Skunkworks is a hard rock

Hard rock

Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...

 album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 released in 1996 by Bruce Dickinson

Bruce Dickinson

Paul Bruce Dickinson is an English singer, songwriter, airline pilot, fencer, broadcaster, author, screenwriter, actor and marketing director, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden....

.

Originally, Bruce intended for Skunkworks to be the debut album of a band by the same name. However, the label would not publish the record under any other name than Bruce Dickinson. Consequently the album sounds quite different from Bruce's other solo works. Most songs in this album have the central theme being science and/or related themes. Furthermore, the songs are relatively short, with most running around 3 minutes. The band didn't last and for his next solo project, Accident of Birth

Accident of Birth

Accident of Birth is a heavy metal album released in 1997 by Bruce Dickinson. It was published by Zomba Music.This is the second album made in collaboration with guitarist/producer Roy Z and is therefore much different from Bruce's previous Skunkworks album. It marks Bruce's return to his more...

, he teamed up again with guitarist Roy Z

Roy Z

Roy Z is a guitarist, songwriter and producer known for his work with Bruce Dickinson , Rob Halford and Judas Priest. He also is the founder of Tribe of Gypsies, a hard rock band with Latin influences.-Biography:...

 (from Balls to Picasso

Balls to Picasso

Balls to Picasso is a Hard rock album by Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson, released in 1994. It is the second effort in Dickinson's solo career and the first released after he had officially left Iron Maiden....

). The album name refers to the code name for the military testing program

Skunk works

Skunk Works is an official alias for Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Programs , formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects. Skunk Works is responsible for a number of famous aircraft designs, including the U-2, the SR-71 Blackbird, the F-117 Nighthawk, and the F-22 Raptor...

.

In 2005, Skunkworks was re-released and the 2005 extended version included songs performed live, such as "Inertia", "Faith", "Innerspace", "The Prisoner" and other previously unreleased songs.

Track listing

Track listing for the 2005 expanded edition (2nd CD)

1. "I'm in a Band With an Italian Drummer
   I'm in a Band With an Italian Drummer
   I'm in a Band With an Italian Drummer is an ironic/spoof rock song by Bruce Dickinson, first issued as the B-side of his 1996 single "Back from the Edge" off his solo album Skunkworks, and subsequently released on the second disc of the 2001 Best of Bruce Dickinson compilation...
   
   "
2. "Rescue Day"
3. "God's Not Coming Back"
4. "Armchair Hero"
5. "R 101"
6. "Re-entry"
7. "Americans Are Behind"
8. "Inertia" (live)
9. "Faith" (live)
10. "Innerspace" (live)
11. "The Prisoner" (Iron Maiden
    Iron Maiden
    Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
    
     cover) (live)

Personnel

• Bruce Dickinson
  Bruce Dickinson
  Paul Bruce Dickinson is an English singer, songwriter, airline pilot, fencer, broadcaster, author, screenwriter, actor and marketing director, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden....
  
   - vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Alex Dickson - Guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  
• Chris Dale
  Sack Trick
  Sack Trick are an eccentric British music collective who have been compared to the humour of Monty Python and musical madness of Frank Zappa. The bassist Chris Paulo Dale is the center of the group, guiding the audience through a universe that is more rock circus than rock opera, with a partiality...
  
   - Bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Alessandro Elena - drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....