BRUCE DICKINSON
"The Best of Bruce Dickinson"
Metal-Is
5/5

Last we spoke Bruce outlined to me what his next solo output would be, that being a rare and unreleased double disc to be called "CATECOMBS." Somewhere along the line that idea was tossed in favor of this "Best of/Unreleased" double disc and I have to say, I think the choice was brilliant. Instead of having the fleeting joy of owning something rare and seldom heard for the length of two discs here we have alternative versions of Dickinson's solo favorites on disc one, (the emphasis is rightly on the two CMC records that feature Adrian Smith), and a large chunk of what I imagine would have been "CATECOMBS" material filling disc two. The effect is to have every track an absolute winner with no filler or fluff. Twenty-six tracks with only "Bring your daughter to the Slaughter" crossing over, in name only, to Dickinson's IRON MAIDEN output. Here is a probable scenario, You are an IRON MAIDEN fan, particularly of the Bruce era, and you have always wondered if the mans solo stuff held up to the classic MAIDEN fare well now you can have a sampling from each of his solo recording periods and not be out the hundreds of dollars to collect them all only to find out that you really aren't into some of them. MAIDEN fans will most like the two CMC discs, "ACCIDENT OF BIRTH" and "THE CHEMICAL WEDDING," Dickinson knows this so here you will find versions of "Accident of Birth," "Dark side of Aquarius," "Book of Thel" and "Chemical Wedding" some of the best of those two discs. You also may have heard how un-Metal "SKUNKWORKS" was so you never gave it a listen, there are a few from that here that could change your mind, most notably, "Back from the Edge." MAIDEN nuts will jump all over this version of "Wicker Man" which sounds nothing like the "Wicker Man" on MAIDEN's last disc but "I'm in a band with an Italian Drummer" will resuscitate memories of all those classically goofy "b-sides" that MAIDEN used to do as will "Ballad of Mutt." At the end of it all there is so much here to bang with that you can't afford not to pick up a copy even if you have all of the other Dickinson solo discs. If you have always wondered, wonder no more, here is your bargain priced gateway to one of Metal's classic voices "other" work.