Balls to Picasso (Dlx) [Original recording remastered]

Bruce Dickinson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 21, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Sanctuary Records
• ASIN: B0009NCPAG
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #126,851 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 14 Years Later, and still a great album!!!!, September 30, 2008

By 

Renfield "Up the Irons" (Edmonton, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Balls to Picasso (Dlx) (Audio CD)

In 1989, Bruce Dickinson had recorded his first solo effort "Tatooed Millionare", a hard rockish masterpiece that featured his hit title track, about Nikki Sixx having sex with Bruce's wife. When Bruce left Maiden in 1993, he went on to record some solo stuff. His 2nd album, Balls to Picasso, had shown he was ready to move past Maiden and get into the solo world. And he was! 12 years later, it got reissued and re-released with a bonus disc.

This is one of my favorite albums by Bruce. It doesn't sound anything like Maiden, but in a good way! It's very Alt-rock driven, has some catchy tracks with Shivaree-esque tongue in cheek lyrics. The 2nd track "Hell No!" has to be one of his most all-out-driven-with-power songs. "Sacred Cowboys" has a catchy beat and some hilarious rapped lyrics that definitely set a theme for a hilarious satirical political message. The wickedly funny "Shoot All The Clowns" (clowns being a euphemism for Politicians) also has a satirical view of politics and is very catchy. Especially Bruce's shouting "SHOOT! SHOOT!" and the catchy chorus "Shoot all the clowns, shoot em DOWN! Shoot em DOWN! Shoot em DOWN!!!".

The last track, "Tears of the Dragon" is the best on the album. A slow ballad with a tragic feel to it, the chorus reminds you a bit of "Wasting Love" from the Fear of the Dark album. It has an icy cold feel to it that definitely makes the song. The 2nd disc with B-sides is a great addition, with an extended version of Shoot All The Clowns, two alternate versions of Tears Of The Dragon-one called "Tears of the Dragon (Acoustic Chillout)" which is what the subtitle suggests, and another one called "Tears of the Dragon (First Bit, Long Bit, Last Bit)", which is pretty much a demo version. Longer than the original, it's BETTER than the original! It's much more epic, has some orchestration and it's too bad Roy Z was too much of a freak about it.

So overall, this is a fantastic album, definitely has a 90s Alternative Rock feel to it. If you don't have it, get it NOW!!!! You WON'T Regret it!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My first BD album and one of my newest CDs, April 27, 2006

By 

Thomas Anderson "Metal Head" (Harrisburg, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Balls to Picasso (Dlx) (Audio CD)

Back in '94-ish, I heard about BD's solo career and this particular album, "Balls to Picasso". At that time, I was still buying cassettes, hell, I bought cassettes up until about 2000. Anyway, with the recent remastering and re-issuings of all the of the Iron Maiden albums, I decided to rebuy up that entire catalog of their studio albums on CD. By doing so, I got to thinking about BD's solo albums. Like I said, back in the day, I bought three of them on cassette, the other two being "Accident of Birth" and "Chemical Wedding". Somehow I missed "Skunkworks" and never could find "Tatooed Millionare".

Now that I'm fully transfered over to CDs, I have rebought some of my all-time favorite band's catalogs. Iron Maiden being one, Metallica, Megadeth, and another new one Iced Earth being another. Well, recently, I got into the mood of listening to my Maiden collection, started to really get into the sound again and decided I'd buy BD's solo stuff again. As of this writing, I have'em all with "Tattoed Millionare" still on backorder. (Still can't seem to get that one! LOL!)

Anyway, these new remastered and extended deluxe versions (released at the same time of his new album "Tyranny of Souls" in 2005) of BD's albums are freakin' brilliant. Only listened to all of Skunkworks, Accident so far, and I'm in the process of listening to Balls, but there's one thing I have definately noticed...the demo or alternative versions of the songs that are on the bonus discs are usually better than the cuts that made the original album.

One such cut is the "Tears of the Dragon (First Bit, Long Bit, Last Bit)". If I'm not mistaken, reading from the new liner notes, this was the original version that was supposed to be on the album before Bruce settled with "Tribe of Gypsies" as his backing band on this album. In it, he uses some orchestra background sounds and this more complex arrangement was shot down as such by incoming guitarist Roy Z in favor of the one that appears on the regular album. It's kind of a shame, IMO, because this original version is a superior version and it would have truely been the epic that it was hyped as. Running in at just over 8 minutes, it's really something special to listen to.

With regards to the rest of the album, the original album sounds great. The remastering job is superb as it is on all of these expanded edition CDs. And of course the bonus discs are equally spectacular. Both in content and sound quality.

If you have the older versions, you might want to consider picking up these new ones for the improved sound and additional tracks. They're a bit expensive here at Amazon, but they're well worth it if you price shop a bit. As far a packaging goes, that aspect is nice too and each expanded version comes in a slipcase which adds to the collectibility as well.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars tears of the dragon...for you and me!, October 13, 2005

By 

kelpbeds - See all my reviews

This review is from: Balls to Picasso (Dlx) (Audio CD)

wow!ive been missing some damn fine music!just picked up the re-masters for "balls" and "accident",used and in primo shape for 9.99 a piece!never heard any of bruce's solo stuff,this is amazing work!cant wait to play "accident".what a great vocalist!