Whenever a band/artist announces that they are about to release a “re-imagining” of an album, I usually roll my eyes, bite my lip, and ask the gods of all things sacred, “WHY??? WHY???” When it was announced earlier this month that Bruce Dickinson would be taking this route with his 1994 debut post-Iron Maiden album, Balls to Picasso, I screamed to the heavens and the hells, “WHY???????”
Balls to Picasso marks Bruce’s first time collaborating with Roy Z and utilized Z’s band, Tribe of Gypsies, as the backing band for the album. Over the years, Balls To Picasso would be a cult classic in the metal world, yielding some of Bruce’s best writing, such as “Laughing in the Hiding Bush,” “Gods of War,” and the epic “Tears of the Dragon.”
I have a very personal relationship with Balls to Picasso. Bruce had left Iron Maiden, and when he released this album, I had just left my band with a feeling of loss, defeat, and depression. Hearing Balls to Picasso put a lot of things in perspective for me, and it quickly became a favorite of mine.
Even after all his releases, I still hold it dear, so the idea of “re-imagining it” had me wondering why you would fuck with something that is already a perfect album? What’s that old saying? “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Well, Bruce thought this album needed some fixing and did so for 2025’s More Balls to Picasso
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’.
“‘Shoot All The Clowns’ gets the benefit of a horn section fronted by the Berklee College of Music, and all of the record gets the benefit of the mix by Brendan Duffey, (who worked on The Mandrake Project), with notes along the way from Shay Baby, the original father of the album”.
Additionally, More Balls to Picasso includes two previously unreleased live in-the-studio tracks, ‘Gods of War’ and ‘Shoot All the Clowns’.
After hearing this new version of “Gods of War” with it’s thunderous tribal drums and clean production taking the place of the murky original brought a whole new life to the song and if this one song is any indication of what the read of More Balls to Picasso has in store for us, I’d say it’s going to be a fucking brilliant masterpiece.
Pre-order now, for release on July 25
Tracklisting
1. Cyclops
2. Hell No
3. Gods of War
4. 1000 Points of Light
5. Laughing in the Hiding Bush
6. Change of Heart
7. Shoot All the Clowns
8. Fire
9. Sacred Cowboys
10. Tears of the Dragon
11. Gods of War (Live in the Studio)*
12. Shoot All the Clowns (Live in the Studio)*
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