Beast Over Hammersmith is taken from the Eddie's Archive box set comprised of three double CDs. Along with this 1982 live performance comes Best Of The B'Sides and the BBC Archives. This review is part one of the three albums.

This show took place at the Hammersmith Odeon (London, England) on March 20, 1982 (more than 20 years ago). At the time, I was 10 years old and I had never heard of Iron Maiden. The band had released only two albums and they were already at the top of the metal scene. They were about to release their third album The Number Of The Beast and embark on a 10 month world tour over four continents. What band today can say the same ?

This tour featured for the first time ever, Bruce Dickinson on vocals and for the last time, Clive Burr on drums. Bruce had replaced Paul Di anno and Clive was to be replaced by Nicko McBrain. This live performance is quite awesome due to its age, but also because it contains songs such as Murders In The Rue Morgue, Another Life or even Total Eclipse that the band don't play live anymore (note that Total Eclipse was not released on the original version of The Number Of The Beast but on the single for Run To The Hills). It's great to hear the band playing some of their early stuff with all the aggressiveness that characterizes a young band. The sound is not as good as their recent live recordings such as Rock In Rio, and Bruce's voice is not as good as on Live After Death for instance, but the feeling is great and intense.

If you listen carefully to what Bruce says before Children Of The Damned, then you will realize that this show took place a couple of days before the official release of The Number Of The Beast. If you consider that at this time there was no internet thus, no mp3, then the people who attended the show had not heard the album before. Can you imagine how amazing this would be to go to a show of a band such as Iron Maiden and discover brand new tracks such as The Prisoner, Hallowed Be Thy Name, Children Of The Damned or The Number Of The Beast for the first time ever during a concert ? This is quite funny if you think about it because now you find mp3s of tracks bands have not yet released (Megadeth's Capitol Punishment for instance). Note also that the single Run To The Hills was released only about a month prior to this show, but everyone knows this one and sings the chorus along with Bruce.

Fans of the band will undoubtedly get this box set just for Beast Over Hammersmith and BBC Archives since they probably already own all the Best Of The B'Sides from the band. Whether you're a die hard fan of the band or not, it's really worth the bucks you're gonna spend for this box set.

CD 1 : Murders In The Rue Morgue, Wrathchild, Run To The Hills, Children Of The Damned, The Number Of The Beast, Another Life, Killers, 22 Acacia Avenue, Total Eclipse
CD 2 : Transylvania, The Prisoner, Hallowed Be Thy Name, Phantom Of The Opera, Iron Maiden, Sanctuary, Drifter, Running Free, Prowler