Search - Europe :: Extended Versions

Is that a bootleg I see before me?

Paul Lawrence | Australia | 03/19/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Because let's face it, Europe never put out a bona fide live album when they were at their commercial peak. Though I swear that I saw a VHS Live in London in stores around that time (perhaps THAT was the bootleg). Anyway, though it be somewhat belated Europes inclusion in the Sony/BMG Extended Versions franchise means that we can finally get a CD of live Europe songs albeit an album that isn't from a single concert and only ten songs long.



The song selection isn't going to go down in history as the most adventurous but the point of this series seems to be to recoup some cash for already paid for live recordings Sony had lying around. So we get all the hits - the bulk of the songs come from recordings made at the Hammersmith Odeon in the UK (tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8 & 9) while two others come from gigs in Sweden (#'s 4 & 6) and track 10 is from the Ahoy Stadium in the Netherlands.



The band here are pretty tight, between song raps are left in including Joey Tempest taking a call on stage from a woman cheesed off about the noise before announcing the hit Rock the Night and the production job has left in a bunch of the crowd noises which is a nice touch.



If your a Europe fan this is as close as we've gotten to a proper live document - unless you buy one of those AOR MOON bootlegs that sometimes crop up. Though as I write this the Almost Unplugged set is available for pre-order."