By JAY ROBERTS

The Cassette Chronicles is a continuing series of mini reviews and reflections on albums from the 1980’s and 1990’s. The aim of this series is to highlight both known and underappreciated albums from rock, pop and metal genres from this time period through the cassette editions of their releases. Some of the albums I have known about and loved for years, while others are new to me and were music I’ve always wanted to hear. There will be some review analysis and my own personal stories about my connection with various albums. These opinions are strictly my own and do not reflect the views of anyone else at Limelight Magazine.

EUROPE – THE FINAL COUNTDOWN (1986)

For an album that would spawn five single releases including two that made the Top 10 chart, you’d think Europe’s most commercially successful album would get a little more respect. Instead, The Final Countdown seems to get dumped on a lot. Hell, the album’s own Wikipedia page has a whole section on some of the crappy reviews it got then and even more modern day reviews.

I remember reading a concert review in the Boston Herald many years ago where Europe was the opening act (for Bon Jovi I think) where the reviewer summed them up as a 2nd rate Bon Jovi which made them a 4th rate act.

WOW!

I like a lot of this album so I don’t see why it gets all this invective thrown at it. I’ve written about Europe three previous times in The Cassette Chronicles series so this week I decided it was time to weigh in on the band’s most successful release.

This was the band’s 3rd studio album and the first one to feature drummer Ian Haughland and keyboardist Mic Michaeli (who co-wrote the ballad “Carrie”).

I mentioned that there were five singles from the album but what was interesting to me was how the three biggest ones were the first three tracks on The Final Countdown.

The title track opens up the album and it remains Europe’s signature track. With the opening intro trumpeting out of your speakers with a now instantly identifiable musical salvo and the science fiction style lyrics, I can’t imagine how anyone wouldn’t be taken in by this song. And over the ensuing decades since the song was released, the track has been used in a variety of other mediums (including as an anthem for sporting events). While it did end up getting wildly overplayed back in the day, I maintain that this is still one of the best remembered tracks from the entire 80s metal heyday.

The song “Rock The Night” is one of those “get your butts out of your seats” fist pumping anthemic rockers. While I’ve heard the song any number of times over the years, I have to admit that every time I hear it I still get a surge of adrenaline flowing through my veins. It may have only reached the Top 30 as a single but I think the song still rocks!

The final song in the opening trio doubles as Europe’s most commercially successful single. And I don’t think anyone will be all that surprised that it is the power ballad “Carrie”. It hit #3 on the singles chart. Given that we’re talking about 1986, a power ballad being the biggest hit for a band isn’t all that surprising. I know that the song was a pretty popular one with me back in the day. But as it was also overplayed, it became a song that I dreaded hearing for a good long while. I still like the song overall but it isn’t a stretch to imagine the repetition of the song title and the increasing level of overwrought vocal performance from singer Joey Tempest as the song plays through increasingly annoying.

That kind of annoyance is pretty quickly dispersed when you get to the song “Danger on the Track”. A straight up rocker from start to finish, I loved the way it gets your blood pumping. And the keyboards in the song get some solo time in the spotlight. Your mileage may vary when it comes to a strong keyboard sound but I thought they fit perfectly with how they were composed for this track.

I’m sure it was before the time that The Final Countdown album was released but at some point in my younger days like many others, I had a fascination with ninjas. Between the movies in theaters and the one season show The Master starring Lee Van Cleef and Sho Kosugi, I loved the whole mystique of these covert assassins. I even remember going to Dwyer’s magazine store in North Dartmouth, MA and buying various issues of what I believe was called Ninja magazine. So the Side One closing track “Ninja” always made me think of those movies and magazines even when I first heard the track. Much like “Danger on the Track”, this song is a fast burning rocker.

The opening song on Side Two is “Cherokee” which is another song that got released as a single. This means there was a video produced as well. I have no memory of ever seeing the video but when I looked up information about the song, it was noted that the video was stunningly inaccurate in terms of historical fact. Not that I would’ve expected Europe or whoever put the video concept together to put forth the detail historical research that Iron Maiden or Sabaton would put into their songs but I have a feeling if this video was made today, you would hear the caterwauling from miles away.

What makes the timing of this article so perfect in regards to “Cherokee” is that I was reading a book that used the Cherokee people and the Trail of Tears (mentioned in the song as well) as part of the plot. The book is called Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lillie and I was reading it as part of the Mystery Book Club that I co-run at my local library. When I pulled the album so I could write this article I read the track listing, saw “Cherokee” and thought, “hmm…how’s that for timing?”

For the song “Time Has Come”, the track starts off with a softer delivery in its intro. Light music and a restrained vocal from Tempest. But you can feel the intensity building up quickly and as the track hits the first chorus, the band comes on in full. This turns the track towards a far more rocking tempo. I like the way the band hits as it gets heavier sounding. I know this is more of an album track in the overall scheme of things but I find that each time I give the album a full listen, I enjoy the song a lot.

“Heart of Stone” is a really cool rocker as well. What I like the most is how the chorus flows. It might be one of the best choruses of any of the songs on the album. “On The Loose” also finds Europe going full bore, rocking out with a blazing speed. I liked the way the guitar solo came off as a bit of frenzied chaos.

The album closes out with the song “Love Chaser”. It is another uptempo track but not quite as fast playing as the previous two songs. It was released as a single but apparently only in Japan.

Clearly I have a different opinion about this album than any of those other “name” reviewers quoted on the album’s Wikipedia page. I’ve always liked Europe even if there may have been a song here or there that didn’t quite do it for me. But in the case of The Final Countdown album, there’s nary a negative thought for me to express. The album is of its era, but since I happen to have grown up during that era, is it really all that much of a shock that I would love the album?

NOTES OF INTEREST: The Final Countdown album went all the way to #8 on the Billboard album charts. It would go on to sell more than three million copies. It was just as successful in a number of countries around the world.

The album has been given at least two reissues. The first one came in 2001 from Sony Records and featured 3 live bonus tracks (I own this version of the CD). In 2019, Rock Candy Records reissued the album with three more bonus cuts added onto the release. Originally, I had owned the album on a cassette I had dubbed from a friend’s official copy.

Guitarist John Norum left the band shortly before the band was to head out on tour. He was replaced by Kee Marcello. He would not appear on another Europe album until he rejoined the band for the 2004 album Start from the Dark.