BRUCE DICKINSON — Tattooed Millionaire (review)

BRUCE DICKINSON — Tattooed Millionaire album cover Album · 1990 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
2/5 ·
Pekka
Bruce Dickinson's solo career's beginning was "an enjoyable accident". He was asked to contribute a track to the Nightmare on Elm Street 5 soundtrack, which of course resulted in Bring Your Daughter.....to the Slaughter, which Maiden later reworked for No Prayer for the Dying, achieving a number one hit in Britain. After that one song he was offered an opportunity to record a full album, and so in two weeks in Janick Gers' house Tattooed Millionaire was written.

A far cry from the previous Iron Maiden album, Tattooed Millionaire found Bruce in a classic hard rock setting as opposed to melodic heavy metal. Now in retrospect it's interesting to think how big an effect this album had on Maiden's future direction, as several songs of Tattooed Millionaire could also be found on No Prayer, though from the lightest end of the album. There is the odd twin guitar melody here and there, but most of the time this album contains plain one-guitar hard rock, with extremely raspy vocals in places, and as a sign of the recording year 1989 a very loud snare drum.

Son of a Gun is a nice opening track with a powerful chorus, and the L.A. rock star bashing Tattooed Millionaire has a brilliant pre-chorus to crown the otherwise very solid hard rock song. Born in '58 is a sort of a lifestory song by Bruce and with the title track the other highlight of the album, but after that things turn downhill. Hell on Wheels offers a nice riff but not much more, and there are a couple of riffs in both Dive! Dive! Dive! and Lickin' the Gun that are solid work, but Walk This Way way too clearly to earn very much credit. The Mott the Hoople cover All the Young Dudes is a good song delivered nicely and the album closing No Lies has an enjoyable fat and straightforward drum & bass beat and a good midsection, but...

Ultimately this album sounds just like what it is, friends having some light fun writing songs just because they can. Professionally executed hard rock that fails to offer very many lasting riffs and melodies. Relatively enjoyable for a fan, but I can't see a reason why a casual rock fan should pick this album over his other works.
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