Customer Reviews

Almost Unplugged

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Made in EU in 2008, Serial# HBCD-100, Playing Time 77:47

I must admit I wasn't looking forward to this CD; curiosity had the best of me...

I thought "Start From The Dark" was a BIG disappointment as far as penmanship was concerned, but "Secret Society" displayed the right mixture of modern sounds from its predecessor with memorable melodies as a bonus... and the "unplugged" formula has been used ad nauseam, and so is the use of an orchestra to augment the live performance.

What a pleasant surprise to listen to this!!! A good mixture of recent material as well as old favorites, with a very fresh approach (it's the string quartet that plays the memorable melody line of "The Final Countdown" instead of the keyboards). And this CD is NOT unplugged (far from it!): perhaps a bit mellower, but Norum burns!

There's also a tip of the hat to other bands, like PINK FLOYD's "Wish You Were Here", LED ZEPPELIN's "Since I've Been Loving You", Thin Lizzy's "Suicide" (Norum steals the show on this), and my favorite UFO track: "Love To Love". I was ready to blast them out of the water for daring to take on that track! I'm an absolute devotee to Michael Schenker (even if I have everything John Norum ever released!), and I LOVE Phil Mogg's voice. So I play the song, getting ready to scream "Sacrilege!!!" at the top of my lungs... but what a performance!!! An ABSOLUTELY respectful rendition of the original, and Tempest just nails it!

In short, this is possibly my favorite live CD from 2008: an impeccable (electrifying) performance from the band, in top shape, with the string quartet adding just the right amount of charm and texture to the performance, and a great choice of tracks, old and new: "Got To Have Faith", "Forever Travelling" and "Hero" are splendid, so are "Memories", "Superstitious" and "Dreamer".

This CD is DEFINITELY worth the price of admission! Hopefully the DVD will add additional tracks! Will we get to see the teenage girls that keep screaming throughtout the performance? Maybe, maybe not... I don't care; I'll be (most probably) enjoying these fantastic performances with my eyes closed.

In short: PICK THIS UP !!!

Because it is so relevant to transmitting the feel of this release, I'll recite here the blurb on the last page of the CD insert;

"A unique recording performed 'one night only' by Scandinavias biggest rock band, Europe, accompanied by a string quartet, this semi-acoustic concert showcases the bands career with re-worked Europe hits, and memorable cover versions of artists that have influenced them over the years.

With the production relayed live by global webcast on the night, this performance marks a special milestone for Europe, the result, became something special for the band... so much so, that they decided to release it as a DVD and CD."

And it's hard to do a better job of encapsulating what this is all about than the above words. The songs selected all work, there are old chestnuts that I would never of guessed them doing such as Memories and Dreamer (O wonderous day!) and of couse some big hits reworked for the mellower format such as The Final Countdown (huge difference and a great version). Their reformation albums aren't forgotten either, the tunes from Secret Society particularly showing themselves as well suited to this sort of treatment perhaps because of the warmth and genuine craft of the originals.

As for the covers, we get an almost inevitable Lizzy cover plus numbers by Pink Floyd, Zeppelin and perhaps the most surprising-but-not-when-you-think-about-it cover is Love to Love by legends UFO. All are nice warm renditions of classic tracks, Europe showing themselves students of the form who are not overawed by these well known numbers.

Europe fans really should do themselves a favour and pick this up. It just feels...complete somehow, intrinsically spot on both in song selection and execution with the attendant string quartet and mellower shadings of the songs really bringing proceedings alive.

And I'll be buying the DVD at some stage too!

Well I was looking forward to this release or any thing they put out besides a greatist hits lol being that I have every album release anyways. But this cd plain out rocks from start to finish great cover versions and its always cool to hear differnt takes on a song anyways But to any fans get it and turn it up I give it five stars. Looking forward to their new release Last Look At Eden

I've been a casual fan of Europe sice THE FINAL COUNTDOWN, but this is only the second cd I've bought of theirs. After previewing it on Amazon I loved the sound quality of this recording. Plus they cover songs by Pink Floyd UFO and Thin Lizzy which I'm a sucker for. All in all a great cd.

This C.D. was a very pleasant listen. I was told by friends that it has a blues flavor. It is miles ahead of their earlier work. I love their cover of the Led Zepplin song, Since I've been Loving You. I play this C.D. alot!!! It sounds great, it is a much more complex sound then their past music.