Bruce Dickinson Solovivor 2024 - "BOOK OF THEL" WINS!

[Diesel 11]

ROUND 1
​

Tattooed Millionaire (1990) 1. Son of a Gun (5:55) Dickinson/Gers 2. Tattooed Millionaire (4:28) Dickinson/Gers 3. Born in '58 (3:40) Dickinson/Gers 4. Hell on Wheels (3:39) Dickinson/Gers 5. Gypsy Road (4:02) Dickinson/Gers 6. Dive! Dive! Dive! (4:41) Dickinson/Gers 7. All the Young Dudes (3:50) Bowie 8. Lickin' the Gun (3:17) Dickinson/Gers 9. Zulu Lulu (3:28) Dickinson/Gers 10. No Lies (6:17) Dickinson Bonus tracks: 11. Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter (5:01) Dickinson 12. Ballad of Mutt (3:35) Dickinson/Gers 13. Winds of Change (4:14/3:23) Dickinson/Gers 14. Darkness Be My Friend (2:03) Dickinson

I crossed the shining seas,
Eyes of creatures follow me
Moonlight guides us on a steady course...​

Welcome to the Bruce Dickinson Solovivor 2024! We're starting with Bruce's first solo offering, 1990's glam rock affair Tattooed Millionaire, featuring future Iron Maiden guitarist Janick Gers as a key songwriter and performer. Please note that "Winds of Change" has two versions, one of which is a hard rock approach and the other acoustic. Just vote based on whichever version you prefer.

Previous Brucevivor Results:

Spoiler: Survivor 1

2009
(Hosted by SinisterMinisterX)

01. Book of Thel
02. Darkside of Aquarius
03. Omega
04. Chemical Wedding
05. Tears of the Dragon
06. King in Crimson
07. The Tower
08. Accident of Birth
09. Jerusalem
10. Silver Wings

Spoiler: Survivor 2

2010
(Hosted by SinisterMinisterX)

01. Book of Thel ◄0
02. Darkside of Aquarius ◄0
03. Jerusalem ▲6
04. Silver Wings ▲6
05. Chemical Wedding ▼1
06. The Tower ▲1
07. The Alchemist ●new
08. Navigate the Seas of the Sun ●new
09. Omega ▼6
10. King in Crimson ▼4

Spoiler: Survivor 3

2012
(Hosted by Unknown One)

01. (tie) Darkside of Aquarius ▲1
01. (tie) Jerusalem ▲2
03. Omega ▲6
04. Tears of the Dragon ●returning
05. The Tower ▲1
06. Chemical Wedding ▼1
07. Book of Thel ▼6
08. Kill Devil Hill ●new
09. King in Crimson ▲1
10. Navigate the Seas of the Sun ▼2

Spoiler: Survivor 4

2014
(Hosted by Night Prowler)

01. Darkside of Aquarius ◄0
02. Book of Thel ▲5
03. Omega ◄0
04. Tears of the Dragon ◄0
05. Jerusalem ▼4
06. The Tower ▼1
07. Chemical Wedding ▼1
08. The Alchemist ●returning
09. King in Crimson ◄0
10. Navigate the Seas of the Sun ◄0

Spoiler: Survivor 5

2016
(Hosted by Night Prowler)

01. Darkside of Aquarius ◄0
02. Book of Thel ◄0
03. Omega ◄0
04. Jerusalem ▲1
05. Chemical Wedding ▲2
06. Tears of the Dragon ▼2
07. The Tower ▼1
08. The Alchemist ◄0
09. Accident of Birth ●returning
10. Kill Devil Hill ●returning

Spoiler: The Sidequest

2018
(In which all of the songs were ranked out of 10 to assemble the list; hosted by Diesel 11)

01. Tears of the Dragon ▲5
02. Omega ▲1
03. Darkside of Aquarius ▼2
04. Book of Thel ▼2
05. The Tower ▲2
06. Chemical Wedding ▼1
07. Navigate the Seas of the Sun ●returning
08. Jerusalem ▼4
09. Arc of Space ●new
10. Kill Devil Hill ◄0

Spoiler: The Ultimate Top 10

			Total	I	II	III	IV	V	VI
1	Darkside of Aquarius	Accident of Birth	56	9	9	10	10	10	8
2	Book of Thel	The Chemical Wedding	49	10	10	4	9	9	7
3	Omega	Accident of Birth	43	8	2	8	8	8	9
4	Jerusalem	The Chemical Wedding	36	2	8	10	6	7	3
5	Tears of the Dragon	Balls to Picasso	35	6		7	7	5	10
6	Chemical Wedding	The Chemical Wedding	33	7	6	5	4	6	5
7	The Tower	The Chemical Wedding	30	4	5	6	5	4	6
8	King in Crimson	The Chemical Wedding	10	5	1	2	2
9	The Alchemist	The Chemical Wedding	10		4		3	3
10	Navigate the Seas of the Sun	Tyranny of Souls	9		3	1	1		4
11	Silver Wings	The Best of Bruce Dickinson	8	1	7
12	Kill Devil Hill	Tyranny of Souls	5			3		1	1
13	Accident of Birth	Accident of Birth	5	3				2
14	Arc of Space	Accident of Birth	2						2

From the night,
the sun will rise again...

Let the games begin.​

 

[Jer]

• Ballad Of Mutt
• Lickin’ The Gun
• Zulu Lulu
• Dive! Dive! Dive!

 

[Vaenyr]

Ah, now those posts make sense!

Not a big fan of Tattooed Millionaire and I couldn't sing the melody to half of those songs with a gun to my head. In fact, the only songs I care about from this album are the title track and Darkness Be My Friend. Maaaybe Son Of A Gun as well.

Voted for:

- Hell On Wheels
- Gypsy Road
- Dive³
- All The Young Dudes
- Lickin' The Gun
- Zulu Fucking Lulu
- Ballad Of Mutt

 

[MindRuler]

Dudes Dive Lickin´ Lulu

 

[MrKnickerbocker]

The entire middle of the album (Hell on Wheels - Zulu Lulu) + Ballad of Mutt.

This album is truly, truly awful. Son of a Gun is the only good song here, with the title track and Born in '58 being ok, I suppose.

 

[Black Bart]

All The Young Dudes
No Lies
The Ballad of Mutt
Winds of Change

 

[TheMercenary]

All The Young Dudes
Zulu Lulu
No Lies
Ballad Of Mutt

 

[Eddieson]

• Hell On Wheels
• All The Young Dudes
• Lickin' The Gun
• Zulu Lulu
• Ballad Of Mutt
• Winds Of Change

 

[Mosh]

I went ahead and voted for the entire back half of the album + Winds of Change and Ballad of Mutt. I don’t hate Tattooed Millionaire but games like these really illustrate how weak the album is after track 3.
And it completely takes a Dive (Dive, Dive) on side 2. All the Young Dudes is the best thing and that’s a cover (and really not even close to the original in quality). No Lies isn’t terrible but I always saw it as a much less interesting remake of Bring Your Daughter, which I’m willing to let slide through a couple rounds depending on how this shakes out.

The first three songs are excellent. I would have no problem putting any of them on a compilation or live Setlist. In fact I would say each song is better than the last, which runs counter to how the album plays out after that. Gypsy Road is fine but unremarkable and will get my vote soon. Hell on Wheels does AC/DC much better than Lickin the Gun does Aerosmith. The great hook keeps that one alive another round.

I can count the Bruce b-sides that I think are really remarkable on one hand, none of which are on this album. That said, I don’t mind the folksy acoustic material which I assume is at least partially Somewhere in Time reject material. Winds of Change and Darkness are fairly similar in tone, I voted Winds because Darkness just has a more interesting dark Tull vibe. Ballad of Mutt is true garbage. One of the worst things Bruce has put on tape. I can’t believe they also played it live. Proof that low brow Bruce wasn’t born in 2017, contrary to popular belief.

 

[Kalata]

The first round is easy:

All The Young Dudes (cover)
Lickin' The Gun
Zulu Lulu
Ballad Of Mutt
Winds Of Change (I don't like this acoustic version)

Some of my least favorite and worst solo songs of Bruce. I appreciate something different (like Darkness Be My Friend), but some pieces are just so weak. This first rock/glam rock album from Bruce is far from memorable as a whole (except for the 3 great songs), but all the rest of the material is really fun and really catchy, which is not easy considering the album was written for 10 days and not so seriously.

 

[Kalata]

Not a big fan of Tattooed Millionaire and I couldn't sing the melody to half of those songs with a gun to my head. In fact, the only songs I care about from this album are the title track and Darkness Be My Friend. Maaaybe Son Of A Gun as well.

''Born In '58''? Classic rock ballad.

The album has quite a melodic approach overall. ''No Lies'' is a clever copy of Bring Your Daughter and its instrumental section should have been much better and interesting for 6 minutes, but this chorus is great, albeit repetitive. The song should have been ~4 minutes long or with more wild solos from Janick like his cool solo at the end.

 

[Vaenyr]

''Born In '58''? Classic rock ballad.

Sure, but this one in particular still isn't my thing. It's better than the songs I voted for, but that's not really a high bar to clear.

 

[Diesel 11]

First post has been edited to include the ultimate Top 10, a culmination of all previous Survivors + the ranking game.

Also if you initially saw that post yesterday with a complete coding breakdown in the arrangement of the spoiler tags, you're tripping. It never happened. It's a myth. You made it up. Fuck you.

 

[Diesel 11]

Son of a Gun - A scorching album opener with a powerful chorus and some fantastic playing from Janick. "Take me to Jesus with Judas my guide" is a powerful moment. Excellent track, one of the best on the album.

Tattooed Millionaire - Iconic riff (derivative of Def Leppard's "Photograph"), a fantastic performance from Bruce, and one of his best choruses. First solo song I heard from him and I still love it.

Born in '58 - A great song, certainly one of the album's most beloved. I think some vocal phrasing in the verses is awkward, and the chorus doesn't pop as much as the previous two, but otherwise it's pretty great.

Hell on Wheels - I love Bruce's rasp on these verses, and the chorus is fun. This one just overstays its welcome; I don't think you necessarily need the third verse and fourth chorus repeat. Vote.

Gypsy Road - This one tries to repeat the "Born in '58" formula, a little less successfully perhaps but I always enjoy hearing it. Love the high notes at the end especially. I didn't really realize 'til now how much griping Bruce does on this album ("drinking stale water, having to pay for the privilege", damn). Solo here is pretty inconsequential.

Dive! Dive! Dive! - I think this one gets overly hated on just because of the innuendos, because for the most part this is a pretty fun rocker, another track where the rasp is in full force. I think I like it less than I used to, but it's still pretty good overall.

All the Young Dudes - Not a bad cover by any means. You can tell they only did this to fill up the record, but it's pretty competent and I like Bruce's voice on the chorus and Janick's lead playing.

Lickin' the Gun - Just don't care about this one at all. Easily the album's weakest track. Vote.

Zulu Lulu - On an album of really dumb songs, this one probably takes the cake. But it's one of those songs that I think is so dumb it actually ends up being kind of fun. Catchy track, not much more than that.

No Lies - Has a lot of similarities to "Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter", especially the original solo band version. Used to like this one more than I currently do. The vocals on the verses are pretty shit. The chorus is good but feels unfinished. I like the Janick graveyard wailing in the instrumental section though. Vote.

Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter - Maiden's version is better. Vote.

Ballad of Mutt - Stale raunchy acoustic blues number. Arguably the worst thing Bruce has ever written. Realizing now that it has some early Van Halen vibes (think "Ice Cream Man"), and I never thought I'd say this but David Lee Roth could've pulled it off better. Vote.

Winds of Change - Sleepy little number. The acoustic version never really pops, and the hard rock version has a lackluster vocal (plus that "I wanna spend my life with you" FireHouse section). Vote.

Darkness Be My Friend - Pretty cool folksy number, Bruce is shrouded in darkness and it works. Love the flute(?) solo too.

 

[Diesel 11]

Day and a half left before round 1 ends; get your votes in by Wednesday morning! Great turn out so far.

 

[Diesel 11]

Eliminated after Round 1:
Zulu Lulu - 25 votes
Lickin' the Gun - 21 votes
Ballad of Mutt - 21 votes

Gonna do at least one more round of Tattooed Millionaire tracks because I want to cut down a bit before the onslaught of BTP songs hits. You have two days to vote!

 

[Diesel 11]

Voting for:

• Hell on Wheels
• All the Young Dudes
• No Lies
• Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter
• Winds of Change

 

[MindRuler]

Hell
Dive
Dudes
Winds

 

[Jer]

Hell Gypsies Dive All Winds

 

[Eddieson]

• Hell On Wheels
• All The Young Dudes
• No Lies
• Winds Of Change