Screeeeeeeeam for me, posterity! Iron Maiden legend Bruce Dickinson revisits and revises early solo outing to stunning effect.
When it comes to notching up professional achievements, Bruce Dickinson hasn’t exactly had a ton of reasons to demand a do-over. Iron Maiden superstar. Qualified commercial airline pilot. Accomplished fencer. Best-selling author. Brewmaster extraordinaire. Radio DJ. Hell, right now he’s likely in some ancient underground cave system discovering a precious new metal or artefact. Probably. But nestled deep within the pages of his voluminous CV exists something that has always rankled with this chronic overachiever: his second solo record, 1994’s Balls To Picasso.
The stakes could scarcely have been higher at the time. Balls… may have been his second solo endeavour, but it was his first to be released after his high-profile decision to exit Iron Maiden in 1993. A true Maiden(less) voyage, if you will. It was make or break and, initially, things did not go to plan. His new partnership with guitarist Roy Z produced a lot of great songs, it was just… well, in his 2017 autobiography, What Does This Button Do?, Mr. Dickinson said it best. “Balls To Picasso had limited success,” he wrote. “In retrospect, it should have been a much harder and heavier album.”
And so we arrive at this, Bruce addressing his “nagging desire” to fix it with an R-Rated reissue. Scrap that, make it RRRR-Rated. Yes, the newly-christened More Balls To Picasso has been “remixed, remastered, re-imagined and re-invigorated” courtesy of a host of new tweaks from Bruce and musicians such as Philip Naslund, Adassi Addasi, Antonio Teoli and more.
Long story cut short: it sounds far bigger and way heavier. And better. Proof of concept arrives immediately via opener Cyclops, a sprawling epic that comes in a blush under eight minutes. In its new beefed up state, it makes the original incarnation – and its subsequent 2001 remaster – sound like the studio amps were only ever dialled up to 5. The same holds true throughout, whether it’s the hulking strains of Laughing In The Hiding Bush, the ascendant chorus of Sacred Cowboys or Hell No, the latter hitting a real sweet spot between classic rock, metal and grungey inflections. Even when a song like Fire fails to scale these same heights, it still sounds better than it did previously.
But BTP always boasted more than just riffs, it had rich experimentation, too. That has been doubled down on here, with the intro of God Of War, for one, boasting new “indigenous instruments from the Amazon” by Antonio Teoli. It’s the riotous eclecticism of Shoot The Clowns that impresses most in this regard, retrofitted as it is with a rampaging new horn section fronted by the Berklee College Of Music over its slinking riff. True, it may well prove a bit too adventurous for some or too whimsical for others, but if nothing else it gives a hella good indication as to what it would have sounded like had Bruce ever punted Steven Tyler offstage and taken over vocal duties for Aerosmith.
Crucially, BTP is also imbued with a lot more catharsis than its irreverent album name would ever have you believe. The power ballad Change Of Heart is one example, as is 1000 Points Of Light on which Bruce delivers a stirring meditation on war. ‘A thousand points of light are the muzzle flashes in the night,’ he sings. ‘And the freedoms you profess to hold won't bring the dead back from the cold.’ It speaks volumes that even this is not the record’s crowning moment.
The best Bruce solo album may be up for debate (1996’s Skunkworks is criminally underrated, FYI) but one thing is not – there is such a thing as his definitive solo track. As its confessional chorus takes flight, Tears Of The Dragon stands proud as one of the best ever performances of The Greatest Voice In Heavy Metal. Period. And that, folks, is no small feat. The added orchestration only adds to this classic’s innate power.
Fresh from reviving his solo career last year with the excellent The Mandrake Project, the timing of this endeavour feels perfect. There are more eyes on Bruce’s solo work than there have been in a long time and a mass reappraisal is, frankly, long overdue. It may have taken 31 years, but thanks to More Balls To Picasso these songs should finally get the love they deserve.
Verdict: 4/5
For fans of: Iron Maiden, Alter Bridge, Aerosmith
More Balls To Picasso is out now via BMG
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