Review: Bruce Dickinson – More Balls To Picasso
Bruce Dickinson – More Balls To Picasso
Format: CD – Vinyl LP – Digital / Label: BMG
Release: 2025
Text: Martien Koolen
I always found Dickinson’s second solo album ‘Balls To Picasso’ (1994) to be one of his best solo efforts ever, as it featured rock/metal classics like Cyclops, Gods Of War and one of Dickinson’s best tracks ever Tears Of A Dragon!
Now, thirty-one years later, you can enjoy the brand-new part re-recorded, remixed, and newly mastered version of Balls To Picasso called ‘More Balls To Picasso.’ The question of course is, why this re-release and does it indeed sound better than its original?
Well, the sound of this re-recorded Picasso is definitely an improvement as the guitars are really beefed up and composer Antonio Teoli added some impressive orchestral arrangements giving the album a fuller sound indeed. Furthermore, you can “enjoy” two previously unreleased tracks, being: Gods Of War (live in the studio) and Shoot All The Clowns (live in the studio), the latter gets the benefit of a horn section, fronted by the Berklee College of Music, but sadly that does not work for me as an “improvement” indeed.
In my humble opinion, horns do not belong on a metal/hard rock album and so I definitely prefer the original 1994 version of Shoot All The Clowns. However, songs like Cyclops, Hell No, Sacred Cowboys and the stunning highlight of this album Tears Of A Dragon stand the test of time without a shadow of a doubt. And Dickinson’s throat sounds as immaculate as ever and the goosebumps during the chorus of Tears Of Dragon still give me shivers, what a masterpiece of a metal ballad that is for sure!!
Tracks:
01. Cyclops
02. Hell No
03. Gods of War
04. 1000 Points of Light
05. Laughing in the Hiding Bush
06. Change of Heart
07. Shoot All the Clowns
08. Fire
09. Sacred Cowboys
10. Tears of the Dragon
11. Gods of War (Live in the Studio)*
12. Shoot All the Clowns (Live in the Studio)*
* Previously unreleased
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