Customer Reviews

Balls to Picasso (Dlx)

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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!

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.

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!

Some points about this album-
1. It does not sound like Iron Maiden
2. This is a great album - sweet/scorching guitar, intense vocals, and interesting percussion
3. 2 disks (130 minutes!!!)
4. I wish that I had purchased this album years ago, for nothing since then (of this genre) sounds this good

Enjoy!

Having heard just a few songs from Bruce's solo career before, nothing really grabbed me until I picked up Tyranny of Souls months ago. I loved it. When his live DVD with several concerts on it came out, I bought it and was surprised how much I liked his earlier stuff live. I bought this album and was a little dissapointed with the main album as I was the first time I heard some of the songs, they did not just grab me. However, I put in the 2nd cd and was blown away. This should have been the A material. The accoustical version of "Tears of the Dragon" is masterful. Even "Elvis has Left the Building" where he uses nothing but a megaphone has phenomenal music. If nothing else, buy this album for the bonus disc. 13 of the 16 tracks on the bonus disc, I listen to on a regular basis now. It is completely worth getting the whole package.

Although I am 45 years old and saw Iron Maiden on their first US tour, I never became a fan and never owned any Maiden stuff until relatively recently. After all these years I finally have become a big Maiden fan. After buying several Iron Maiden CDs, including their two most recent, I decided to buy some solo Bruce Dickinson.

The first solo album I bought was Tyranny Of Souls. I like it and listen to it from time to time, but I would not say that it is one of my favorite albums. I did like it enough to buy a second Bruce Dickinson album. Balls To Picasso would be next. This is one of my all time favorite albums ever, at least for now. The bonus CD of B-Sides, demo and alternative versions is just as good as the original CD, if not better. If I had bought Balls To Picasso back in the days of vinyl, I would have worn out both CDs in a hurry.

In short, in my opinion Balls To Picasso is the best Bruce Dickinson music I have bought to date and remains one of my favorite and most listened to CDs.

I loved this album when it first was unleashed and now with the remastering and bonus cd I love it even more. I always felt Balls To Picasso was Dickinson's first "real" solo album, and after the sub standard work on the last few Iron Maiden albums Balls To Picasso shows how powerful Bruce is and why is one of the finest voices in metal. This album takes you where Maiden would never dare to go, and Dickinson expands his song writting ability to show diversity and style unlike what he was allowed to create in the confines of Iron Maiden. Every song on here stands on it's own from the ballad "Change Of Heart" and "Tears Of The Dragon", to the power of "Cyclops" "Hell No" and "Fire" to the catchy rap vocals on "Sacred Cowboys" (one of my all time fav BD tunes). Dickinson proves he can do anything and do it with style, finese, artistry, and BALLS.

While Maiden was releasing below average metal with a tone deaf hack of a replacement singer, Bruce was creating adventerous music that would be well thought out and timelass. Here's where his solo career really begins and he shines like a sun burning everything in sight.

The bonus cd is crammed with extras that further prove why Bruce is the master. The entire Remastered and expanded Bruce Dickinson catalog is a must have for any music fan. If you have the originals of these (like I do) you will still want to get this collection.

Bruce is an incredible vocalist and deserves a gold medal for consistenly bringing out albums that are good!

This is probably slightly better than Tattooed Millionaire but both are good. This is his first album outside Iron Maiden! It's just good all the way through, start to finish! ONe of my favorite albums!

I've listen to this album a zillion times and I still haven't got sick of it! I've been a Bruce convert fan after Gun N Roses and Metallica went to sewage, and got a bit sick of Nirvana... then about 1997 I changed over to Iron Maiden and Bruce Dickinson!

This guy can talk about anything from being scared of change to the tragedy of how bad war can be. And say announce us that Elvis Has Left The Building!

Come on! Where are are the Bruce fans! Give him some recognition that he 1000% deserves! Shame on you! :(