Released on 3 June 1994, Balls To Picasso was a slightly curious addition to the Bruce Dickinson catalogue. Following his debut solo album Tattooed Millionaire and his departure from Iron Maiden, it took three attempts to get the album off the ground. With the first attempt considered too Maiden-esque and the second attempt too much of a departure from his signature sound, what was Bruce to do?
Bruce Dickinson – More Balls To Picasso
Release Date: 25 July 2025
Words: Steve Kenton
The answer lay in the collaboration between the singer, guitarist, and producer Roy Z. The resulting album, which was essentially written on a blank canvas, entered the UK charts at a rather disappointing 21 before dropping out after three weeks.
The curiosity of this offering is that its chart position belied the quality of the tracks on the album. There is a smorgasbord of great numbers on this audiological gem. Tracks such as Gods Of War, Cyclops, 1000 Points Of Light and Tears Of The Dragon are well-written and brilliantly performed songs, although the original production suffered.
The original album, mixed and produced by Shay Baby, had a somewhat thin, lightweight feel to it. This may well have been because of the technology available at the time, and is certainly no criticism of the producer.
After all, Balls To Picasso was recorded over 30 years ago, so what to do?
Well, in true Bruce Dickinson style, the album has been revisited, reimagined, refreshed and turned into a rather epic offering.
Bruce Dickinson – More Balls To Picasso
Everything about More Balls To Picasso is huge. It’s expansive, chunky, and the sonic equivalent of switching between Panavision and IMAX. It really is a thing of beauty.
With additional fretwork from Dickinson’s touring guitarist Philip Näslund, added keyboard and orchestral arrangements by Brazilian composer Antonio Teoli and Grammy-winning producer Brendan Duffey at the helm, producing, mixing, ATMOSing and mastering, a complete overhaul has been achieved.
When listening to both the original version of the album and the new version side by side, the differences are so stark that it is actually quite disconcerting at first.
With the opening number, Cyclops firing off proceedings, you immediately start to appreciate what Brendan Duffey has done here. There is a lot more depth to the drums, and the guitars seem fuller.
The next track, Hell No, the upgrade gives this big, three-dimensional effect that you just do not get with the original album. It sounds so much more dynamic.
Gods Of War is one of the major highlights of this album. The first offering to be released, it features a much heavier drum sound, with Antonio Teoli adding the sound of indigenous instruments from the Amazon at the start of the track.
With this song featuring heavily on the Scream For Me Sarajevo film soundtrack, it was important that this was reimagined in a sympathetic way, given the reverence it holds in relation to the film’s subject matter.
This approach was successfully applied to the other two tracks, which featured in the film’s production. The live studio version, which also features on the album, has a different tone to it, but it’s still a great interpretation of the track.
1000 Points Of Light again benefits from that expansive sound. The bass is a lot more apparent and pronounced. This was something that was sadly lacking on the original. It is as though a large gap has been filled.
Fan favourite Laughing In The Hiding Bush follows, and again, the rhythm section is so well developed, you can pick out every note and every strike of the drums. Again, there is so much depth.
The second song to feature from the Scream For Me Sarajevo film, Change Of Heart is next to get the treatment. This was always my least favourite track on the original album, so I knew that I would struggle a little with this track.
I was pleasantly surprised, though, upon hearing the enhancements that have been made. The guitars sounded a little looser and again, it benefits from Brendan Duffey’s upgrade.
Shoot All The Clowns follows and what an improvement. Considered by many to be the weakest song on the album, it has benefited from the addition of a horn section [yep, you read that right].
A horn section fronted by the Berklee College Of Music has actually been added to the track and is highly apparent on the outro. The guitar work sounds absolutely amazing too, clearer, cleaner and louder. The live studio version of this track is also on the album.
A significantly different beast, the song, although stripped bare, has a slinkier, bluesy feel about it. Lyrically, it is also very different. Bruce Dickinson dispenses with the rap which was inserted before the second solo, and that omission works well.
Track eight, Fire, needed something to give it a boost. On the original album, it was a somewhat pedestrian track. While the tempo has not increased, the fretwork has, giving it a richer, more whole sound. The bass was always good on the original album, but Brendan Duffey has managed to improve it further, giving it a deep, rich, slightly sinister tone.
Sacred Cowboys is up next, with its chugging guitars and spoken word verses it has definitely benefited from a clearer, more enhanced mix. It sounds fresher and has brought this ’90s Metal classic into the 21st century.
It could be argued that Tears Of The Dragon is the finest piece of work that Bruce Dickinson has produced during his long solo career. With several different versions already available and featured on the Scream For Me Sarajevo soundtrack, it was questionable whether another version of the song would dilute its value slightly.
I need not have been concerned. With a greater separation of sound layers and astonishing clarity, it sounds beautiful. The guitars are a lot chunkier, giving a more energetic and expansive feel to the track.
Overall, this is a very different album from the original. It has much bigger balls. The vocals and the harmonies are more pronounced, the guitars are fierce and chunky, the bass has so much more clarity to it, and the drums have a lot more drive to them.
It bears repeating that this album is spacious and grandiose. Brendan Duffey and Bruce Dickinson have done a fantastic job reinventing this album.
If you own the original, then you will definitely want this. If you do not have it, then you need More Balls To Picasso in your collection.
The album will be released on 25 July 2025, via BMG and available as a splatter vinyl double album and tri-panel digisleeve CD album. Pre-orders are available from here.
Track Listing
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)*
