Look at these six geezers and their oversized branded plane! Who do they think they are, Iron Maiden? Oh, that’s right…they are.

Anyway, Flight 666 is a documentary movie chronicling the band’s world tour and the craziness that surrounds a band on the road.

The tour itself sounds like it was great fun, as the band travelled the globe on their own private plane, piloted by their multitalented lead singer, Bruce Dickinson:

Circumnavigating the globe in just 45 days, the band flew in a specially customised Boeing 757 airliner, piloted by lead singer Bruce Dickinson, with the entire tour crew and 12 tons of music and stage equipment on board, to 23 sold-out stadium and arena shows in Asia, Australia and North, Central and South America. The band played in 13 countries, also landing in Azerbaijan and Papua New Guinea en route for fuel stops, travelling 50,000 miles (70,000 km) and performing to almost half a million fans – a schedule that was only made possible by having their own "magic carpet" which enabled them to go where they wanted with all the key elements of band, crew and equipment on board one plane, christened ED FORCE ONE.

The band’s long-suffering manager, Rod Smallwood describes the movie thusly:

This film is a testament to an extraordinary tour and to our incredible fans all over the world. Seeing it on the big screen will make you feel like you were there on that spectacular journey.

Having never taken the time to catch an Iron Maiden live show, it sounds like an excellent opportunity to catch the movie version instead: you never get to see a rock concert down your local Odeon, do you? Check, check, check out the trailer:

Following the rule that scarcity creates demand, Flight 666 will only be available in cinemas for ONE DAY ONLY!!! (Tuesday 21st April 2009, if you’re interested) It’ll be an awesome global event, with Maiden fans from across the globe sitting down to watch the movie all on one day. How awesome is that?

Is Flight 666 showing in a cinema near you? Visit this page to find out.

Remember, Flight 666 is only being shown in cinemas on 21 April 2009.

Yesterday’s announcement from Iron Maiden that they’d be releasing a Best Of compilation for free download isn’t quite what it seems.

The reason? That download is restricted to three listens, then you’ve got to purchase the album if you want the music for keeps. Iron Maiden is a band who’ve released more compilations and live albums than any other I know of. Why are they releasing another one?

Well, as their manager Rod Smallwood tells it, it’s all about the fans. Specifically the younger fans who haven’t been exposed to Maiden’s back catalog in time for the summer tour. And they pass this off as innovation:

from flying their own plane around the world on a record-breaking tour to selling over 70 million albums Worldwide without mainstream radio or TV support — today Iron Maiden announce a revolutionary new way of delivering music to their fans [emphasis added]

A great new way of delivering music to your fans – give them three listens, then take it away again. Mr Smallwood, your orgasmic press release offends me. This is simply another way to get fans to pay for old content.

I understand that the Maiden back catalog is precious. Certainly more precious than their most recent albums. That’s what people will want to hear on tour. But don’t pretend you’re giving something away. This download is the musical equivalent of a free shampoo sample. Want more? Buy the full bottle.

Rod, if you truly want to reach out to younger fans, give them the damned album for free. No strings attached. They’ll thank you for it and know all the choruses for the big tour.

That’s if they haven’t downloaded the entire Iron Maiden back catalog from BitTorrent already.

I picked up Maiden’s greatest hits package, Edward The Great about 18 months ago from Tower Records in London, listened to it a couple of times and abandoned for a while. The disc found its way out to the car again about a week ago and isn’t showing any signs of leaving!

Spine Tinglers

Edward The Great has the unique privilege of providing two spine tingling moments, which is more than most albums! The first is definately track two, The Number Of The Beast with it’s almost whispered first verse building up into that scream, bringing the rest of Maiden thundering in. It’s hard to believe this song is 23 years old!

The second spine-tingler is the live version of Fear Of The Dark from Rock In Rio. I don’t think it’s the tightest performance ever, but the atmosphere, especially with the crowd almost drowning out vocalist Bruce Dickinson is sooooo electric! It’s an amazing performance and a great end to the album.

But what about the in-between bits?

All excellent. To be honest, I really only took a second look at Iron Maiden when bands like Sum 41 started to cite them as influences. Shallow? Probably. Anyway, most of the songs on there were familiar to me – I might not have liked them back in the day, but I couldn’t completely avoid them. With the benefit of hindsight and a touch of nostalgia, I really enjoyed the whole album. Like a reviewer on the Amazon website, I wondered why there were so many songs on there from the Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son album, but didn’t dwell too much. The album rocks, that’s all you need to know!

The Worst Bits

I almost always skip the two tracks by Dickinson’s replacement, Blaze Bayley (why?). While Man On The Edge and Futureal are both competent tracks, I just don’t want to know! Even The Wicker Man is a bit of a stretch for me. I suppose none of them are ‘classic’ Maiden.

On the whole, though, I’d say this is a 9 out of 10! If I was compiling the album, I’d cut out Man On The Edge, Futureal and Wicker Man and replace them with stuff like Phantom Of The Opera, which is notably missing.

This post was kindly donated by The Levee Breaks blog.