Bruce Dickinson – Soloworks

Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson has released several solo albums over the years, starting with “Tattooed Millionaire” in 1995, and following that up with “Balls To Picasso” (1994), “Skunkworks” (1996) “Accident Of Birth” (1997) “The Chemical Wedding” (1998) and his final solo album to date, “Tyranny Of Souls” (2005). These albums have been collected together and are being released as a vinyl box set, Soloworks.

It’s a great collection and for many fans will be their first chance to get the albums, let alone on good quality heavyweight vinyl. In fact two of the albums (“The Chemical Wedding” and “Tyranny Of Souls”) have never been available on vinyl before.

With the exception of the first and last solo albums – “Tattooed millionaire” and “Tyranny of souls”, these albums came when Bruce was no longer with Iron Maiden. He quit the band in 1993 to pursue a solo career and released “Balls to Picasso” the following year. He released several more solo albums before rejoining Iron Maiden in 1999.

There’s a real range of music here. While “Tattooed Millionaire” was straightforward no-frills hard rock, “The Chemical wedding” is metal and “Skunkworks” is alt-rock. The range of styles is good to hear as we’re so used to hearing Bruce Dickinson with Iron Maiden that it’s easy to typecast him as a particular style of vocals whereas these albums show he’s capable of singing on a much wider range of musical styles.

One recurring theme in the albums is Bruce Dickinson’s use of classical literature as a source of lyrics, whether it’s Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” or William Blake’s “And did those feet in ancient time”, it’s an indication of how well read he is as well as these sources providing some excellent lyrics.

It’s a great collection of albums and an excellent opportunity to get them on vinyl.

TRACK LISTINGS:

Tattooed Millionaire:

1. Son of a Gun
2. Tattooed Millionaire
3. Born in ’58
4. Hell on Wheels
5. Gypsy Road
6. Dive! Dive! Dive!
7. All the Young Dudes” (Mott the Hoople cover)
8. Lickin’ the Gun
9. Zulu Lulu
10. No Lies

Balls to Picasso:

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

Skunkworks:

1. Space Race
2. Back from the Edge
3. Inertia
4. Faith
5. Solar Confinement
6. Dreamstate
7. I Will Not Accept the Truth
8. Inside the Machine
9. Headswitch
10. Meltdown
11. Octavia
12. Innerspace
13. Strange Death in Paradise

Accident of birth:

1. Freak
2. Toltec 7 Arrival
3. Starchildren
4. Taking the Queen
5. Darkside of Aquarius
6. Road to Hell
7. Man of Sorrows
8. Accident of Birth
9. The Magician
10. Welcome to the Pit
11. Omega
12. Arc of Space

The Chemical wedding:

1. King in Crimson
2. Chemical Wedding
3. The Tower
4. Killing Floor
5. Book of Thel
6. Gates of Urizen
7. Jerusalem
8. Trumpets of Jericho
9. Machine Men
10. The Alchemist

Tyranny of souls:

1. Mars Within (Intro)
2. Abduction
3. Soul Intruders
4. Kill Devil Hill
5. Navigate the Seas of the Sun
6. River of No Return
7. Power of the Sun
8. Devil on a Hog
9. Believil
10. A Tyranny of Souls