Lord of the Flies (5.03)
b/w
My Generation (3.36)
Doctor Doctor (4.49)

Issued only in -
Europe and Australia
and as US promo CD

To be honest The X-Factor is not my favourite Maiden album. In fact I had to play this single in order to remember what it sounded like. And I call myself a Maiden fan! Like most of this album it is nothing out of the ordinary and those of you that have mailed me about Maiden's live shows will know that I hit the bar when the awful Sign Of The Cross comes on. The only song I really like off The X-Factor is Judgement Of Heaven with its excellent guitar passage.
The rest of the album is a major disappointment. But not on the collectables side it ain't!

Why this particular song was released in the first place is open to debate but it is only available in Europe and Australia as a commercial CD single. It was never released in the UK and only in the US as a promo CD. It is not available on vinyl.
The nice thing about this particular release is the b-sides. A cover of The Who classic My Generation and a cover of the UFO belter Doctor, Doctor. In my opinion both songs covered are actually better than the main song with Doctor, Doctor being a real cracker. These b-sides are only available on the first UK CD issue for Virus. (The subsequent CD issue for Virus in Europe had the Metal For Muthas tracks: Sanctuary and Wrathchild as the b sides.)

Man On The Edge was a good return for the band and charted highly again in the UK charts but another single from The X-Factor wasn't forthcoming and I don't think there was a good enough song for a second single!

As it is a limited release Lord Of The Flies is actually fairly difficult to track down for both countries. This can easily set you back around the £20/ $28 in the collectors market as there are not a lot of copies around.
There is no visible difference between the European issue and the Australian issue. Except that the Australian issues's sleeve has a matt finish whereas the Euro version is shiny. The live shots on the sleeve are very good but the picture cover is simly awful. Just how bad is Eddie on this sleeve? The catalogue numbers are the same but please check the country of manufacture before purchasing.

So not a particularly good song but an interesting and often over-looked Maiden CD rarity.
Happy hunting,

UP THE IRONS!

Chris