Review Summary: For too long now, there were things I should have said.
I don't even think that Bruce Dickinson himself would make an argument for his sophomore effort
Balls to Picasso being his best effort. Released during what was arguably a weird, transitionary, sealed-off-in-a-vaccum period for him, it's without a doubt his most unconfident effort to date. It lacks the fun, colour and even glam of his debut
Tattooed Millionaire, the experimentation found on subsequent record
Skunkworks, or even the unique brand of alchemy-infused modern metal that has made up every effort starting with 1997's
Accident of Birth, through to last year's
The Mandrake Project. Its sound is hard to define because it both tries to have just enough elements of his two 90s Maiden offerings to not alienate people coming to him from Iron Maiden, but it also tries to establish something of its own unique identity without even really having an idea of what direction it even wants to go in. And to loop back to the statement that opens this review, Bruce spent the past year or so teasing Dolby Atmos remasters of his back catalogue, and when it came to
Balls, he felt like trying a different approach altogether- doing something of a reimagining. So on one hand, I commend him for trying something different. He knows that this is far from his best work just as much as everyone else does, so he thinks, “maybe I can try to do something else with it altogether”. And hey, unlike a certain Roger Waters, whose definition of revisiting an album he's known for was mumbling said album's lyrics over shitty elevator music renditions of it, he has the benefit of hindsight here, and full control over what he could add to improve it.
Unfortunately, we run into a different problem here: it seems as though he may have had a bit of an overinflated sense of what would truly improve the album.
More Balls to Picasso is certainly more Balls to Picasso alright, and as the saying goes, more isn't always better. In fact, one only needeth look at opening track: “Cyclops”. You see, one of quite a few things the original album is commonly criticized for is having a weird, rather dry and sterile mix, its guitars having not as much bite as they would on later efforts. But I have to admit that that's a track where that actually works in its favour. The strange sounding guitar makes for a great accompaniment for the robotic gurgles that flourish the track, and also suits the rather paranoid atmosphere of the song perfectly well. Well, how does Bruce go about reimagining this song? the sounds of autobots and decepticons fighting as Shia LeBouef watches from the strets, shimmery choirs and random tribal percussion. It's not as if the added production value doesn't improve anything- Bruce's double layered vocals does beef things up a tad. In fact, I'd say it's the one area where this is an improvement on the song. But that is to say, the one area. In the nearly-instrumental second half of the 8-minute song, there's pointless synth choirs added, and they don't add anything to the songs.
If I had to make any comparison to his parent band, it's the b-sides to Maiden's
Dance of Death-era singles. Said B-sides are “orchestral” versions of the 8-minute epics from that album. I put that word in parentheses, because they're anything but. They're the same songs, but drowned out in shitty synth strings. The thing is, the original versions of songs already had a lush sonic palette, so it's like smearing an already beautiful woman with too much makeup. There is obviously a difference here, because remastering your albums in Dolby Atmos requires your albums to truly stand out, sonically. So it is somewhat understandable that Bruce would somewhat feel the need to overcompensate. It's sad too, because there are things added to the songs that do seem as if they'd improve them. “Laughing in the Hiding Bush” has a synthesizer added to the chorus that does admittedly inject some more life into the song, but the verses, the one part of the song that don't need any improvements, have weird sound effects added that just ruin the atmosphere. The creepy double-tracked rapping vocals in “Sacred Cowboys” are gone and replaced with Bruce duetting with a robot for some reason. I would honestly just rather have had Bruce's main vocal track if they were to remove the second one, because the robot vocals do not work
at all. And the one song that could probably have benefitted most, Tears of the Dragon, is just ruined by drowning the song out in strings. Which makes it worse, because there already
is an orchestral version of the song (with a title like “first bit, last bit, long bit” or something to that effect), that, while not as good as the original, still works as its own reinterpetation. Worse, there are some songs full of improvements here: “Hell No” is much heavier thanks to being beefed up a tad. “1000 Points of Light” is heavier and even has an added guitar riff during the chorus that adds some much needed power to a rather sterile offering. And “Change of Heart” has its Latin feel enhanced with the added strings as well as percussion. I also quite enjoy the new version of “Gods of War”! The tribal drumming gives a much needed boost to the song, and it's hard not to imagine tribal armies marching through the streets.
To be as fair as possible to Bruce and co, he definitely took a different approach to remixing a past effort than most did. I can see this new reimagined version making new fans and attracting new audiences to his music. But by itself,
More Balls leaves a lot to be desired. The lack of any material from the second disc from the 2001 reissue, such as his disturbing yet amazing masterpiece “The Breeding House”, the stellar “Fire Child” and even lack of inclusion of the aforementioned alternate version of “Tears” makes you wonder what the point of reimagining such an album was. Bruce, I absolutely love you man, but I think I'd rather have just heard a proper remix of the album than… uh, whatever
THIS was.
