Released: 1994
Tracks: Cyclops; Hell No; Gods of War; 1000 Points of Light; Laughing in the Hiding Bush; Change of Heart; Shoot all the Clowns; Fire; Sacred Cowboys; Tears of the Dragon
Best track: Tears of the Dragon
Tracks to skip: Gods of War, 1000 Points of Light, Shoot all the Clowns
This is Bruce Dickinson’s first post-Iron Maiden project and it was actually the 3rd attempt at the album. I think the first attempt was pretty half-assed so Bruce started over with producer Keith Olsen and made a ‘pop’ album. This is currently known as the ‘Lost Keith Olsen Album’. A few of the tracks escaped on B-sides for Balls to Picasso and I think some came out on the Best Of bonus disc. Either way, that 2nd album was scrapped as well (Tears of the Dragon was the only song kept) and we were presented with Balls to Picasso, an album that is (in my opinion, of course) half-assed and probably the worst post-1982 album Bruce participated in. The worst? Yup. Jeez, I guess that means that this album is actually worse than Fear of the Dark. As of this here typing, I think so (and I’m far from a fan of Maiden’s Fear of the Dark).
I think what bores me the most are the songs themselves. Most of the songs have de-tuned guitars and it kinda turns everything into a strange mixture of grunge and metal with a whole lot of seriousness about it. There’s just an air on this album of aloofness. It’s hard to really explain; Bruce just seems detached from the whole thing. Like he’s not really trying. It’s not the band’s fault at all; they’re just fine on here (though they are many times better on Accident of Birth and Chemical Wedding). For Balls to Picasso, Bruce picked up a new backing group, an L.A. band called Tribe of Gypsies. Guitarist Roy Z hit it off with Bruce and was his main songwriting partner on and off until Bruce rejoined Maiden in 1999. So I guess I can blame some of the compositional boredom on Roy.
I’m ‘officially’ skipping Gods of War, 1000 Points of Light & Shoot all the Clowns, but the reality is that those tracks are just the worst of the lot and I actually skip everything between Cyclops and Tears of the Dragon. I know Clowns is just a silly song, but I really don’t want to hear Bruce Dickinson ‘rap’. I can live without that. Cyclops is a cool song and actually got some mild radio play here in Dallas, but the most important thing here, as well as the reason for the album’s existence, is Tears of the Dragon. I’ve always loved the song, but initially I was almost hurt by the lyrics, as it’s a direct jab at Maiden and Steve Harris in particular. Of course now I can see it more from Bruce’s side and he absolutely made the right decision to leave Maiden. Maiden had become kinda lame in 1992 and (hindsight here) Bruce’s departure not only saved and rejuvenated Bruce’s music, but Maiden’s as well. Natch Maiden wouldn’t get redeemed until Bruce’s return in 1999. Anyway, about Tears of the Dragon…this is a seriously good song and Bruce sings his ass off. In some sort of way, it’s a ‘part 2’ of Wasting Love. Both deal with Bruce’s thoughts on leaving Iron Maiden, one saying he needed to and one further explaining why he did. It’s wonderful to not only get that insight as to how Bruce (or any singer/songwriter) works, but also you see how human he is in these lyrics. You never, ever hear lead singers explicitly say why they left the group that made them famous. I have a lot of respect for Bruce Dickinson and the existence of Tears of the Dragon justifies all this. And it really doesn’t even matter that Bruce made a bad album here. Tears of the Dragon came out and he could get past all that and make some absolutely killer albums that blew the contemporary Iron Maiden albums out of the water.
So, yeah, there really are only two good songs on here. You can get Tears on the Best of CD, but Cyclops is only on here. Plus, I think you (me, we, all of us) need to hear all the lame stuff before Tears of the Dragon comes on at the end of the disc and essentially wakes Bruce up. Tears is excellent, but the album as a whole is far from it.
Rating: 76
*****
In 2005 all of Bruce’s albums were remastered and reissued with a bonus disc of all B-sides associated with the particular album. Well now! This means that *all* of the B-sides can now be found on the bonus disc and thus, you’ll get all of the Keith Olsen tracks…at least all the ones that were released. The bonus disc for Balls to Picasso has 16 tracks and for me personally a few that I hadn’t heard (you know, they were released on exclusive 7″ singles and stuff). There were some dang good B-sides for this album (see my reviews of the singles 1 2) so this one is a bit more desirable that just the album proper.
Write a comment