Year : 1994 (BMG Records Digipak Edition 2025)
Style : Heavy Metal , Hard Rock
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 135 mb
Bio:
Bruce started his solo career alongside his main gig in Iron Maiden in 1989, when Zomba Music asked him to do a track for the movie "A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child". The song, "Bring Your Daughter...To the Slaughter" was quickly re-recorded by Iron Maiden and went on to become their only UK number 1 single to date. The originally recorded version of the song remained unheard for many years.Bruce continued his solo work as a side project before departing Maiden in the early 90s to explore styles other than metal. It wasn't until the release of "Accident of Birth" in '97, that Bruce's solo work was recognized by the metal community. The follow up album, "The Chemical Wedding," was widely acclaimed as a masterpiece by the heavy metal community.Bruce's solo career has slowed down since he rejoined Iron Maiden in 1999, and 2005's "Tyranny of Souls" was recorded as more of a project album rather than a full band effort.Roy Z is credited with getting Bruce back into the metal scene after persuading him to record "Accident of Birth" after the grunge-influenced Skunkworks project.
Album:
Balls to Picasso is the second solo album by Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson, released in 1994.It is the first album in Dickinson's solo career that was released after he had officially left Iron Maiden (although he rejoined again in 1999).This record marked the beginning of Dickinson's collaborations with guitarist Roy Z, who would work on many of Dickinson's later albums including Accident of Birth, The Chemical Wedding and Tyranny of Souls. Stylistically it departs from Tattooed Millionaire but is still more traditional-sounding than the follow-up album Skunkworks released in 1996. Later, Dickinson said that he and Roy Z were talked into making the album less heavy than it should have been.Bruce’s second solo album gets a makeover and it is well worth splashing out the cash for some of these reinventions.Balls to Picasson was Bruce’s first solo album without the safety net of Maiden and it was when he decided lets do something very un Maiden and he really grabbed the Heavy Metal banner by the throat. He teamed up with Roy Z and Tribe of Gypsies and there was no looking back.You just need to listen to openning track “Cyclops” to see how far Bruce wanted to put Maiden in the rear view mirror. It was brave, the easy option would have been to recreate Maiden tunes and bring along all those fans…job done and dusted but that just is not the way Bruce rolls.He set the standard with an off kilter track that Maiden would never have touched and for that reason it became one of the most memorable tracks on the album. The guitar work on “Cyclops” is mesmerising and this version sounds clean, powerful utterly fresh.Next track “Hell No” is another banger, a slow build with Bruce on the low end of his scale before he soars and lets rip with an anthemic masterpiece. I still remember seeing this tour. It was a much smaller venue than Maiden had played for a very long time at that point but it was incredible. So intimate, so sweaty and these songs were the backbone of the show and why this gig is still stuck in my memory banks.The metal riffage of “Gods of War” scream from your speakers as Bruce chants his way to the first verse. as I look back at this album it basically hung drew and quartered his debut. Even the recently released reissue cannot capture the power and vitality of this record. It kicked ass then and it has not aged a day since and this track just has Bruce letting rip.It is onto the quirky again with “1,000 Points of War”. He had obviously heard Living Colour at this point as that riff hits you instantly but as clunky as the song sounds it works to perfection.My second favourite track of the album is up next in “Laughing in the Hiding Bush”. It goes for the jugular from the off and this was the new extreme Bruce, the man who wanted to reinvent himself and boy did he.This album was a breath of fresh air for me as I was no fan of the Blaze Bailey Maiden era and this album and a track like this wiped the floor with those two Blaze albums.From the brutal metal to another tangent Maiden would not go for…balledic numbers and “Change of Heart” plays to all Bruce’s strengths. I have always been a sucker for a ballad and now I had Bruce dipping in his toes and owning it.“Shoot All the Clowns” sees Bruce’s wicked sense of humour come to the fore. This is the Marmite track, you either love or hate it with its horns, Jazz bass and very suspicious rapping.“Fire” is the track I kind of forgot about for some reason but listening again it is a killer slice of Rock. It is sleazy as hell and one I need to listen to far more.One song I did not forget about is “Sacred Cowboys”, another quirky start but this song is a fucking monster. It could well be a “Run to the Hills” part two based on the lyrical content but what cannot be disputed is just how good this is.Final track on the original is basically one of the best songs Bruce ever wrote in “Tears of the Dragon”. On the new version we have some beautiful strings to accompany the masterpiece and it sounds epic.Strangely to this day when I hear this song the first thing that pops into my head is that man ruined a perfectly good leather jacket in the video. It is quickly followed by holy shit this song just gets better with every listen. I was so chuffed to hear it live again last year in what was my favourite show of 2024.Do I really need to say any more about this song? you all know exactly how kick ass it is.As a bonus the album has two live(in the studio) versions of “Gods of War” and “Shoot All the Clowns” which sound excellent and gives you every excuse to splash the extra cash so you have this in your collection.The original album was a watershed moment for Bruce but for me when it comes to Picasso you want as many, as big and as hairy balls as you can get as this version is now the definitive one for your collection. The production alone will make you fall in love with the album all over again.
Line Up:
Bruce Dickinson - Vocals (1989-present) - See also: Iron Maiden, ex-Samson, ex-Speed, ex-Shots, ex-Styx
Roy Z - Guitars (1992-1995, 1997-present), Bass (2005) - See also: Driver, Halford, Rob Rock, Tribe of Gypsies, ex-Warrior, ex-Lambs Among Wolves
Eddie Casillas – bass guitar
David Ingraham – drums
+ guests:
Dean Ortega – vocals
Doug Van Booven – percussion
Mario Aguilar – percussion on "Shoot All the Clowns"
Dickie Fliszar – drums on "Tears of the Dragon"
Richard Baker – keyboards and programming
Production:
Shay Baby – producer, mixing
Spencer May – additional engineering
Sean De Feo – engineer at Townhouse 3
Andy Baker – engineer at Westside Studios
Bjorn Thorsrud – engineer on "Shoot All the Clowns
Greg Fulginiti & Andy Van Dette – mastering at Masterdisk, New York
Tracklist:
01. Cyclops 07:57
02. Hell No 05:12
03. Gods of War 05:02
04. 1000 Points of Light 04:25
05. Laughing in the Hiding Bush 04:21
06. Change of Heart 04:59
07. Shoot All the Clowns 04:24
08. Fire 04:30
09. Sacred Cowboys 03:54
10. Tears of the Dragon 06:20
11. Gods of War (Live) 04:55 (Bonus Track)
12. Shoot All the Clowns (Live) 05:24 (Bonus Track)
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