In 2009 the Swedish “Hair Metal” band Europe came out with a new album, “Last Look at Eden”. I’ve been following them off and on for over 20 years. They went on hiatus between 1993 and 1999 when they re-formed to play The Final Countdown at a concert on the eve of the year 2000. Since then they’ve released studio albums in 2004, 2006, and their latest in 2009. I’ve never seen them live unless you count their live almost acoustic webcast in January 2008. (see earlier review) They haven’t toured the U.S. since 2004 when I wasn’t following them as closely. I think I heard that the tour wasn’t very successful and they’ve spent most of their time touring Europe (the continent) with some occasional concerts in Japan and South America. In 2009 they played over 10 venues in Germany alone. Looks like I’ll have to go somewhere like that to actually see them live.
Obtaining this latest album wasn’t very easy either. Their website, www.europetheband.com, said that the album was going to be released sometime around September 15, 2009. But when that day came around it was only released in a few select countries and was only available to order as an import on websites such as amazon.com. Import versions can cost twice as much or more than domestic releases. I think this one cost around $27. The website cdnow.com was selling the album to be released in England (and possibly Asia) for only around $14.95 but it wouldn’t be made available until September 28, 2009. I decided I could wait until then.
After two weeks I placed the order online and it took less than a week to arrive. It seemed like the websites were selling different versions of the album, each with a different color trim on the CD case. The one I got has a white cardboard case with orange-brown trim. I had seen the cover of the album on the band’s website before it came out. It’s the cross section of an apple sliced in halve from top to bottom surrounded by spikes on its skin. The back shows more of the apple’s spiky exterior. I’m guessing the apple represents either the Garden of Eden or the forbidden fruit of that garden. The spikes mean that the fruit is now forbidden or that the garden is now off limits to us as if this cross section is our “last look.” Anyway the symbolism, or my interpretation of it, may be a bit clumsy, but I still think it’s a great album cover because I like to eat apples. You can make just about anything with them. The album cover also includes the band’s name in their classic logo both on the front and side.
The CD consists of ten tracks plus a short prelude at the beginning and two live bonus tracks at the end. It’s a very rock-oriented album that emphasizes their harder and faster sound more than their soulful side, though there are a couple of soulful tracks. It begins with an orchestral prelude by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra that sounds a bit like a soundtrack or maybe a Mahler symphony. It goes right into the first official track after about 50 seconds. That song, the title track “Last Look at Eden” has a loud, hard, and anthemic beginning. The lead singer, Joey Tempest, isn’t kidding when he sings, “and I won’t be quiet.” The orchestral accompaniment continues throughout the song with heavy emphasis on the strings along with John Norum’s lead guitar. Like most Europe songs it’s not easy to tell exactly what the song is about. I think it’s a call to change the world or help solve the environmental problems. It’s either take action now or take one “last look at Eden.” Perhaps they believe the world now will be “Eden” compared to what it will become. The theme is similar to their earlier big hit “The Final Countdown” without the science fiction overtones.
They lose the orchestra and overall political correct message for the next song, “Gonna get Ready”, but the loud fast rockin’ sound continues. The theme is simply the title “get ready” though it’s not clear what to get ready for. Just don’t hesitate, don’t fear, and try your best. The theme changes for the next track, “Catch that Plane” that urges “my baby” to catch and plane and get back here presumably to work out some relationship problems. Yeah, it’s a bit more selfish than getting ready or taking a last look at Eden. But it’s just as rockin’.
They slow down for the next song, “New Love in Town”, that showcases Mic Michaeli’s keyboard playing along with Norum’s guitar and Tempest’s vocals. The song seems to celebrate the beginning of a first love. This is interesting because the book I just reviewed, How to Talk to Girls by Alec Greven explicitly states not to celebrate in front of the girl when you get together with her. That’s probably why the video for “New Love in Town” has the band performing the song in an airplane hangar with no audience. Then again, the song doesn’t always clearly refer to romantic love. The chorus mentions how “you turned it around” and the bridges includes the profound lines “Everyone I met has made me what I am today/ Every choice I made has led me here today.” I guess that’s how profoundly the new love has affected. And the girl doesn’t want to hear about any of this.
They return to the fast rockin’ sound for “The Beast” that’s about going wild or possibly reacting to a situation (“We’re having more fun than we deserve.”) The song has a bit of attitude with lines such as “we don’t show up, we arrive” and “we gotta live before we’re back to dust.” The tone is urgent and only slows down for a short bridge. The next song is only slightly slower, just as rockin’, and has a lot of attitude. “Mojito Girl” is a about a party girl who’s the love with the voice singing the song (“can be the sweetest thing”). The song gets self-referential with the line “Hey, let’s get out of this second verse.” I wonder how the love of someone that “lost her halo a long time ago” and uses a mojito to “kill what’s left of her modesty” will be “the sweetest thing”. This isn’t one of their better songs and reminds me a little of “Girl from Lebanon” from the 1991 album “Prisoners in Paradise.”
The next song is better. It emphasizes Michaeli’s keyboards over Norum’s rockin’ guitar and has more of the anthemic song quality that I’ve enjoyed from their earlier songs. The subject of “No Stone Unturned” is not clear. It almost seems religious in nature (“Believe and you shall arrive.”) It’s back to rockin’ guitar for the next song, “Only Young Twice”. It seems to be about missed opportunities and the fleeting passage of youth, though it never really explains what is meant by only being young twice. Is it like the James Bond film, You only Live Twice? In any case twice young doesn’t seem to be enough.
They continue rocking with the next song “U Devil U” that’s actually a song of compliments. They seem to have a thing for the wild and bad. The song doesn’t measure up to their last devil song, “Devil Sings the Blues” from their 2006 album “Secret Society”. They follow their latest devil song with “Run with the Angels.” Are they paired to emphasize the religious dichotomy? The song seems to be a pledge to be true to someone who “runs with the angel.” It’s just as loud and rockin’ as the preceding “Devil” song. Maybe they’re not all just about being bad. The last track of the official album set, “In My Time” slows things down and sounds like a sad song with its haunting acoustic guitar. But the lyrics indicate some joy. It’s another pledge to be true as in “Run with the Angels” only more subdued. Norum still has an electric guitar solo. The song reminds me of “Settle for Love”, the subdued song that ends their 2004 comeback album “Start from the Dark”.
The official album tracks are followed by two live bonus tracks and the first of the two is fast becoming an old favorite of ours. It’s the very rockin’ “Yesterday’s News” performed live in Paris in 2005. We originally heard the song on their greatest hits CD “Europe 1982-1992” and it’s an outtake from their 1991 album “Prisoners in Paridise” making it 19 years old. But its quality has held up and it is better than many songs on the “Eden” album. The song has a slightly humorous chorus line: “I’m so down I’m reading Yesterday’s News.” We find it even more humorous because my wife showed me an ad in one of her magazines for a brand of kitty litter called “Yesterday’s News.” The next bonus track is a more recent song that’s just as rockin’: “Wake up Call” from “Start from the Dark”. Midway through the song Tempest shouts, “Look out, Tokyo!”
Overall “Last Look at Eden” is pretty good but doesn’t quite measure up to the other two albums recently released by Europe. It doesn’t quite have the standout anthemic emotional song that “Hero” is for “Start from the Dark”. “Eden” attempt to have standouts with the title track and “New Love in Town.” The musical quality of “Eden” also doesn’t match the more layered sound of the songs on “Secret Society”. The music is simpler and the themes are less universal and altruistic. But “Eden” still makes a good edition to their catalog. The may not quite “Ride with the Angels” but they still rock like a “Beast”. Let’s hope this isn’t the “Last Look . . .” at their music, that America stops thinking of them as “Yesterday’s News”, and they “Catch that Plane” that brings them on a U.S. Tour.
Obtaining this latest album wasn’t very easy either. Their website, www.europetheband.com, said that the album was going to be released sometime around September 15, 2009. But when that day came around it was only released in a few select countries and was only available to order as an import on websites such as amazon.com. Import versions can cost twice as much or more than domestic releases. I think this one cost around $27. The website cdnow.com was selling the album to be released in England (and possibly Asia) for only around $14.95 but it wouldn’t be made available until September 28, 2009. I decided I could wait until then.
After two weeks I placed the order online and it took less than a week to arrive. It seemed like the websites were selling different versions of the album, each with a different color trim on the CD case. The one I got has a white cardboard case with orange-brown trim. I had seen the cover of the album on the band’s website before it came out. It’s the cross section of an apple sliced in halve from top to bottom surrounded by spikes on its skin. The back shows more of the apple’s spiky exterior. I’m guessing the apple represents either the Garden of Eden or the forbidden fruit of that garden. The spikes mean that the fruit is now forbidden or that the garden is now off limits to us as if this cross section is our “last look.” Anyway the symbolism, or my interpretation of it, may be a bit clumsy, but I still think it’s a great album cover because I like to eat apples. You can make just about anything with them. The album cover also includes the band’s name in their classic logo both on the front and side.
The CD consists of ten tracks plus a short prelude at the beginning and two live bonus tracks at the end. It’s a very rock-oriented album that emphasizes their harder and faster sound more than their soulful side, though there are a couple of soulful tracks. It begins with an orchestral prelude by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra that sounds a bit like a soundtrack or maybe a Mahler symphony. It goes right into the first official track after about 50 seconds. That song, the title track “Last Look at Eden” has a loud, hard, and anthemic beginning. The lead singer, Joey Tempest, isn’t kidding when he sings, “and I won’t be quiet.” The orchestral accompaniment continues throughout the song with heavy emphasis on the strings along with John Norum’s lead guitar. Like most Europe songs it’s not easy to tell exactly what the song is about. I think it’s a call to change the world or help solve the environmental problems. It’s either take action now or take one “last look at Eden.” Perhaps they believe the world now will be “Eden” compared to what it will become. The theme is similar to their earlier big hit “The Final Countdown” without the science fiction overtones.
They lose the orchestra and overall political correct message for the next song, “Gonna get Ready”, but the loud fast rockin’ sound continues. The theme is simply the title “get ready” though it’s not clear what to get ready for. Just don’t hesitate, don’t fear, and try your best. The theme changes for the next track, “Catch that Plane” that urges “my baby” to catch and plane and get back here presumably to work out some relationship problems. Yeah, it’s a bit more selfish than getting ready or taking a last look at Eden. But it’s just as rockin’.
They slow down for the next song, “New Love in Town”, that showcases Mic Michaeli’s keyboard playing along with Norum’s guitar and Tempest’s vocals. The song seems to celebrate the beginning of a first love. This is interesting because the book I just reviewed, How to Talk to Girls by Alec Greven explicitly states not to celebrate in front of the girl when you get together with her. That’s probably why the video for “New Love in Town” has the band performing the song in an airplane hangar with no audience. Then again, the song doesn’t always clearly refer to romantic love. The chorus mentions how “you turned it around” and the bridges includes the profound lines “Everyone I met has made me what I am today/ Every choice I made has led me here today.” I guess that’s how profoundly the new love has affected. And the girl doesn’t want to hear about any of this.
They return to the fast rockin’ sound for “The Beast” that’s about going wild or possibly reacting to a situation (“We’re having more fun than we deserve.”) The song has a bit of attitude with lines such as “we don’t show up, we arrive” and “we gotta live before we’re back to dust.” The tone is urgent and only slows down for a short bridge. The next song is only slightly slower, just as rockin’, and has a lot of attitude. “Mojito Girl” is a about a party girl who’s the love with the voice singing the song (“can be the sweetest thing”). The song gets self-referential with the line “Hey, let’s get out of this second verse.” I wonder how the love of someone that “lost her halo a long time ago” and uses a mojito to “kill what’s left of her modesty” will be “the sweetest thing”. This isn’t one of their better songs and reminds me a little of “Girl from Lebanon” from the 1991 album “Prisoners in Paradise.”
The next song is better. It emphasizes Michaeli’s keyboards over Norum’s rockin’ guitar and has more of the anthemic song quality that I’ve enjoyed from their earlier songs. The subject of “No Stone Unturned” is not clear. It almost seems religious in nature (“Believe and you shall arrive.”) It’s back to rockin’ guitar for the next song, “Only Young Twice”. It seems to be about missed opportunities and the fleeting passage of youth, though it never really explains what is meant by only being young twice. Is it like the James Bond film, You only Live Twice? In any case twice young doesn’t seem to be enough.
They continue rocking with the next song “U Devil U” that’s actually a song of compliments. They seem to have a thing for the wild and bad. The song doesn’t measure up to their last devil song, “Devil Sings the Blues” from their 2006 album “Secret Society”. They follow their latest devil song with “Run with the Angels.” Are they paired to emphasize the religious dichotomy? The song seems to be a pledge to be true to someone who “runs with the angel.” It’s just as loud and rockin’ as the preceding “Devil” song. Maybe they’re not all just about being bad. The last track of the official album set, “In My Time” slows things down and sounds like a sad song with its haunting acoustic guitar. But the lyrics indicate some joy. It’s another pledge to be true as in “Run with the Angels” only more subdued. Norum still has an electric guitar solo. The song reminds me of “Settle for Love”, the subdued song that ends their 2004 comeback album “Start from the Dark”.
The official album tracks are followed by two live bonus tracks and the first of the two is fast becoming an old favorite of ours. It’s the very rockin’ “Yesterday’s News” performed live in Paris in 2005. We originally heard the song on their greatest hits CD “Europe 1982-1992” and it’s an outtake from their 1991 album “Prisoners in Paridise” making it 19 years old. But its quality has held up and it is better than many songs on the “Eden” album. The song has a slightly humorous chorus line: “I’m so down I’m reading Yesterday’s News.” We find it even more humorous because my wife showed me an ad in one of her magazines for a brand of kitty litter called “Yesterday’s News.” The next bonus track is a more recent song that’s just as rockin’: “Wake up Call” from “Start from the Dark”. Midway through the song Tempest shouts, “Look out, Tokyo!”
Overall “Last Look at Eden” is pretty good but doesn’t quite measure up to the other two albums recently released by Europe. It doesn’t quite have the standout anthemic emotional song that “Hero” is for “Start from the Dark”. “Eden” attempt to have standouts with the title track and “New Love in Town.” The musical quality of “Eden” also doesn’t match the more layered sound of the songs on “Secret Society”. The music is simpler and the themes are less universal and altruistic. But “Eden” still makes a good edition to their catalog. The may not quite “Ride with the Angels” but they still rock like a “Beast”. Let’s hope this isn’t the “Last Look . . .” at their music, that America stops thinking of them as “Yesterday’s News”, and they “Catch that Plane” that brings them on a U.S. Tour.
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