Style: hard rock, hair metal
Label: Epic
Year: 1986
Home: Sweden
Members: Joey Tempest ~ vocals
John Norum ~ guitar/b. vocals
John Leven ~ bass
Mic Michaeli ~ keyboards/b. vocals
Ian Haugland ~ drums/b. vocals
I worked for a record store on St. Mark's Place in Manhattan that closed now almost a decade ago, Rockit Scientist Records, & went completely online. On the day we closed my boss put on the song 'The Final Countdown'. He cranked it loud & played it over & over. Of course, we had to. I'm sure others have done the same with this song. I don't even know what this song is actually about. Not to mention, I don't know any other songs by Europe. I don't even know who is in the band. Obviously I'm not a follower of guitarist John Norum. I wouldn't be surprised if I wasn't the only one who had this limited view of Europe. So, I decided it was time to take a listen the album that put them into musical history. First, the famous title track which opens the album is about a relationship but with allusions to space. Cool. Next, guitarist John Norum is is a heavy handed guitarist with some good riffs under his belt. This would be his final album with them before blasting off to play with Don Dokken & Dokken, Glenn Hughes, Kelly Keeling & many others, before coming back into the Europe gang. Next, the singer has the typical tenor of the era, but doesn't scream. He attempts to use his voice in different melodic ways to make the lines sound interesting. He's a good singer, no doubt, though there's hardly any lyrics to the songs it often feels like, just lots of repetition. The title track has a great rolling rhythm of a NWOBHM flavor, but yet the guitar doesn't dominate like one would expect to hear. The keyboards take the melody until the big guitar solo. This final point is why I think "The Final Countdown" is so good. It has all the pieces of every band of the era, with nothing particularly unique to add, but it mixes them differently so they are heard in a completely new & different way. The guitar is not on top, the keyboards aren't an accessory. The predicted orchestration is turned on its head. The song ends up feeling almost prog, but is essentially AOR hair metal. Now, what about the rest of the album? I always find it sad when an album rolls by & I feel I've not heard it. Then I listen again & still it rolls. After its done playing I can't really remember what I've heard. Its not because I'm busy or not paying attention, but because none of the songs jump out at me. Some would say a lack of hooks or melodies. For whatever reason, the songs all blend into each other as one long thing & only few jump out with anything distinct. What makes this even sadder is when the album in question is one I start listening to hoping I'll really like it. I want a
rainbow & a pot of gold, but end up with a bowl of not so colorful soggy cereal. While this album was the American break through for Sweden's Europe, after numerous listens I can't really recall much of it. Its not bad, but its not great. "The Final Countdown" opens with fireworks & after that its just one long song in 9 pieces I don't remember even minutes after its end. Its quite disappointing, as I was hoping there was a treasure to be found here. The great unique arrangement style of that hit is not duplicated again, so what comes after has all the pieces of '80's hair metal & sounds exactly like all the hair metal bands of the day. Big vocals, big solos, big beats, lots of guitar, with the obligatory power ballad in "Carrie". I know "Carrie" was a hit, but I can't help but feeling it wouldn't be if "The Final Countdown" hadn't put the album into the public's eye. I'm sorry to say there's nothing distinctive here. I get no real personality or anything original. There's moments, though really "Ninja" just sounds like a cheap version of "The Final Countdown" but with a bigger solo. One problem with the album is, outside of "Cherokee" which is about the tribe, for all of Norum's great guitar solos & rhythms, the songwriting & composing is rather lackluster overall. The lyrics are drab & there's no hooks. I will say, I bet this band was good in concert. The guitar parts have a stadium quality. Yet, I'm not willing to give them a final countdown. I plan to check out some other albums first.
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