''Edward the Great: The Greatest Hits'' is

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

's third " best-of album", originally released on 4 November 2002. Unlike the band's other works by the group collecting together songs from different albums, such as ''

Best of the Beast ''Best of the Beast'' was Iron Maiden's first "best of" album, released in 1996 in three formats: a 34 track (four disc) vinyl, a 27 track (two disc) CD, a 16 track (single disc) CD and MiniDisc. The vinyl edition is, to date, the band's longes ...

'', ''Edward the Great'' does not feature any material from the group's first two albums, which featured

Paul Di'Anno Paul Andrews (born 17 May 1958), better known by his stage name Paul Di'Anno, is a British/Brazilian heavy metal singer who was the lead vocalist for Iron Maiden from 1978 to 1981. In his post-Maiden career, Di'Anno has issued numerous albu ...

as vocalist, but does include material from

Blaze Bayley Blaze Bayley (born Bayley Alexander Cooke, 29 May 1963) is an English heavy metal singer. He was the lead singer of Wolfsbane from 1984 to 1994 (and currently since 2010, following reunions in 2007 and 2009). He was also the lead singer of Ir ...

's five-year tenure with the band.

Background

According to

Mick Wall Mick Wall (born 23 June 1958) is a British music journalist, author, and radio and TV presenter. He has been described as "the world's leading rock and metal writer". Career Wall began his career contributing to the music weekly ''Sounds'' in 197 ...

, the collection was controversial amongst fans as it was released not long after previous compilations such as ''

'' and ''

Ed Hunter ''Ed Hunter'' is a greatest hits album and video game released in 1999 by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden and Synthetic Dimensions. The game objective consists of following Iron Maiden's mascot, Eddie, through various levels depicting the ...

''. Bassist and founder member Steve Harris comments, "We did get a bit of flak for the ''Edward the Great'' album but it wasn't aimed at the hardcore fan, it was aimed at the peripheral people who've heard the name or seen the name on a T-shirt and wouldn't know which record to pick up." To satisfy "the real collector", the band released the ''

Eddie's Archive ''Eddie's Archive'' is a box set by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 16 November 2002. The box, an embossed metal casket featuring the face of mascot Eddie, contains three double CDs, the Iron Maiden family tree and a shot gl ...

'' box set simultaneously. In 2005, a revised edition was released in Europe, Asia and South-America with an updated track-listing. The new version coincided with the release of ''

The Essential Iron Maiden ''The Essential Iron Maiden'' is the fourth greatest hits compilation by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 12 July 2005. Released exclusively in North America, it is part of Sony Music Entertainment's ''The Essential'' seri ...

'' compilation, released solely in North America, and featured songs from the ''

Dance of Death The ''Danse Macabre'' (; ) (from the French language), also called the Dance of Death, is an artistic genre of allegory of the Late Middle Ages on the universality of death. The ''Danse Macabre'' consists of the dead, or a personification of ...

'' album as well as an alternate live version of "

Fear of the Dark Fear of the dark is a common fear or phobia among children and, to a varying degree, adults. A fear of the dark does not always concern darkness itself; it can also be a fear of possible or imagined dangers concealed by darkness. Some degree of ...

". The updated CD also added the song "Brave New World" from the album of the same name and the booklet included a new foreword by Iron Maiden manager

Rod Smallwood Roderick Charles Smallwood (born 17 February 1950) is an English music manager, best known as the co-manager of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. With his business partner, Andy Taylor, whom he met while studying at Trinity College, Ca ...

, replacing the original foreword by founding member Steve Harris. The album cover does not differentiate between the two editions.

Track listing

Original track listing (2002)

Revised track listing (2005)

Personnel

Production and performance credits are adapted from the album liner notes. ;Iron Maiden *

Bruce Dickinson Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English singer who has been the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 1981 to 1993 and 1999–present. He is known for his wide-ranging operatic vocal style and energetic stage ...

– lead vocals (except "Man on the Edge", "Futureal") * Steve Harris – bass guitar, producer ("Man on the Edge", "Futureal"), co-producer ("The Wicker Man", "Fear of the Dark", "Brave New World", "Wildest Dreams", "Rainmaker") * Dave Murray – guitar *

Janick Gers Janick Robert Gers (; born 27 January 1957) is an English musician who is best known as one of the three guitarists in heavy metal band Iron Maiden. He initially joined to replace Adrian Smith, but remained in the band after Smith rejoined. G ...

– guitar ("Holy Smoke", "Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter", "Man on the Edge", "Futureal", "The Wicker Man", "Fear of the Dark", "Brave New World", "Wildest Dreams", "Rainmaker") *

Adrian Smith Adrian Frederick "H" Smith (born 27 February 1957) is an English guitarist best known as a member of heavy metal band Iron Maiden, for whom he also writes songs and performs backing vocals both live and in the studio. Smith grew up in London ...

– guitar (except "Holy Smoke", "Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter", "Man on the Edge", "Futureal") *

Nicko McBrain Michael Henry "Nicko" McBrain (born 5 June 1952) is an English musician, best known as the drummer of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden since 1982. Having played in small pub bands since 1966 from the age of 14, McBrain paid his bills after grad ...

– drums (except "Run to the Hills", "The Number of the Beast") ;Additional musicians *

– lead vocals ("Man on the Edge", "Futureal") *

Clive Burr Clive Ronald Burr (8 March 1957 – 13 March 2013) was an English drummer. He was a member of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 1979 to 1982. Career Previously a member of Samson, Burr joined Iron Maiden in 1979. Auditioning and joining ...

– drums ("Run to the Hills", "The Number of the Beast") ;Production *

Martin Birch Martin Birch (27 December 19489 August 2020) was a British music producer and sound engineer. He became renowned for engineering and producing albums recorded predominantly by British rock bands, including Deep Purple, Rainbow, Fleetwood Mac, W ...

– producer (except "Man on the Edge", "Futureal", "The Wicker Man", "Fear of the Dark", "Brave New World", "Wildest Dreams", "Rainmaker") *Nigel Green – producer ("Man on the Edge", "Futureal") *

Kevin Shirley Kevin Shirley (born 29 June 1960), also known as The Caveman, is a South African music producer, engineer and mixer for many artists,Spencer et al, (2007Shirley, Kevinentry. Retrieved 4 February 2010. such as the bands Journey, Iron Maiden, ...

– producer ("The Wicker Man", "Fear of the Dark", "Brave New World", "Wildest Dreams", "Rainmaker") *Simon Heyworth –

remaster Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

ing (except "Man on the Edge", "Futureal", "The Wicker Man", "Fear of the Dark", "Brave New World", "Wildest Dreams", "Rainmaker"), mastering ("Man on the Edge") *Ronal Whelan – mastering ("Futureal") *George Marino – mastering ("The Wicker Man", "Brave New World", "Fear of the Dark" — 2002 edition) *Tim Young – mastering ("Wildest Dreams", "Rainmaker") *

Howie Weinberg Howie Weinberg is an American audio mastering engineer with over 2,257 mastering credits, three TEC Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, two Juno Awards, and one Mercury Prize. Career Weinberg mastered Herbie Hancock's 1983 album ''Future Shock''. Other m ...

– mastering ("Fear of the Dark" — 2005 edition) * Tom Adams – sleeve illustration *Peacock –

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

, design *Dimo Safari – photography *

Simon Fowler Simon Geoffrey Fowler (born 25 May 1965 in Meriden, Warwickshire) is an English singer and acoustic guitarist, best known as the frontman of Ocean Colour Scene. The Fanatics Simon Fowler commenced his music career as the lead singer and songwr ...

– photography *

Ross Halfin Ross William Halfin (born 11 August 1957) is a British rock and roll photographer. Since the late 1970s he has worked for some of the biggest acts in rock and heavy metal, including Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, The Who, Kiss, Metallica, ...

– photography *

– management * Andy Taylor – management *Merck Mercuriadis – management

Charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edward The Great 2002 greatest hits albums Iron Maiden compilation albums EMI Records compilation albums Heavy metal compilation albums