featuredmetaliron maidensteve harris
15:26 Sunday, 2 October 2022
BMG recently announced the release of a commemorative triple black vinyl album in honor of the 40th anniversary of Iron Maiden‘s third album, ‘The Number Of The Beast.’
The new vinyl package will include their live album ‘Beast Over Hammersmith’ that was originally released in 2002. It will also feature a live concert from March 1982’s Hammersmith Odeon London show from the ‘Beast On The Road’ world tour.
The vinyl consisting of three discs features an alternative tracklist for ‘The Number Of The Beast’ album. Steve Harris recently shared that when they put out the record back in the day, they were between two songs, ‘Gangland’ and ‘Total Eclipse,’ to be included as a part of the album’s tracklist. He added that the album was finished in a rush, so they had to decide quickly.
However, looking back at it, he realized that they picked the wrong song, so now, with the 40th-anniversary black vinyl album, they put ‘Total Eclipse’ instead of ‘Gangland’ as the track to represent the album. Finally, Harris claimed that the album would have been stronger if they had prioritized ‘Total Eclipse.’
Steve Harris’ words about the ‘The Number Of The Beast’ alternative tracklist:
“On this vinyl release, we get the chance to put ‘Total Eclipse’ in its rightful spot on the album for the first time. The reason it didn’t make it in the first place was that it was all a mad rush when we were finishing the record. We had to get the ‘Run To The Hills’ single out before the tour, and we had to pick a B-side between ‘Gangland’ and ‘Total Eclipse,’ and we just picked the wrong one, really! ‘Total Eclipse’ is a stronger song; the album would have been stronger if it had been on there.”
You can listen to the original tracklist of ‘The Number Of The Beast’ below.
