Customer Reviews

Tattooed Millionaire

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the summer of 1990 while Iron Maiden was on a break from their highly successful "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son Tour", frontman Bruce Dickinson had the opportunity to record a solo track for the Nightmare on Elm Street 5 Soundtrack ("Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter"). As a result of this recording, which was later revamped on Maiden's No Prayer for the Dying album, Dickinson was offered the opportunity to record a full-length album. The result was Tattooed Millionaire, a straight up hard rock album that takes Bruce in a different direction. It combines elements of Iron Maiden and mixes them with a pop-metal feel.

The album opens with shades of Iron Maiden on "Son of a Gun". The track starts with a soothing acoustic intro followed by blistering metal riffs. That's about as close to Maiden as it gets. The title-track is an infectious pop-metal rocker that, oddly enough, is mocking the genre. It's a scathing attack at pop/glam bands like Motley Crue or Poison (not specifically them). Dickinson pays homage to our fathers and grandfathers on "Born in '58." It's about a time where men took pride in their work, their country, and fought the good fight. "Hell on Wheels" opens with a riff very similar to AC/DC's "Back in Black" or "Highway to Hell." You don't get anymore metal than that! Now, what late eighties / early nineties album would be complete without a song with gypsy in the title? Not this one! "Gypsy Road" is a power ballad about, what else, living on the streets.

Bruce whips out the metal cliché book on "Dive! Dive! Dive!" Not only is the melody repetitive, but the song is infused with typical sexual innuendo. Bruce uses clever submarine terminology here, but we all know it's about going down on a woman. In case you miss it, Bruce exclaims, Dive! Dive! Dive! / No muff too tuff / We dive at five. A cover of Mott the Hoople's "All the Young Dudes" doesn't stray too far from the original, but sounds fresher. "Lickin' the Gun," a tongue and cheek "shot" at politics, has a bluesy sound comparable to classic Aerosmith. "Zulu Lulu" continues where 'Dive!' left off, and "No Lies" closes the album.

Bottom Line:
Bruce Dickinson clearly set out to make a fun, straightforward, hard rock album. Tattooed Millionaire is exactly that. No deep meanings, no complicated arrangements, just pure, kick ass, rock!

Totally different from Maiden. It has Janick Gers on guitar, and one can clearly see here that he's at his best when he's not trying to play any guitar solos. There are almost none in the entire album, but his rhythm guitar skills are more than enough to turn Dickinson's solo debut into a very good and pleasant hard rock album. The bass and drums section is also competent (Del Rio e Andy Carr)

The opener SON OF A GUN is a classic, I just love it. The title track has an infectious and catchy chorus that will stick into your brain like glue. BORN IN 58 is perfect, my personal favorite. IT has a magical atmosphere surrounding it and, coupled with the inspired lyrics, one can see himself into Dickinson''s grandfathers age.

The cover of ALL THE YOUNG DUDES was a smart move. It worked perfectly.

In general, a great album, totally different from MAiden and from Dickinson's last solo albums, ACCIDENT OF BIRTH and THE CHEMICAL WEDDING, which are deeply rooted in sheer heavy metal.

This is great rock and roll! Bruce rolls through these songs like a freight train. what a great album. A must have for your collection.

Great Cd from the final lapse of the 80's.
Son of a gun, born in '58, and his version of All The Young Dudes are the highlights...
Fun music, pure sense of joy.

Searched quite a few different sites for this "Birthday Gift".....Found on Amazon.com at great price for item and shipping...CD is excellent....Highly reccommended for Bruce Dickenson Fans....

This is a great debut solo CD from Bruce. Alot of Maiden fans were turned off by this CD because it didn't sound like Maiden. Being that Dickinson was still a member of Maiden at the time and released this in 1990 between Maiden's "Seventh Son..." and "No Prayer For The Dying" I'm confused why fans thought it was going to sound like Maiden. What would be the point of recording a solo record if that was the case. Instead we get a bit of pure hard rock that at times sounds more like AC/DC than Maiden and even Bruce's "air raid" vocals are toned down to more straight out hard rock than metal. First five tracks are fantastic most specifically the title track, "Born in 58" and "Gypsy Road". The second half of the CD and bonus tracks aren't quite as good but still better than most of the similar types of hard rock/pop metal coming out in 1990. The cover of "All the Young Dudes" is also great. Bottom line, this is a solid CD and allowed Bruce to do some songs that he couldn't do with Maiden.

Great CD but many (or all) of the reissues are defective. No Lies ends too soon. Be sure that yours is around 6 minutes.

While this CD really shines in certain areas musically, I felt overall it was more a sign of things to come.

The problems I have are the inconsistency of the writing, the slightly ragged, unpolished quality of some singing, and the cheese of the sterile 'eighties sound' combined with verging-on-pretentious performances in a few places.

I took to Bruce's stuff a lot more after he left Maiden, regrouped, and went toward a fatter, more organic sound and regaining his powerful wail.

This is a nice little collection of ditties but it feels almost painfully earnest to prove itself as a pop record. Bruce made the point he could do that genre and write huge singles. The man later proved he could be a lot more interesting than that.

Nothing like Iron Maiden, more hard rock sound and theme. I believe this is the first album with Janick Gers. Catchy songs and as a previous reviewer mentioned, a fun album. The guy's a heck of a singer, great front man.

Was very pleased with this purchase.Has a great mix of metal and classic rock in it.I would highly recommend this!