Best of the Beast

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***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 longest record release, running for over three hours.

## Background

The track listings are mainly made up of the band's greatest hits (singles) and most well-known songs from their 1980–1995 albums, but they also include a new single, entitled "Virus", and an unreleased live version of "Afraid to Shoot Strangers". Both songs had promotional music videos, the latter of which was filmed during The X Factour and originally featured the band's previous lead vocalist, Bruce Dickinson.

The two-CD version contains two songs from the band's 1979 demo tape *The Soundhouse Tapes* ("Iron Maiden" and "Strange World," of which the latter was previously unreleased). The 4-disc vinyl pressing is quite rare and has increased in value steadily over the years in music stores and on online auction sites. The standard edition's value has not changed much although the Japanese pressings continue to rise in value. *Best of the Beast* has long since been out of print and has been "replaced" by *Edward the Great* in most countries as a 'best of' for the band.

The cover art was designed by Derek Riggs, known for having created most of Iron Maiden's early album covers. It is an amalgamation of his most famous works with the band, featuring Eddies from the *Piece of Mind*, *Powerslave*, *Somewhere in Time* and *No Prayer for the Dying* eras, as well as those from "The Trooper", *Live After Death* and a redesign of the *Killers* album cover.

## References

1. ↑ *Best of the Beast*. Iron Maiden. EMI. 23 September 1996.CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
2. ↑ Prato, Greg. Iron Maiden-*Best of the Beast* at AllMusic. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
3. ↑ Popoff, Martin (1 August 2007). *The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties*. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 213. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Wall, Mick (2004). *Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorised Biography* (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. p. 316. ISBN 1-86074-542-3.
5. ↑ Wall, Mick (2004). *Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorised Biography* (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. p. 365. ISBN 1-86074-542-3.
6. ↑ "*Best of the Beast*". Derek Riggs. Archived from the original on 17 May 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2011. Unknown parameter `|deadurl=` ignored (`|url-status=` suggested) (help)
7. ↑ "Iron Maiden - Best of the Beast (Vinyl, LP) at Discogs". Discogs. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
8. ↑ "Iron Maiden – *Best of the Beast* (album)". *Ö3 Austria Top 40* (in German). Austriancharts.at. Retrieved 29 April 2013. Italic or bold markup not allowed in: `|work=` (help)
9. ↑ "Iron Maiden – *Best of the Beast*" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
10. ↑ "Iron Maiden – *Best of the Beast*" (in French). Ultratop. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
11. ↑ "Iron Maiden – *Best of the Beast* (album)". *The Official Finnish Charts*. Finnishcharts.com. Retrieved 29 April 2013. Italic or bold markup not allowed in: `|work=` (help)
12. ↑ "Iron Maiden- Longplay-Chartverfolgung". *Media Control Charts* (in German). Musicline.de. Retrieved 21 October 2011. Italic or bold markup not allowed in: `|work=` (help)
13. ↑ アイアン・メイデン – *ベスト・オブ・ビースト* (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Iron Maiden – *Best of the Beast* (album)". *MegaCharts* (in Dutch). Dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 29 April 2013. Italic or bold markup not allowed in: `|work=` (help)
15. ↑ "Iron Maiden – *Best of the Beast* (album)". *Recording Industry Association of New Zealand*. Charts.org.nz. Retrieved 29 April 2013. Italic or bold markup not allowed in: `|work=` (help)
16. ↑ "Iron Maiden – *Best of the Beast* (album)". *Sverigetopplistan*. Swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 29 April 2013. Italic or bold markup not allowed in: `|work=` (help)
17. ↑ "Official UK Albums Archive 5 October 1996". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
18. ↑ "Iron Maiden – 'Virus' (nummer)". *MegaCharts* (in Dutch). Dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 29 April 2013. Italic or bold markup not allowed in: `|work=` (help)
19. ↑ "Iron Maiden – 'Virus' (song)". *Finland's Official List*. Finnishcharts.com. Retrieved 29 April 2013. Italic or bold markup not allowed in: `|work=` (help)
20. ↑ "Iron Maiden – 'Virus' (song)". *Sverigetopplistan*. Swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 29 April 2013. Italic or bold markup not allowed in: `|work=` (help)
21. ↑ "Official UK Singles Archive 21 September 1996". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
22. ↑ [[[:Template:Certification Cite/URL]] "[[:Template:Certification Cite/Title]]"] Check `|url=` value (help). Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers. Retrieved 29 April 2013. URL–wikilink conflict (help)
23. ↑ [[[:Template:Certification Cite/URL]] "[[:Template:Certification Cite/Title]]"] Check `|url=` value (help) (in Portuguese). Associação Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos. Retrieved 29 April 2013. URL–wikilink conflict (help)
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 [[[:Template:Certification Cite/URL]] "[[:Template:Certification Cite/Title]]"] Check `|url=` value (help) (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 29 April 2013. URL–wikilink conflict (help)
25. ↑ [[[:Template:Certification Cite/URL]] "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 2001"] Check `|url=` value (help) (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
26. ↑ [[[:Template:Certification Cite/URL]] "[[:Template:Certification Cite/Title]]"] Check `|url=` value (help). British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 29 April 2013. URL–wikilink conflict (help) *Select* albums *in the Format field.* *Select* Gold *in the Certification field.* *Type* Best of the Beast *in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.*

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