New Maiden Album Artwork Cover Revealed !
Maidenfans.com proudly presents the cover artwork from the forthcoming greatest hits album 'The Essential Iron Maiden'.As expected, it doesn't feature an Eddie drawing, but a picture of the band, in line with the Sony/BMG Essential collection of greatest hits.
The release is expected between July 7, according to the Sony Store, and July 12 according to the latest Sony press release. Click here for full tracklist and details that Maidenfans exclusively reported last month.
Click on the thumbnail for a larger version of the artwork.
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Press release:
Legendary metal band IRON MAIDEN will release the career-spanning, two-CD compilation "The Essential Iron Maiden" through Sanctuary Records on July 12, 2005.
"The Essential Iron Maiden" features some of the greatest heavy metal music ever recorded. IRON MAIDEN have had huge worldwide impact these past 25 years thanks to all-time classic albums like "Iron Maiden", "Killers", "The Number Of The Beast", "Piece Of Mind", "Powerslave", "Live After Death", "Somewhere In Time", "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son", "No Prayer For The Dying", "Fear Of The Dark", "The X Factor", "Virtual XI", "Brave New World", "Dance Of Death" and other live albums. Every studio album and lineup of IRON MAIDEN is represented here. The package also includes sleeve notes from noted journalist Lonn Friend. A sneak preview of the upcoming double live DVD and CD "Death On The Road" is provided thanks to the inclusion of "Iron Maiden" from this CD/DVD.
The current, longtime lineup of vocalist Bruce Dickinson, guitarist Dave Murray, guitarist Adrian Smith, guitarist Janick Gers, bass guitarist Steve Harris and drummer Nicko McBrain recorded and filmed "Death On The Road" in Germany in 2003 on the "Dance Of Death" tour.
The songs on "The Essential Iron Maiden" are:
Disc One:
01. Paschendale
02. Rainmaker
03. The Wicker Man
04. Brave New World
05. Futureal
06. The Clansman
07. Sign Of The Cross
08. Man On The Edge
09. Be Quick Or Be Dead
10. Fear Of The Dark (Live)
11. Holy Smoke
12. Bring Your Daughter...To The Slaughter
13. The Clairvoyant
Disc Two:
01. The Evil That Men Do
02. Wasted Years
03. Heaven Can Wait
04. 2 Minutes To Midnight
05. Aces High
06. Flight Of Icarus
07. The Trooper
08. The Number Of The Beast
09. Run To The Hills
10. Wrathchild
11. Killers
12. Phantom Of The Opera
13. Running Free (Live)
14. Iron Maiden (Live)
IRON MAIDEN will be touring North America again this summer as co-headliners with BLACK SABBATH on Ozzfest 2005, the 10th anniversary of the enormously popular festival.
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It seems to me that I have seen this picture somewhere before... Can't remember where.
Anyone ?
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Any chance of putting the image on the ftp space so it appears on the news page? Cheers.
the pic on the album cover is from another greatest hits, ETG.
It's not a true Maiden cover if it doesn't have Eddie.
It appeared for the first time at one of the FC magazines from 1999.
Is it availbe in europe???
It also appeared in Edward The Great, another greatest hits album.
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Well, I'm quite surprised that there's no Eddie picture on the sleeve...
...no, I'm not surprised that there is only a band photo on it since this useless CD seems to be a U.S. release only and therefore a band picture may cause more sales there as an Eddie one which probably would people being not into Maiden yet stop from buying it(It's my guess that the release of this CD was made with the intention of getting new fans as it was intended with 'Edward the Great'...
I like the fact that it doesn't have Eddie on the front cover. That way it passes as an officially licensed product without consensus from the band. I don't know if it is such, but I like it more that way.
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So, 'The Soundhouse tapes', 'Live+one', 'Runnig Free live', 'From here to Etrenity', 'Wasting love', 'The Wicker man' (CD1&3) and Live at Donnington (original) aren't "true Maiden covers"...
Anyone ?
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It was taken during Ed Hunter Tour 1999.
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None of those but Live at Donnington are albums and Donnington was only meant to be a bootleg type release wasn't it? Cant say I'm impressed by the cover but I'm not impressed with the fact its even getting released so I'm not surprised
Is this another cd in the "The Essential" that features Ozzy and a lot of other known bands and artists?
And by the way did you think of that all the songs are in inverted cronological order... 
Yes, it's another Essential album in the Sony/BMG series.
It's not announced on their website (it will be just prior to Ozzfest, according to what I know): http://www.essentialmusicguide.com/
Pretty much all the covers feature a picture, which is why I had forecast that Eddie wouldn't appear (read my original post a month ago).
The good thing with having a picture is that it could open the sales to a wider audience that keeps thinking Maiden is for kids only and is a spinal-tap band. So, yes, I like the picture idea.
Thanks for those pointing out where I had seen this picture before, btw !
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it is a bit boring that there is not a eddy cover.........
They're re-releasing a lot of old stuff, arent they?
I dont like this....
Edward The Great wasnt a greatest hits album?
So, whats this one?
isn't eddie "essential" for Maiden ?! 
btw: looks like a crappy & cheap cover !!
I know it's very expensive to hire a good artist for a nice cover. So I don't blame whoever is responsible for this release, for that.
The cover isn't so bad....
Virtually all Sony Essential albums look like that
Bob Dylan:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B...7665759-1587065
Leonard Cohen:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B...7665759-1587065
Bruce Springsteen:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B...7665759-1587065
Once again, the purpose of this album is to sell at Ozzfest, to entice people just introduced to Maiden to the band. That's why it includes what I consider to be an amazing spread of songs, but it doesn't hit them all.
However, I reiterate that I wish they'd just sell a "Best of the Beast" expansion disc, covering material from 1998-2005. Possibly tuck in a track from the upcoming live CD (Paschendale live?) to get people to buy it.
It seems they were committed to including 2 songs from every record no matter how silly that is. How can this really be considered "the essential Maiden" without Hallowed? If it wasn't for the inclusion of Paschendale, FotD and Clansman, I'd have suspected that the tracklist was compiled by some non-Maiden-fan accountant who just looked at a list of singles the band has released.
As far as Maiden compilations go, I'd say the good one are:
Good: Single-disc Best of the Beast
Better: Ed Hunter
Best: Double-disc Best of the Beast
The others - EtG and this new one - aren't terrible, but they are bad enough that I think a new fan would be better served with a copy of Piece of Mind or Powerslave. That way, you at least get the full spectrum of Maiden (singles, epics, everything in between).
i know maiden kicks ass and its nice to have "best of" compilations, but...please someone tell me...why does it matter if maiden puts out YET ANOTHER greatest hits album?
Wow, the pic has been accessed 11000+ times !!!
Cheers
We really do need some kind of leech protection here dont we?