@@matthewkieswetter4376 Damn, Roy Z producing Maiden would be sweet! (or just someone else than Caveman, for a change) I can't help feeling that Kevin Shirley has become a bit of a resident yes-man for Harris, and getting someone else at the producer's chair could be a welcome breath of fresh air. You know, a producer to put the foot down a bit, trim the fat and help get out a nice & concise record without the needless bloat that's been on the last few albums. Someone to say they don't have to fill out the entire capacity of a CD just for the sake of filling it, and to step in with constructive criticism when long songs turn out that way due to meandering and repetition.
1. Chemical Wedding 2. Accident of Birth 3. Tyranny of Souls 4. Skunkworks 5. Balls To Picasso 6. Tattooed Millionaire To me The Alchemist is absolutely the best song out of his solo career.
1. Chemical Wedding 2. Accident of Birth 3. Tyranny of Souls 4. Balls to Picasso 5. Tattooed Millionaire 6. Skunkworks The first three are stone classics.
I may agree with you. It's hard for me to get past my love of Number of the Beast, but that is probably just nostalgia taking over. Chemical Wedding is his fiercest and most bold statement.
I really enjoy Rich’s insight on ranking shows. He clearly takes the time to dive into each album and gives the listener a well thought out review of each album in the catalog. Nice job 👍
6. Skunkworks 5. Tattooed Millionaire 4. Tyranny Of Souls 3. Balls To Picasso 2. The Chemical Wedding 1. Accident Of Birth I still listen to The Chemical Wedding, Accident Of Birth, and Balls To Picasso often. The other three do have some songs that I love. Songs like Son Of A Gun, Back From Edge, Inertia, and Abduction are some of my favorites. The Chemical Wedding and Accident Of Birth are MASTERPIECES in my eyes.
@@garyjoyce2160 I originally had The Chemical Wedding as number one, but I changed it because Accident Of Birth really had a huge impact on me when it first came out. I was a teenager at 17 years old when Accident Of Birth came out , and it was my favorite album of 1997 easily.
@@garyjoyce2160 Absolutely!!! The Chemical Wedding is also a MASTERPIECE. I love the whole album big time, but my favorite has to be The Tower. At that time I also loved Iron Maiden's The X Factor and Virtual 11, but I loved Bruce's two solo albums Accident Of Birth and The Chemical Wedding way more. Bruce's solo albums were more Iron Maiden than Iron Maiden was back then. Yeah I was a young buck when these albums came out back in the 90's. It all started with Quiet Riot's Metal Health album back in 1983 for me at five years old. 38 years later I am still a Heavy Metal fan more than ever. Lol
I don't think we will see many people voting differently on positions #1 and #2. The rest of them are a jumble though, anything can happen. I would also include the "Best of" in the rankings as it has two good songs that are only found there, "Silver Wings" and "Broken", plus a bunch of B-side type stuff only found there. Actually "Broken" is one of Bruce's best songs.
I was at that Toads Place show in New Haven. Adrian was there with Bruce. They played 2 Minutes and Powerslave along with most of the Accident record. Amazing show.
Personally, I think Skunkworks is highly underrated. Sure, theres a bit more "filler" than some others, but still a solid album with some killer tracks 🤘
@@helgaratbone1691 yes ...if you dont have the japan bonus song "Eternal" you can get it on that 2018 best of cd Scream For Me Sarajevo_ Music From The Motion Picture.........great slow song ......sounds like he is talking about his old days in maiden !!!!!
Hey Pete you should check out the 2 new tracks ‘Broken’ and ‘Silver Wings’ that are on the best of that Chris showed. Would both probably be in Bruce’s top 10 solo songs.
Pete, I think it would be cool to do a tour of some of your contributors music collections. Of course, I just want to see how many extra copies of stuff Chris Alo has and how he stores his stuff. One day, he's going to have a HELLACIOUS garage sale, lol.
Haha, I was thinking the same thing, about putting all the stuff on shelves, in boxes, under the bed. Three copies of Scream for me Brazil, one unopened, he's hilarious. Only topped by his 5 copies of Sabbath's Live at Last which he hates.
Cool episode. My list: 1 Accident of birth 2 Chemical wedding 3 The mandrake project 4 Tyranny of souls 5 Balls to Picasso 6 Tattooed millionaire 7 Skunk works
Maybe you guys are not as familiar with his solo work but a blaze bayley album ranking would be awesome his first 6 albums are awesome and his latter albums have some great tunes on to.
Chemical Wedding and Accident of birth are the best. I saw them on both tours. AoD Support for Lynyrd Skynyrd. CW headliner. Great Show! Way better than Iron Maiden a month before...
My number one is Tyranny of souls. Would be cool to see a dream setlist show where you create a live setlist for a Bruce Dickinson concert with his solo songs.Maybe Ridin with the angels and two unplayed Maiden songs as encores.
6.Tattooed Millionaire 5.Tyranny of Souls 4.Balls to Picasso 3.Skunkworks 2.Accident of Birth 1. Chemical Wedding.Absolutely love the variety of his solo career.Great players on each album
You guys don't have the 2005 "expanded versions" of his solo albums, because there were a ton of AMAZING songs on the expanded versions, such as "Fire Child", "The Breeding House", "No Way Out... To Be Continued" on Balls to Picasso, etc.
Chemical Wedding is the only one I've ever owned. I love the concept and love Blake's Jerusalem & The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell & Adrian Smith. It doesn't come near my favorite Maiden albums, but it's probably better than anything Maiden's done since the classic 80's heyday.
1. Chemical Wedding (1998) 2. Accident of Birth (1997) 3. Balls To Picasso (1994) - The expanded version 4. Tyranny of Souls (2005) - The last time Bruce sounded great 5. Skunkworks (1996) 6. Tattooed Millionaire (1990)
Saw Bruce and Adrian on accident of birth tour at the strand in Providence and what an amazing show (and at a small theater was even better). And when they returned to maiden saw them at the orpheum theater in Boston
Went to the Bruce solo show for Tattooed Millionaire at the Bacchanal in San Diego. Both me and my friend were too young to get in so we just hung out by the back door and tried to listen. Couldn’t hear much but got to meet Bruce after.
31:45 I was at the July 16th show at the Hammerstein Ballroom, my first time seeing Maiden and Bruce’s first U.S. show returning to the band. Crazy because I live in Delaware but they didn’t play Philly that tour....and yes, one of the very few shows where they played “Stranger in a Strange Land” post 1986. Great show.
I'm speaking as someone who has only heard his cover of 'All the Young Dudes', but I was chatting to a person I met in a pub in Watford UK 2009; he told me he had seen Maiden in the Very early days in London (and I mean very early days) I said that I loved 'Somewhere in Time' as an absolute masterpiece, and he said that he rated Bruce's solo work more highly than Maiden's. I've never had the inclination to check this out, but I've enjoyed this SOT episode regardless.
Massive fan of all of these albums, really hard to rank them but here's my 2 cents worth with some comments: 6- Tattooed Millionaire - Some great songs on here Son of a Gun, Born in 58 but some clunkers too Zulu Lulu, Lickin' the Gun. A mixed bag. 5- Tyranny of Souls - A good album but just a bit underwhelming, lacks the edge that would make it great compared to the previous 2 releases. Safe? 4- Balls to Picasso - Interesting early raw production from Roy Z which hits you hard, combined with the dark lyrics this strikes me as bleak in a good way. Edgy. 3- Skunkworks - Hangs together really well as an album, lots of energy and some rawer production make tracks like Solar Confinement and Dream State shine. Smooth. 2- The Chemical Wedding - What can I say... cover, theme, production, songs, all awesome and probably more consistent than AOB but I don't feel it has as many stand-out tracks. Epic. 1- Accident of Birth - So many stand-out songs Omega, Starchildren are just 2. Stellar production overall and the bass and drums reminds me of classic Sabbath. Ultimate. Also just a note to say Roy Z's band A Tribe of Gypsies contribute so much to the albums they played on, they're not typical metal players and add and incredible feel and groove to the music.
1. Chemical Wedding 2. Accident of Birth 3. Tyranny of Souls 4. Balls to Picasso 5. Skunkworks 6. Tattooed Millionaire * that Best of comp of Bruce is excellent - lots of rare stuff on it
Accident of Birth and Chemical Wedding are about as good as any Maiden album. Perhaps I just graduated from high school before the former came out has some influence, but either way, two brilliant albums. I enjoy the others too. I didn’t like Skunkworks in the 90’s but have grown into that album since.
I couldn't believe how terrible those Blaze shows were. i saw Bruce solo for Accident of Birth, in Virginia at a place called Jaxx. He beat up a guy who was being a douche and then berated security, all while the solo was playing. It was a stunning show.
Accident of Birth was my favorite honestly. It blew away some of the Maiden stuff from those lean years. Those last two albums before he left had some standout tracks, but most was filler. There's a few solo records I'm missing.
Accident Of Birth and The Chemical Wedding are Bruce Dickinson's MASTERPIECES in my opinion, but his greatest song ever is Tears Of The Dragon also in my opinion. Their is a live version with a band called Tribuzy that has Bruce Dickinson and Roy Z which is the greatest version ever.
I absolutely love all the Bruce Dickinson solo albums. The Chemical Wedding album is my favorite album out of my 7000 plus cd collection. The Chemical Wedding was new when i got into it. I wasn't really into Maiden yet and couldn't get into Bruce's vocals but with Accident of Birth and Chemical Wedding it really clicked with me. Then Brave New World came out and i became a huge Maiden fan. But i still prefer Bruce's solo albums over Maiden albums.
Loved Maiden/Anthrax show in Toronto January 1991. Had such a good time!!! Tattooed Millionaire has not aged well at all lol BUT it’s still better than Adrian’s first solo album “Silver & Gold” lol 😂😂😂😂
1. Chemical Wedding 2. Tyranny of Souls 3. Accident of Birth 4. Skunkworks 5. Balls to Picasso 6. Tattooed Millionaire AoB lost something . . Lot of fun, I do enjoy the lost Maiden album aspects as well. Love Skunkworks, but it gets a little long in spots with that production. They did 3/4 (6 tracks) off Virtual XI that night. Wow . . I like the album now, but damn good call Chris.
I've only got Chem Wedding(the best maiden record since somewhere in time). I'm tempted to either get the box set, or pic up the couple I've heard are really good(Balls to Picasso and Accodent at Birth).
I like tyranny the best. Fair play rich tyranny is a brilliant album i loved it as soon as i heard it not a week song on it. Heavy and moody devil on a hog is great.
BTW love the video, keep it rolling guys!!! 6- Balls To Picasso (I always thought that album to be unfocus. Like most of the songs he didn't know what to do with them) 5- Tattoed Millionaire (Like they said, a stupid fun album, not very good, but not horrific by any mean) 4- Skunkwork (I actually really enjoy it, I think he really pulled the Grunge thing pretty good. I understand if you don't like those bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, etc, but I do and I thought he did pretty neat job) 3- Tyranny Of Souls (Great record, only real tragedy about it, is if you have read Bruce's autobiograpgy, the title track was supposed to feat both Rob Halford and Ronnie James Dio, but because Ronnie wasn't on the same record label, Rod Smallwood didn't wanted it to happen, which is a BIG missed opportunity) 2- Accident Of Birth (Also a great record that I slightly like over TOS, because it simply longer ahah. But like Rich said, you can tell who wrotes whats songs in this album. It is a straight foward, song after song album that didn't try to make it feel like an experience, which is fine) 1- Chemical Wedding (Confession time: this is my 3rd favorite record of all time, that album feels like an experience, the melting of heavy modern metal that was happening in the 90's, with the old school glory of the early wave. Also, probaly Bruce stongest lyrics work all over it. A true masterpiece)
there's definitely a nu-metal influence on Accident and Chemical but oddly enough it doesn't suck and it comes across to me as old-school guys wisely using a modern influence to make something that's still true to their roots and doesn't feel like pandering.
The nu Metal influence is the down tuning and occasional guitar noises - like the intro of “Freak” for example. The actually songwriting, vocals and rhythm section is more traditional. They did indeed find a good balance of modern and classic. I always thought “Taking the Queen” sounds like Uriah Heep, down to the Gary Thain bassline.
My list is 6. Tattooed Millionaire 5. Balls to Picasso 4. Skunkworks 3. Accident of Birth 2. Tyranny of Souls 1. Chemical Wedding A fairly chronological order, but it is what it is. Not a big fan of the first two, but there's a huge gap in quality between Millionaire and Picasso. And Tears of the Dragon is, as you mentioned, one of his best songs. I do prefer the acoustic version though, which is on the bonus disc of the reissues. I don't mind Skunkworks, no matter what genre it belongs to. It's a solid album, I think. His best stuff is obviously his last three, the metal albums. I think CW is the most consistent throughout which is why I put it in first place. The other two are pretty good, but there's more of the average songs on those two.
Yeah, the last 3 records are more traditional metal, true. But, I really thought it was cool what Bruce did with the first 3 records in that he was trying something different. More straightforward hard rock (yeah some of it is a little silly but he meant it to be that way. I think he intended to to do a parody of some of the popular bands at the time ) in Tattooed Millionaire, added some more alternative/groove rock sound for Balls To Picasso and then went for more of a Soundgarden/King's X alt/prog vibe for Skunkworks. For me, some of the Balls to Picasso tracks come off a little flat and are much more vibrant on the Live in Studio A record.
1. Chemical Wedding (absolute masterpiece)
2. Accident of Birth
3. Tyranny Of Souls
4. Balls To Picasso
5. Tattooed Millionaire
6. Skunkworks
This is exactly how I would rank them too.
The Chemical Wedding is one of the best metal albums ever! It cranks and ranks with the best of Maiden. 🤘🏻
Agree, and I would say Accident of Birth and Tyranny of Souls are better than anything post Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Came here to sing the Chemical Wedding's praises, too. I wish Maiden would bring in Roy Z to produce an album.
@@matthewkieswetter4376 Damn, Roy Z producing Maiden would be sweet! (or just someone else than Caveman, for a change)
I can't help feeling that Kevin Shirley has become a bit of a resident yes-man for Harris, and getting someone else at the producer's chair could be a welcome breath of fresh air. You know, a producer to put the foot down a bit, trim the fat and help get out a nice & concise record without the needless bloat that's been on the last few albums. Someone to say they don't have to fill out the entire capacity of a CD just for the sake of filling it, and to step in with constructive criticism when long songs turn out that way due to meandering and repetition.
Absolutely correct!🤘
It's better than any Maiden album. (And I love Maiden)
"The Chemical Wedding" is one of my favorite albums of all time! Adrian Smith's guitar solo in "King In Crimson" is straight 🔥🔥
1. Chemical Wedding
2. Accident of Birth
3. Tyranny of Souls
4. Skunkworks
5. Balls To Picasso
6. Tattooed Millionaire
To me The Alchemist is absolutely the best song out of his solo career.
1. Chemical Wedding
2. Accident of Birth
3. Tyranny of Souls
4. Balls to Picasso
5. Tattooed Millionaire
6. Skunkworks
The first three are stone classics.
My Tops-
1.Chemical Wedding
2.Accident of Birth
3.Tyranny of Souls
4.Skunkworks
5.Balls to Picasso
6.Tattooed Millionaire
Accident of Birth is my favorite. It also has the best album cover by far. Win/Win
Hot take: Chemical Wedding is, in my opinion, the best thing Bruce has ever been involved with. INCLUDING Maiden. Just an absolute masterpiece.
My favorite Maiden is Piece of Mind and to me CW and AOB are both on the same level.
I may agree with you. It's hard for me to get past my love of Number of the Beast, but that is probably just nostalgia taking over. Chemical Wedding is his fiercest and most bold statement.
I realize I am kinda randomly asking but does anyone know a good website to stream newly released movies online ?
@Nathan Ares i watch on flixzone. You can find it by googling :)
Agreed! And I thought I was the only one who thought so!
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of Blaze Bayley's voice, but his latest solo album is AWESOME. War Within Me.
There were 2 new KILLER songs on The Best Of Bruce Dickinson album, "Broken" and "Silver Wings."
The Chemical Wedding & Accident Of Birth are my favorite Bruce Dickinson albums
I guess I am in the minority, but Skunkworks is my fave. Nice video!
1. Skunkworks
2. Accident
3. Chemical
I really enjoy Rich’s insight on ranking shows. He clearly takes the time to dive into each album and gives the listener a well thought out review of each album in the catalog. Nice job 👍
Thank you
They toured for Chemical Wedding in Europe and South America. Scream for me Brazil...
The Bruce/Roy Z trilogy plus the two Halford solo albums kept traditional heavy metal alive during a very dark period for that genre.
6. Skunkworks
5. Tattooed Millionaire
4. Tyranny Of Souls
3. Balls To Picasso
2. The Chemical Wedding
1. Accident Of Birth
I still listen to The Chemical Wedding, Accident Of Birth, and Balls To Picasso often. The other three do have some songs that I love. Songs like Son Of A Gun, Back From Edge, Inertia, and Abduction are some of my favorites. The Chemical Wedding and Accident Of Birth are MASTERPIECES in my eyes.
John. : my exact list 👍💯
@@garyjoyce2160 I originally had The Chemical Wedding as number one, but I changed it because Accident Of Birth really had a huge impact on me when it first came out. I was a teenager at 17 years old when Accident Of Birth came out , and it was my favorite album of 1997 easily.
@@johnkatsoudas4767 I mean CHEMICAL is unreal as well. Love it. That 1-2 punch 🤜 is tremendous. Good stuff 💯👍
@@johnkatsoudas4767 / in 9️⃣7️⃣ I was 35. Lol. Your a young EM. I got the “ OLDS”
@@garyjoyce2160 Absolutely!!! The Chemical Wedding is also a MASTERPIECE. I love the whole album big time, but my favorite has to be The Tower. At that time I also loved Iron Maiden's The X Factor and Virtual 11, but I loved Bruce's two solo albums Accident Of Birth and The Chemical Wedding way more. Bruce's solo albums were more Iron Maiden than Iron Maiden was back then. Yeah I was a young buck when these albums came out back in the 90's. It all started with Quiet Riot's Metal Health album back in 1983 for me at five years old. 38 years later I am still a Heavy Metal fan more than ever. Lol
6. Skunkworks
5. Tattooed Millionaire
4. Balls To Picasso
3. Accident of Birth
2. Tyranny of Souls
1. Chemical Wedding
I don't think we will see many people voting differently on positions #1 and #2. The rest of them are a jumble though, anything can happen. I would also include the "Best of" in the rankings as it has two good songs that are only found there, "Silver Wings" and "Broken", plus a bunch of B-side type stuff only found there. Actually "Broken" is one of Bruce's best songs.
I was at that Toads Place show in New Haven. Adrian was there with Bruce. They played 2 Minutes and Powerslave along with most of the Accident record. Amazing show.
1) Accident of Birth
2) Chemical Wedding
3) Skunkworks
4) Tyranny of Souls
5) Balls to Picasso
6) Tattooed Millionaire
1. Chemical Wedding
2. Accident of Birth
3. Tyranny of Souls
4. Skunkworks
5. Balls to Picasso
6. Tattooed Millionaire
Personally, I think Skunkworks is highly underrated. Sure, theres a bit more "filler" than some others, but still a solid album with some killer tracks 🤘
I agree.
Chemical Wedding is a great album. I still play it quite often.
I first saw Dickinson when he was fronting a band called Samson. I thought wow, what a voice, he's going to be a big star some day.
Bruce Bruce 👍
Chris Alo Fan Club T-shirts,please!
Just make sure they print the big boy sizes, because I won't fit in a small one! :)
For me chemical wedding is miles ahead all the rest. That album is a metal masterpiece. One of my favorite metal albums of all time.
Tyranny is right behind it. Gets better with each listen. Accident loses something over the years.
yes !!!......and Tyranny is the brother of that !!!!
@@helgaratbone1691 yes .........Believil....is a unbelievable song !!!!.....heavy !!!
@@helgaratbone1691 yes ...if you dont have the japan bonus song "Eternal" you can get it on that 2018 best of cd Scream For Me Sarajevo_ Music From The Motion Picture.........great slow song ......sounds like he is talking about his old days in maiden !!!!!
I’d argue Accident of Birth is by far his best solo album. It’s much more melodic than CW, which is a good thing.
Hey Pete you should check out the 2 new tracks ‘Broken’ and ‘Silver Wings’ that are on the best of that Chris showed. Would both probably be in Bruce’s top 10 solo songs.
Broken is a great song.
My favorite trio... would love a weekly show with them just shooting the shit for a couple hours
Love son of a gun and tears of the dragon....acoustic version of tears was always my favorite
Pete, I think it would be cool to do a tour of some of your contributors music collections. Of course, I just want to see how many extra copies of stuff Chris Alo has and how he stores his stuff. One day, he's going to have a HELLACIOUS garage sale, lol.
Haha, I was thinking the same thing, about putting all the stuff on shelves, in boxes, under the bed. Three copies of Scream for me Brazil, one unopened, he's hilarious. Only topped by his 5 copies of Sabbath's Live at Last which he hates.
Good insight by Rich and Pete about Skunkworks. The guy who produced it(Jack Endino) also was the producer for Soundgarden and Nirvana.
Cool episode. My list:
1 Accident of birth
2 Chemical wedding
3 The mandrake project
4 Tyranny of souls
5 Balls to Picasso
6 Tattooed millionaire
7 Skunk works
1) The Chemical Wedding
2) Tyranny of Souls
3) Accident of Birth
4) Balls to Picasso
5) Tattooed Millionaire
6) Skunkworks
Maybe you guys are not as familiar with his solo work but a blaze bayley album ranking would be awesome his first 6 albums are awesome and his latter albums have some great tunes on to.
Another great and fun show.
1 - Chemical Wedding
2 - Accident of Birth
3 - Tyranny of Souls
Chemical Wedding is one of the best metal albums in history, definitely among top 10
Chemical Wedding and Accident of birth are the best. I saw them on both tours. AoD Support for Lynyrd Skynyrd. CW headliner. Great Show! Way better than Iron Maiden a month before...
His live album "Scream For Me Brazil",..A classic not to be overlooked!
Tears of the dragon on scream for me brazil,is just amazing
I keep hoping he will do one more solo album before he retires.
You got your wish!! See you on March 1st with the Mandrake Project
Cyclops is a classic track
Yes Chris!!!!
'Fire the ballerina dancer!!'
I totally fuxkin agree, wholeheartedly.
My number one is Tyranny of souls. Would be cool to see a dream setlist show where you create a live setlist for a Bruce Dickinson concert with his solo songs.Maybe Ridin with the angels and two unplayed Maiden songs as encores.
big fan for the solo cds !!!!!
tattooed millionaire will always be my no 1!!!!
Bring Your Daughter was a number one hit single in the UK.
Because it was released on about six variations and
Was it maiden version or solo version?
6.Tattooed Millionaire 5.Tyranny of Souls 4.Balls to Picasso 3.Skunkworks 2.Accident of Birth 1. Chemical Wedding.Absolutely love the variety of his solo career.Great players on each album
You guys don't have the 2005 "expanded versions" of his solo albums, because there were a ton of AMAZING songs on the expanded versions, such as "Fire Child", "The Breeding House", "No Way Out... To Be Continued" on Balls to Picasso, etc.
Chris was just showing a few of them in the video lol.
FYI Janick is till there because Adrian said he wouldn't return to Maiden if it cost Janick his job so they decided to go with three guitarists
Chemical Wedding is the only one I've ever owned. I love the concept and love Blake's Jerusalem & The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell & Adrian Smith.
It doesn't come near my favorite Maiden albums, but it's probably better than anything Maiden's done since the classic 80's heyday.
1. Chemical Wedding
2. Accident of Birth
3. Tyranny of Souls
Question: Which one takes the number on spot, "Accident of Birth" or "A Chemical Wedding"?
Answer: Yes.
I was at the Tattooed Millionaire show here in Toronto at Rock 'n Roll Heaven. What a great show!
1. Chemical Wedding (1998)
2. Accident of Birth (1997)
3. Balls To Picasso (1994) - The expanded version
4. Tyranny of Souls (2005) - The last time Bruce sounded great
5. Skunkworks (1996)
6. Tattooed Millionaire (1990)
For me there's 3 I love and can take or leave the others so my top 3 are
1. The Chemical Wedding
2. Accident of Birth
3. Balls to Picasso
Saw Bruce and Adrian on accident of birth tour at the strand in Providence and what an amazing show (and at a small theater was even better). And when they returned to maiden saw them at the orpheum theater in Boston
Went to the Bruce solo show for Tattooed Millionaire at the Bacchanal in San Diego.
Both me and my friend were too young to get in so we just hung out by the back door and tried to listen.
Couldn’t hear much but got to meet Bruce after.
1 ACCIDENT OF BIRTH
2 CHEMICAL WEDDING
3 TATTOOED MILLIONAIRE
4 BALLS TO PICASSO
5 TYRANNY OF SOULS
31:45 I was at the July 16th show at the Hammerstein Ballroom, my first time seeing Maiden and Bruce’s first U.S. show returning to the band. Crazy because I live in Delaware but they didn’t play Philly that tour....and yes, one of the very few shows where they played “Stranger in a Strange Land” post 1986. Great show.
bruce Dickinson had solo albums wow.
I'm speaking as someone who has only heard his cover of 'All the Young Dudes', but I was chatting to a person I met in a pub in Watford UK 2009; he told me he had seen Maiden in the Very early days in London (and I mean very early days) I said that I loved 'Somewhere in Time' as an absolute masterpiece, and he said that he rated Bruce's solo work more highly than Maiden's. I've never had the inclination to check this out, but I've enjoyed this SOT episode regardless.
I think Skunkworks is fucking phenomenal. I personally loved the Soundgarden vibe throughout it. Strange Death In Paradise!!!
6. Skunkworks
5. Tattooed millionaire
4. Balls to Picasso
3. Accident of birth
2. Tyranny of souls
1. The chemical wedding (MASTERPIECE!!!)
How about ranking the non-priest albums from Rob Halford (Fight, Two, Halford etc)?
Easy ranking- debut Halford, debut fight, k2 demos, second Halford, second fight, two
Accident of Birth is the best one and best produced as well.
Massive fan of all of these albums, really hard to rank them but here's my 2 cents worth with some comments:
6- Tattooed Millionaire - Some great songs on here Son of a Gun, Born in 58 but some clunkers too Zulu Lulu, Lickin' the Gun. A mixed bag.
5- Tyranny of Souls - A good album but just a bit underwhelming, lacks the edge that would make it great compared to the previous 2 releases. Safe?
4- Balls to Picasso - Interesting early raw production from Roy Z which hits you hard, combined with the dark lyrics this strikes me as bleak in a good way. Edgy.
3- Skunkworks - Hangs together really well as an album, lots of energy and some rawer production make tracks like Solar Confinement and Dream State shine. Smooth.
2- The Chemical Wedding - What can I say... cover, theme, production, songs, all awesome and probably more consistent than AOB but I don't feel it has as many stand-out tracks. Epic.
1- Accident of Birth - So many stand-out songs Omega, Starchildren are just 2. Stellar production overall and the bass and drums reminds me of classic Sabbath. Ultimate.
Also just a note to say Roy Z's band A Tribe of Gypsies contribute so much to the albums they played on, they're not typical metal players and add and incredible feel and groove to the music.
Bruce Dickinson puts his pants on one leg at a time, but then he makes Gold records.
The Chemical Wedding Masterpiece!!
1. Chemical Wedding
2. Accident of Birth
3. Tyranny of Souls
4. Balls to Picasso
5. Skunkworks
6. Tattooed Millionaire
* that Best of comp of Bruce is excellent - lots of rare stuff on it
Accident of Birth and Chemical Wedding are about as good as any Maiden album. Perhaps I just graduated from high school before the former came out has some influence, but either way, two brilliant albums. I enjoy the others too. I didn’t like Skunkworks in the 90’s but have grown into that album since.
Yeah , my favorite Maiden record is Piece of Mind and to me CW and AOB are as good.
I love Skunkworks too, solid record from start to finish.
I couldn't believe how terrible those Blaze shows were. i saw Bruce solo for Accident of Birth, in Virginia at a place called Jaxx. He beat up a guy who was being a douche and then berated security, all while the solo was playing. It was a stunning show.
Jaxx used to be the place to go for metal shows. Woulda loved to see that one
Tremendous story. Today. Mega mega lawsuit/be retired with @ fake injury. Never saw him solo. 👍💯
@@garyjoyce2160 That guy had it coming. Law suit or no.
Looking forward to your review of Bruce's new solo album The Mandrake Project. It's fantastic!
Accident of Birth was my favorite honestly. It blew away some of the Maiden stuff from those lean years. Those last two albums before he left had some standout tracks, but most was filler. There's a few solo records I'm missing.
Accident Of Birth and The Chemical Wedding are Bruce Dickinson's MASTERPIECES in my opinion, but his greatest song ever is Tears Of The Dragon also in my opinion. Their is a live version with a band called Tribuzy that has Bruce Dickinson and Roy Z which is the greatest version ever.
My list:
6. Skunkworks
5. Tyranny of Souls
4. Balls to Picasso
3. Tattooed Millionaire
2. Accident of Birth
1. Chemical Wedding
I instantly fell in love with Tattoed Millionaire back in the days : )
Chris, that Best Of has at least one new Song on it, "Silver Wings". I wanna say there were two but I don't really recall.
I absolutely love all the Bruce Dickinson solo albums. The Chemical Wedding album is my favorite album out of my 7000 plus cd collection. The Chemical Wedding was new when i got into it. I wasn't really into Maiden yet and couldn't get into Bruce's vocals but with Accident of Birth and Chemical Wedding it really clicked with me. Then Brave New World came out and i became a huge Maiden fan. But i still prefer Bruce's solo albums over Maiden albums.
Loved Maiden/Anthrax show in Toronto January 1991. Had such a good time!!! Tattooed Millionaire has not aged well at all lol BUT it’s still better than Adrian’s first solo album “Silver & Gold” lol 😂😂😂😂
I feel deprived that I never saw Bruce solo and never got to hear all of these great songs live
1. Chemical Wedding
2. Tyranny of Souls
3. Accident of Birth
4. Skunkworks
5. Balls to Picasso
6. Tattooed Millionaire
AoB lost something . . Lot of fun, I do enjoy the lost Maiden album aspects as well. Love Skunkworks, but it gets a little long in spots with that production.
They did 3/4 (6 tracks) off Virtual XI that night. Wow . . I like the album now, but damn good call Chris.
Hey Guys- where would you rank The Mandrake Project?
Chris cracks me up with his comments “Ballerina Guy” thanks for the laughs..
Love Chris but have a totally different opinion on that. And I was there in 1998, hah!
I've only got Chem Wedding(the best maiden record since somewhere in time).
I'm tempted to either get the box set, or pic up the couple I've heard are really good(Balls to Picasso and Accodent at Birth).
1) Accident Of Birth, 2) Chemical Wedding, 3) Balls To Picasso, 4) Tyranny Of Souls, 5) Tattooed Millionaire, 6) Skunkworks
I like tyranny the best. Fair play rich tyranny is a brilliant album i loved it as soon as i heard it not a week song on it. Heavy and moody devil on a hog is great.
Thank you
BTW love the video, keep it rolling guys!!!
6- Balls To Picasso (I always thought that album to be unfocus. Like most of the songs he didn't know what to do with them)
5- Tattoed Millionaire (Like they said, a stupid fun album, not very good, but not horrific by any mean)
4- Skunkwork (I actually really enjoy it, I think he really pulled the Grunge thing pretty good. I understand if you don't like those bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, etc, but I do and I thought he did pretty neat job)
3- Tyranny Of Souls (Great record, only real tragedy about it, is if you have read Bruce's autobiograpgy, the title track was supposed to feat both Rob Halford and Ronnie James Dio, but because Ronnie wasn't on the same record label, Rod Smallwood didn't wanted it to happen, which is a BIG missed opportunity)
2- Accident Of Birth (Also a great record that I slightly like over TOS, because it simply longer ahah. But like Rich said, you can tell who wrotes whats songs in this album. It is a straight foward, song after song album that didn't try to make it feel like an experience, which is fine)
1- Chemical Wedding (Confession time: this is my 3rd favorite record of all time, that album feels like an experience, the melting of heavy modern metal that was happening in the 90's, with the old school glory of the early wave. Also, probaly Bruce stongest lyrics work all over it. A true masterpiece)
1) Chemical Wedding
2) Accident of Birth
3) Tyranny of Souls
4) Tattooed Millionaire
5) Balls to Picasso
6) Skunkworks
Skunkworks was Bruce's Tin Machine.
Chemical Wedding is da bomb!! Tyranny of Souls gets better with each listen.
there's definitely a nu-metal influence on Accident and Chemical but oddly enough it doesn't suck and it comes across to me as old-school guys wisely using a modern influence to make something that's still true to their roots and doesn't feel like pandering.
The nu Metal influence is the down tuning and occasional guitar noises - like the intro of “Freak” for example.
The actually songwriting, vocals and rhythm section is more traditional. They did indeed find a good balance of modern and classic.
I always thought “Taking the Queen” sounds like Uriah Heep, down to the Gary Thain bassline.
2. Accident Of Birth 3. Chemical Wedding 4. Tyranny Of solos 5. Balls To Picasso 6. Skunkworks
Saw him on the accident of birth tour rock city Nottingham being from the same town born in 58 references to me and family
6th - Tattooed Millionaire
5th - Tyranny of Souls
4th - Balls to Picasso
3rd - Skunkworks
2nd - Accident of Birth
1st - Chemical Wedding
There's zero nu metal in CW, Rich. Cmon
I didn't say nu metal, I said modern newer metal.
Got my ticket this morning for manchester in may 2024👍👍
I agree on the masterpiece that is A Chemical Wedding, but really disagree on Skunkworks, that’s my second fave
Pete was dead on with the King’s X influence on Skunkworks though. That could be why I like it so much!
My list is
6. Tattooed Millionaire
5. Balls to Picasso
4. Skunkworks
3. Accident of Birth
2. Tyranny of Souls
1. Chemical Wedding
A fairly chronological order, but it is what it is. Not a big fan of the first two, but there's a huge gap in quality between Millionaire and Picasso. And Tears of the Dragon is, as you mentioned, one of his best songs. I do prefer the acoustic version though, which is on the bonus disc of the reissues. I don't mind Skunkworks, no matter what genre it belongs to. It's a solid album, I think. His best stuff is obviously his last three, the metal albums. I think CW is the most consistent throughout which is why I put it in first place. The other two are pretty good, but there's more of the average songs on those two.
Yeah, the last 3 records are more traditional metal, true. But, I really thought it was cool what Bruce did with the first 3 records in that he was trying something different. More straightforward hard rock (yeah some of it is a little silly but he meant it to be that way. I think he intended to to do a parody of some of the popular bands at the time ) in Tattooed Millionaire, added some more alternative/groove rock sound for Balls To Picasso and then went for more of a Soundgarden/King's X alt/prog vibe for Skunkworks. For me, some of the Balls to Picasso tracks come off a little flat and are much more vibrant on the Live in Studio A record.
Chemical Wedding is such a great album.
1. Chemical Wedding
2. Accident of Birth/Skunkworks (Tie)
4. Tyranny of Souls
5. Tattooed Millionnaire
6. Balls to Picasso