Bruce Dickinson

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
I’d love to share your views on The Mandrake Turd guys. To me it is, by far, the weakest Bruce Dickinson solo album. The highs on Tattooed Millionaire are much better.
 
I've actually never listened to Tattooed Millionaire (I know Son of a Gun, TM, Born in 58, possibly others) and only heard Mandrake twice when it came out so my opinion may count for fuck all but yes, 100%, the highs on TM pish all over Mandrake. And Balls is a class album, always loved it, Gods of War, oh my, wonderful song.

This sudden slew of Mandrake apologists is whack yo.
 
Hendrik said:
I don't have high expectations for this album. I was disappointed by Mandrake, and this album is coming out so soon after it, even though he surely put his best ideas into Mandrake, why not?
But of course, I'd love to be pleasantly surprised.
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I wouldn't say he put his best work in TMP. From what we can gather from interviews at the time, TMP was composed of mostly leftovers from earlier sessions with Roy, along with a few new songs. Sonata in particular was deemed unusable for a long time until Roy reworked it and Leana talked Bruce into putting it on the album. The backing music here was all written by Bruce's new band, likely with a bit of input and lyrics by him.

So, I would say it's difficult to know what to expect here. Bruce is excited about it, and supposedly Steve said it had a song (or more, can't remember) that was the best thing he'd sang on. That said, it's weird Steve said that since he's been known to yoink good Bruce solo material (BYDTTS, IESF), yet didn't yoink anything here. Further evidence Steve wasn't planning on a new Maiden album? You decide. ;)

Since some of us are collectively reevaluating The Mandrake Project, I'd say my opinion hasn't changed much. It's a good album, I think, but one with deep flaws. The compilation aspect of it makes it feel less like a cohesive album is the biggest. The production is a clear step down from TCW and ToS. And I wish I could hop in a DeLorean, hit 88mph, go to Paris, and act like a spooky ghost at Bruce's bedside proclaiming disaster should he listen to his wife and include Sonata.

It sits low in the pack of Bruce's solo work for me, probably 2nd to last above Tattooed. I might've put it above Balls, but I really like the George Lucas-ing work added to it, which elevates that album a bit for me. 2nd sounds bad, but Bruce has a really strong catalogue, IMO, so 2nd isn't terrible in this situation. It has a number of songs I'd consider above average to great, such as Ragnarok, Rain on the Graves, Fingers in the Wound, Resurrection Men, and If Eternity Has Failed (prefer it to Maiden's, production-wise, at least).
 
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