In 1994, having left Iron Maiden for a time (he rejoined in 1999), Bruce Dickinson released his second solo album, entitled Balls To Picasso. Named in honour of the cubist pioneer whose representations of spherical objects were as squares, and reflected on the cover in graffiti style on a tiled bathroom wall, the album belied its irreverent title by solidifying Dickinson’s reputation as a serious solo artist.
His first record with collaborator Roy Z, and recorded with Z’s band Tribe Of Gypsies, it went through various iterations before its release, produced by Shay Baby. The original album included a number of classic tracks and live favourites from Dickinson including the singles Tears Of The Dragon and Shoot All The Clowns, alongside the much-loved epic
Laughing In The Hiding Bush, which was the original title for the album.
Yet despite its positive reception at the time, it never quite captured Dickinson’s original vision, which was even more expansive in scope and ambition. However, with the ability to revisit his solo catalogue – and following on from Dickinson’s hugely acclaimed album The Mandrake Project in 2024 – the brand new part re-recorded, remixed and newly mastered version of the album, now entitled More Balls To Picasso, reimagines it as a fresh and contemporary release; a roaringly full-throttle and ambitious collection of supremely crafted and realised songs.
Dickinson says of it, “While mixing all my catalogue into Dolby Atmos I had a nagging desire to revisit and reinvent the record. So putting more balls into ‘Balls…’ was a labour of love. Of course, we beefed up the guitars – courtesy of our ‘Swedish shredder’ Philip Naslund and we added some really beautiful work by Adassi Addasi on ‘Tears…’ as well. Fellow Brazilian composer Antonio Teoli added some stunning orchestral arrangements, and in a unique contribution, added indigenous instruments from the Amazon (recorded by himself when he lived there!) at the beginning of ‘Gods Of War’.
Listen To ‘Gods Of War’ here brucedickinson.lnk.to/moreballstopicassoPR
