BRUCE DICKINSON — Balls to Picasso (review)

BRUCE DICKINSON — Balls to Picasso album cover Album · 1994 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Pekka
Bruce Dickinson's first studio album Tattooed Millionaire was a quick just-for-fun effort, but having quit Iron Maiden in 1993 amidst an aborted attempt at recording a follow up, he had enough time to really concentrate on crafting a second solo album, which he'd been inspired to write after meeting a guitarist called Roy Z. Roy would in the future become Dickinson's trusted sidekick and producer, but on this album, in the beginning of their working relationship he was just the guitarist and songwriting partner.

After the straightforward hard rock record that was Tattooed Millionaire, Dickinson went for much heavier areas, but at the same time he expanded the scope to also include soft ballads and some much more unexpected ingredients... Right off the bat, after a misty intro Cyclops offers a riff far superior to anything heard on the previous album, and the song shows a musician with enough self-confidence to not rush into anything, but taking time to build up the atmosphere. A great track, as is Hell No, a guaranteed crowd pleaser with the very singalongy chorus and a bridge designed for audience participation. The calm verses with their nice turn of melody are a highlight of the tom tom heavy Gods of War, which shows in its chorus that years of raspy singing haven't destroyed Bruce's cleaner voice, while 1000 Points of Light and Fire are the most forgettable tracks of the album, though enjoyable in the context of the album.

After the powerfully riffing Laughing in the Hiding Bush we get a gorgeous ballad called Change of Heart, which for the first time shows that Dickinson is definitely not all about metal and rock. Great guitar solo from Roy as well. Shoot All the Clowns is a track written after the record company requested a track like Aerosmith's Rocks album, and what they got was indeed something like that but with... ahem, rapping over a funk section. Out of the blue it comes for people who have developed a mental picture of what Bruce Dickinson does, but actually it's quite an amusing interlude to a fairly enjoyable rock song. Rapping is a term that could also be stretched to include the verses of Sacred Cowboys, but let's not go there as it's not really true. Close, though. The only song that was kept from the aborted sessions with producer Keith Olsen was Tears of the Dragon, and it's good that they did, because it's a colossal ending to the album. A masterful power ballad, perhaps the most well known Dickinson solo track. After a great Roy Z guitar solo there's even a reggae-like transition to the next vocal part, and it doesn't feel out of place at all.

The gentler tracks are the high points of this album, but overall it's a good testament to the fact that Dickinson was quite capable of making good metal on his own as well.
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