance to ask Derek Riggs to draw another personalised Eddie for me besides the Trooper for his autographed book, it will be a toss up between the Stranger In A Strange Land Eddie or the 2 Minutes To Midnight Eddie.

Jadi cd ni kira tergolong ‘ cd pelengkap koleksi bukan cd nak dengar pun ‘.
Lagipun tak semua lagu ada. Contoh I Live My Way takde. Massacre pun takde. Padahal ni dua lagu best.
Lagi satu, lawak nasik tambah kat belakang beberapa lagu tu tak salah aku takde. Maksud aku nasik tambah macam kalo lepas Black Bart Blues kan ada Nicko McBrain buat merapek merhaban. Lagi satu lepas Space Station No 5 dah takde Bruce buat lawak sorang2.

Secara am nye, Best Of The Bsides ni istimewa pada aku pasal
- Gambar kulit depan cd dia. Aku rasa ni antara paling lawak dan nakal dalam banyak2 Eddie.
- Manager dorang Rod Smallwood kasi komen untuk kebanyakkan lagu dalam cd ni dan memang kalo sapa tak pernah dengar sebagian Bsides macam Sheriff of Huddersfield, korang try carik gi dengar. Lawak giler.
- Semua lagu memang best Cuma pada aku sepatutnye Maiden jadikan album ni tiga cd, bukan dua. Pastikan semua lagu Bsides dari 1980 hingga 2001 gitu ada kat dalam ni full version.
Marketing strategy kot, konfem masa akan datang ni semua akan dikeluarkan lagi dalam bentuk bungkusan lain. Mesti Maiden fans akan beli punye.




66666666666666666666.......


Officially I think this album only comes with the Eddie’s Archive. It was never marketed as a stand alone album.



To many fans, this is an easy way to get most of the Bsides floating around without making too much effort spending time and money searching for individual singles, the first ten years collection or those special double cd formats for each album released back somewhere in mid 1990s.
Speaking from the point of a fan who has the songs in other formats beforehand,
this is the least important double cd for the Eddie’s Archive because of two main sore points:



one of the naughtiest, cheekiest, rudest Eddie ever. Who is the unfortunate to write 'Maiden Rule' on his backside


Firstly, although it has a huge tracklist of thirty one ( 31 ) songs on two cds featuring b-sides to Maiden singles from 1980 till 2000 but its not complete. There are a few b-sides not around especially the song I Live My Way which up to now, can only be found on the Man On The Edge vinyl and the only way most fans can get on cd is to seek out the Japanese original 2cd pressing of the X-Factor album.

The other glaring omission is Massacre from the Can I Play With Madness single. Not forgetting the Mission From Harry track that was actually Nicko and Steve quarelling with Bruce purposely adding fuel to the fire and secretly taping the heated dispute.
I’d rather they have put out something else like another live album from another period or make this collection of Bsides a proper complete one by making it a triple cd set.




Secondly, some of the tracks itself are sort of edited. Sorry if I got this wrong as I think I just listen to these two cds only once, but Black Bart Blues ending is missing the secret recordings of Nicko fooling around in the studio and also Bruce stand up comedy act following the end of Space Station No 5 is sadly gone.
So it should have been a triple cd set right?
Anyway, the songs itself are perfectly fine, songs by Maiden themselves and cover versions of songs by other bands redone with Maiden’s touch.





The highlight of this album
- The packaging has a collection of different versions of Eddies we know so well in sketches. Check them out on each page and on both the cds.
- Rod Smallwood writes the introduction, and also give his comments on most songs. His comments for Sheriff Of Huddersfield is hilarious. “the lyrics are untrue and unjust. Pending major legal action”.
The cover features one of Eddie’s most cheeky, childish rudeness and naughtiest pose ever. But it fits the theme of the album perfectly in more than one way.


Lastly, as I said earlier, the songs itself are fine, but I just wish it was a triple cd so all the bsides from the early days to 2001 can be squeezed inside fully.