Search - Europe :: Out of This World

My least favorite Europe album

Justin Gaines | Northern Virginia | 07/10/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Out of This World, Europe's 1988 follow-up to their smash hit The Final Countdown, is one of those albums I love to hate. It's apparent the band (or maybe the label) saw how much their sales increased after softening both their image and their music for The Final Countdown and figured they'd do even better with an even slicker, pop-oriented approach.



Out of This World is a bright, shiny album that is utterly devoid of anything remotely resembling meaning. No ninjas or Indians this time around, only a dozen songs about love, rocking, love, rocking some more, love, and um, an airplane (were they trying to score a spot on the Iron Eagle soundtrack?). They even dusted off "Open Your Heart", the ballad from 1984's Wings of Tomorrow for this album. Out of This World is literally drenched in keyboards too, and with John Norum out of the band the guitar work is just not enough to offset all of the synths.



The thing is; I actually enjoy the album a bit. The songs are catchy as hell, and I have to admit that Europe is a much better AOR/melodic rock band than they ever were when they played metal. I just wish they hadn't made this album quite so slick and desperately radio friendly. If you listen to their next album - the excellent Prisoners in Paradise - you can hear the band finally finding the perfect balance between rock and pop. Oh well, better late than never."