VA – Gold: The Eighties Greatest Hits (3CD Set)

VA – Gold: The Eighties Greatest Hits (3CD Set)

Europe – Last Look At Eden

Europe – Last Look At Eden
Release: Sep 14, 2009 | Label: earMUSIC
Genre: Hard Rock, Melodic Rock, Heavy Metal | Mono/Stereo: 2 Channel
Included: EAC Log + CUE + Flac + Cover (front) + AudioChecker
Bonus: Video (Last Look At Eden) | Size: 440 MB | RAR files | RS.com

Album information
The band has described it as a modern retro rock album. “This time, we’re taking some new directions with our songs, and we’re exploring different styles,” they stated, “There is a definite classic rock vibe on some of the tracks… a tip of the hat to groovin’, funkin’ 70s rock songs – but ones we have brought into the here and now.”
During an interview with the Chilean radio station Radio Universo, vocalist Joey Tempest said that “Last Look at Eden is more a Europe album than Secret Society and Start from the Dark. Last Look at Eden is a real Europe album.”
Drummer Ian Haugland said that Start from the Dark and Secret Society had led up to Last Look at Eden, and Tempest agreed, saying, “We had to make those two albums in order to do this.” “With the two first comeback albums [Start from the Dark and Secret Society], we were very focused on trying to modernise the sound,” Tempest said in an interview with the British magazine Classic Rock, “This time we followed our hearts and soul. It’s very classic-sounding and melodic. It’s almost like we’ve gone full circle.”
Europe premiered one of the album tracks, “Mojito Girl”, on the Chilean tour in April 2009. Two other tracks, “Last Look at Eden” and “Gonna Get Ready”, were premiered on a concert in Norway in May.
In May 2009 Europe went to Gothenburg to work with director Patric Ullaeus on the music video for the first single, “Last Look at Eden”, which was released on June 8, 2009. The video was premiered on Europe’s MySpace page on June 3. In August Europe went back to Gothenburg to work with Ullaeus on the video for the second single, “New Love in Town”, which was released on September 3, 2009. The video was premiered on Europe’s MySpace page on September 5.
The album debuted at number 1 on the Swedish album chart.

Review by Stuart A Hamilton
Swedish melodic-rock band Europe shot to fame when, after some Swedish success with their first two records, the 1986 album The Final Countdown became a worldwide phenomenon, selling over three million copies in the USA alone.
Their big hair and big melodies were in the right place at the right time as that album and the follow-up Out of This World were Top 20 US hits, along with two top 10 US singles in the shape of “The Final Countdown” and the big ballad “Carrie”, with the former hitting number 1 in 25 countries, including the UK, France, Italy and Germany.
Grunge took care of Europe, as it did so many others, and they shut-up shop in 1992 after Prisoners In Paradise. They did play one show to celebrate the millennium, but didn’t get back together until 2003, when The Final Countdown line-up reunited with John Norum returning as lead guitarist, rather than his replacement Kee Marcello. Now I must admit that I wasn’t much of a Europe fan first time out, but having seen the reunited band live, I was persuaded that things were more to my liking this time around.
This is their third album since they got back together, following on from Start From The Dark and Secret Society, and sees them continuing on the heavier, darker, rockier road that their reunion has seen them take. And, in the main, it’s is an excellent release.
The title track is an outstanding opener, with the guitars of John Norum and the keyboards of Mic Michaeli vying with each other in a who is heaviest competition. Joey Tempest’s voice is deeper and richer than it was in their high flying eighties, but the music needs the extra depth that he brings. John Norum even gets a chance to get his blues on, on tunes like “Catch That Plane”, something that they wouldn’t have been capable of pulling off, twenty years ago.
There are a couple of big ballads thrown into the mix. After all, they’ll still want to keep the ladies sweet! The best of them is “New Love In Town”, a song that is followed by the contrasting, bludgeoning “The Beast”, which is as close to heavy metal as Europe are ever likely to get. There is a brief sag in the middle around “Mojito Girl” and “No Stone Unturned”, which aren’t up to the high standards set by the other songs, but it doesn’t really spoil things.
Rockin’, bluesy, funky and melodic rock albums don’t get much better than this one. So, if you’ve missed out on the Europe reunion, buy it, enjoy it, rock it!

Tracklist:
01. Prelude
02. Last Look At Eden
03. Gonna Get Ready
04. Catch That Plane
05. New Love In Town
06. The Beast
07. Mojito Girl
08. No Stone Unturned
09. Only Young Twice
10. U Devil U
11. Run With The Angels
12. In My Time
Total Time: 00:47:00
Bonus:
Video (Last Look At Eden)
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