This was my first hard rock album. Still love this. So much better than any LA glam metal. Brilliant vocalist, brilliant guitarist, and brilliant songs!

Overall, this is a very average album, and probably their weakest before they split up in 1993. The lyrics are insipid for the most part, and are definitely the weakest part of the album. However, the title track is simply wonderful, as is "Homeland", whilst "Seventh Sign" and "Girl From Lebanon" are also supreme cuts of hard rock.

The great musicianship Europe always displayed, even on their weakest efforts, is why this album is decent, rather than mediocre like 95% of the other hair/glam bands' output. Nothing on the album is bad, but only rarely is anything exceptional...

Written by Angelic Storm on 14.09.2013 at 22:21

Overall, this is a very average album, and probably their weakest before they split up in 1993. The lyrics are insipid for the most part, and are definitely the weakest part of the album. However, the title track is simply wonderful, as is "Homeland", whilst "Seventh Sign" and "Girl From Lebanon" are also supreme cuts of hard rock.

The great musicianship Europe always displayed, even on their weakest efforts, is why this album is decent, rather than mediocre like 95% of the other hair/glam bands' output. Nothing on the album is bad, but only rarely is anything exceptional...

I agree that the lyrics are uninteresting in most cases, but since i don't care much for lyrics I love this album. I have always found "Seventh Sign" one of the least good tracks on the album, but I agree with the other three tracks you mention as my favourites.

Written by Aristarchos on 14.09.2013 at 22:41
I agree that the lyrics are uninteresting in most cases, but since i don't care much for lyrics I love this album. I have always found "Seventh Sign" one of the least good tracks on the album, but I agree with the other three tracks you mention as my favourites.

Well, I've always found music to be more important than lyrics, but good lyrics can definitely help to enhance a song, whilst poor lyrics can be detrimental to a song. However, even with the poor lyrics, I still find this album quite enjoyable, even if it only rarely finds itself in realms of greatness. The title track is a majestic cut, and it does overshadow the majority of the rest of the album. That song really should have became a worldwide smash hit like "The Final Countdown", it's just unfortunate that this type of rock music was very unfashionable at the time of the album's release, so the song never got the recognition which it should have done.

Europe have never made a bad album, and this one certainly isn't an exception. But as a whole, it's not consistent enough to be a great album, but the musicianship is stellar, and it's certainly a fun listen throughout.

Written by Angelic Storm on 14.09.2013 at 23:10

Written by Aristarchos on 14.09.2013 at 22:41
I agree that the lyrics are uninteresting in most cases, but since i don't care much for lyrics I love this album. I have always found "Seventh Sign" one of the least good tracks on the album, but I agree with the other three tracks you mention as my favourites.

Well, I've always found music to be more important than lyrics, but good lyrics can definitely help to enhance a song, whilst poor lyrics can be detrimental to a song. However, even with the poor lyrics, I still find this album quite enjoyable, even if it only rarely finds itself in realms of greatness. The title track is a majestic cut, and it does overshadow the majority of the rest of the album. That song really should have became a worldwide smash hit like "The Final Countdown", it's just unfortunate that this type of rock music was very unfashionable at the time of the album's release, so the song never got the recognition which it should have done.

Europe have never made a bad album, and this one certainly isn't an exception. But as a whole, it's not consistent enough to be a great album, but the musicianship is stellar, and it's certainly a fun listen throughout.

The title track is also the track with the best lyrics on the album.

Written by Aristarchos on 14.09.2013 at 23:17
The title track is also the track with the best lyrics on the album.

True, but there's another 2 or 3 songs on the album that have good lyrics. lol I'd probably rate the album a 6.5 or maybe a 7, and if the album as a whole had good lyrics, I'd only increase that rating to 7.5 or an 8 if I was being generous. So better lyrics would only make the album a little bit more enjoyable for me. The music is the most important thing, and there is a lot of good music on the album, but I prefer all 4 of the previous albums over it. I'd class the title track as one of the all time great rock songs though, it is immensely underrated.

Written by Angelic Storm on 14.09.2013 at 22:21

The lyrics are insipid for the most part, and are definitely the weakest part of the album.

Isn't that a staple for this genre?

I am not trying to be offensive for no reason, though I don't think I managed to pull myself through a single hard rock/hair/glam metal (yes I know those are not the same but still possess similiarities) album with my sanity intact, so I think it is safe to say that genre is really not for me, but literally every single band/album from that genre I have ever encountered had terrible lyrics (that is also true for stuff like Led Zeppelin, for every Stairway to Heaven there is a Communication Breakdown so...) for the most part, written in that slangish "rock language" or how to put it, in a completely asinine way, and I just cannot take them seriously and they have been a huge turnoff for me.

Good lyrics/band names/album and song titles are not a required trait for the music to be good, but at least for me, those things grab my initial interest, and I think this also contributes to why I despise these genres so much, though if I actually liked the music I could look past that.

The worst thing is most of these bands can actually write good lyrics, see the one you mentioned in this thread, or for example "When The Walls Came Tumbling Down" by Def Leppard (another band with beyond terrible lyrics) but it seems like they actually willingly choose to dumb them down.

Written by Uldreth on 15.09.2013 at 12:37
Isn't that a staple for this genre?

Yes.

Written by Uldreth on 15.09.2013 at 12:37
I am not trying to be offensive for no reason, though I don't think I managed to pull myself through a single hard rock/hair/glam metal (yes I know those are not the same but still possess similiarities) album with my sanity intact, so I think it is safe to say that genre is really not for me, but literally every single band/album from that genre I have ever encountered had terrible lyrics (that is also true for stuff like Led Zeppelin, for every Stairway to Heaven there is a Communication Breakdown so...) for the most part, written in that slangish "rock language" or how to put it, in a completely asinine way, and I just cannot take them seriously and they have been a huge turnoff for me.

I definitely agree with you, although I think where we differ is if I like the music enough, the asinine lyrics are not enough to make me reject a song/album. But it certainly can be to the detriment of the listening experience, whereas better lyrics would enhance it.

Written by Uldreth on 15.09.2013 at 12:37
Good lyrics/band names/album and song titles are not a required trait for the music to be good, but at least for me, those things grab my initial interest, and I think this also contributes to why I despise these genres so much, though if I actually liked the music I could look past that.

The part of your post I bolded is critical to this conversation I think. Most hair/glam bands have rubbish music as well as ridiculous lyrics, which is why it is a genre I mostly dislike. Europe's "hair metal" albums get a pass from me, because the level of musicianship is so good, that I can look past the silly lyrics, and still appreciate their music. Don't get me wrong, their first two non-hair metal albums are definitely their best works (musically and lyrically), but I still have an appreciation for the 3 hair metal albums, because the musicianship is of a high quality, and so I can enjoy them in spite of the poppy production and weak lyrics. lol

Written by Uldreth on 15.09.2013 at 12:37
The worst thing is most of these bands can actually write good lyrics, see the one you mentioned in this thread, or for example "When The Walls Came Tumbling Down" by Def Leppard (another band with beyond terrible lyrics) but it seems like they actually willingly choose to dumb them down.

In the case of Europe at least, I think their signing to a major label was likely a factor in their lyrics becoming dumbed down. Def Leppard always had silly lyrics, and working with Mutt Lange likely only made it even worse. And you make a good point. See, if an album had good lyrics most of the way through, and only insipid lyrics on one or two songs, it'd be a lot more palatable. But with Leppard's hair metal phase, you got maybe one or two songs with good lyrics, and the rest of album has stupid lyrics, which definitely detracts from the listening experience. Nevertheless, I have a huge soft spot for "Hysteria", although now I see the lyrics as being detrimental to the album, whereas back when I first loved the album as a kid, the silly lyrics weren't an issue.

Written by Angelic Storm on 15.09.2013 at 12:05

Written by Aristarchos on 14.09.2013 at 23:17
The title track is also the track with the best lyrics on the album.

True, but there's another 2 or 3 songs on the album that have good lyrics. lol I'd probably rate the album a 6.5 or maybe a 7, and if the album as a whole had good lyrics, I'd only increase that rating to 7.5 or an 8 if I was being generous. So better lyrics would only make the album a little bit more enjoyable for me. The music is the most important thing, and there is a lot of good music on the album, but I prefer all 4 of the previous albums over it. I'd class the title track as one of the all time great rock songs though, it is immensely underrated.

I like the lyrics to Homeland very much too.

Only one decent song not even rock song was tittle track, IMO not good album, but it has some values still, as Swedish band, and still sometimes can be played. Otherwise I don't see anything special here

This is again really good but it could have been so much better. How could they leave out Yesterday's News, Sweet Love Child or A Long Time Comin? There's a lot of great material from this session that should have been included instead of some of the more questionable tracks.

Prisoners in Paradise is one of the better power ballads made and easily my favourite song by Europe.