Somewhere Back in Time
2008 compilation album by Iron Maiden
Somewhere Back in Time - The Best of: 1980 - 1989 is a best of release by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, containing a selection of songs originally recorded for their first eight albums (including Live After Death).
Background
The album was released in conjunction with the band's Somewhere Back In Time World Tour to allow new fans to listen to a selection of the band's material that was played on the tour. The cover artwork by Derek Riggs features the Pharaoh Eddie monument from Powerslave and Cyborg Eddie from Somewhere in Time.
A number of tracks were taken from the band's 1985 live album, Live After Death, because the band preferred to use recordings which featured current Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson rather than Paul Di'Anno, who sang on their first two studio releases.
Reception
Reviews for the compilation were generally positive, with Kerrang! commenting that "metal collections don't come much more solid than this." Classic Rock deemed it "a relentless, 70-minute crowd pleaser marathon," containing "timeless anthems that still make the adrenalin surge and the sinews stiffen after all these years." Metal Hammer praised it for being "a reminder of why Iron Maiden became the most important band on the planet back in the 1980s - and why, once again, they've reclaimed that crown."
AllMusic, however, were more critical of the release, deeming the album "merely adequate" and decrying the band's decision to avoid using the original versions of songs featuring Paul Di'Anno on lead vocals.
Track listing
All songs written by Steve Harris, except where noted.
Personnel
Production and performance credits are adapted from the album liner notes.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Somewhere Back in Time” is 2008 compilation album by Iron Maiden. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Somewhere, Back and Time, not as a finished interpretation.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1753211. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1980, 1989 and 1985.
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This entry incorporates text from “Somewhere Back in Time” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.