#2 Europe
Prisoners in Paradise
Now before you use the words I know you are probably thinking, Europe...EUROPE?!? I have to ask you. Have you ever heard this album? After releasing 4 albums in the 80's, 2 of which were the platinum vehicles that launched the Pop/Rock hits, "Carrie" "Rock the Night", of course the classic "The Final Countdown", and many other moderately popular hits, the boys in Europe decided to get serious again. Prisoners is much more in line with the debut self-titled album, and their sophomore "Wings of Tommorrow", which are the albums that came before the bubblegum rock albums you all know, (and probably love). Prisoners is one of the best written albums that I have in my collection. The sound is perfect, a little less keyboard oriented, and alot more Zeppelin. Prisoners is the album that they wanted to release right after The Final Countdown made them household names, but the record company wouldn't have any part of it. It was too raw, and the lyrical content was too deep (Joey Tempest was, and is sort of a conspiracy theorist. The New world Order is the over-all theme of this album, and the latest album, "Secret Society" is very "Skull and Bones" themed). Prisoners had the perfect balance of serious, thought-provoking songs, like "The Girl From Lebanon" and of course the title track, as well as some fun songs, like the blistering opener "All or Nothing"..heard here...
My favorite song on this album, and perhaps one of my favorite songs of all time, would have to be the title track, "Prisoners in Paradise", and epic sounding ballad...seen and heard here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXatVNtQlgM.
and an awesome live version...and as you can hear, they are still loved in Europe...and if you notice, the bass player BITES it at about 3:04..and then recovers in front of the camera with an ultra-cool smirk...LOL
Their latest album, "Secret Society" is by far my favorite album they've ever put out. It is as heavy as any American band has on the radio today. Unfortunately, Europe's day under the American sun has passed. This is a tragedy, because their best music came AFTER they went plantinum here...one of their newer songs..
1 comment:
Prisoners is a monster CD. Their sound and songwriting evolved - it almost sounded like a different band. I never agreed with the title track being the first single. The chorus sounded too much like "Let It Be" by The Beatles.
I don't have Secret Society because I wasn't impressed wtih the sound samples I heard. I suppose I should check it out based on your recommendation. Start From The Dark is just OK in my book.
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