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Post by marco17 on Feb 7, 2022 16:26:19 GMT 2
Thanks for adding Stein. Well...at least there is some talk that they are starting to work on a new album.
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Post by marco17 on Feb 4, 2022 22:35:44 GMT 2
A couple things I thought of with your comment gabree... The Def Leppard's and the Bon Jovi's were allowed to change their image...their fanbase and more importantly at the time, their record companies backed them because they were such cash cows. That said, DL did not really fair well with Adrenalize, tanked with Slang (though I actually like a lot of that, it's before it's time), and flew under the radar for a lot of the 90's. BJ was really the only band of that era with some staying power at their level, but they even took long breaks between their albums, and I would say, I love older BJ, but they are terrible now. The overall change in music took 99% of the hard rock bands out. Similarly today... BJ stinks now, but the record company knows that it's going to sell a ton because it simply says Bon Jovi on it. Unfortunately, Europe, while a huge act worldwide, didn't keep up with Bon Jovi (nobody big at one time did), even though many people spent a lot of time comparing them. More than that, I think they use the music scene changing as a blanket excuse, like a lot of bands, because frankly... some of the relationships in the band weren't great. Joey and Kee were at odds a lot, and Joey wanted Norum back, and I think they felt like it just made sense to stop the machine for a while. That said, it's a lot easier to use changing music trends as the excuse than we needed to get away from each other for a while.
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Post by marco17 on Feb 4, 2022 22:13:52 GMT 2
Stein, can't remember if I thanked you in my earlier post on this, but thank you again for the translation!
In response to the earlier list of things they would or might need to do... If they could get the masters, the current technology would allow them to clean it up or at least get the tracks on the same volume level, without redoing things. I think the goal would be to leave them in demo-like format, and not make it a "lost" album type situation sitting behind PIP in the discography. It might actually be a fun project to get Beau Hill involved in. In any interview he does, when/if Europe is brought up, he always speaks very highly of the guys and the album in general.
One issue could be if Kee has any hang-ups about anything, and then having to work through that and the money stuff, etc..etc.. I don't think there's any need for John Norum to be involved, unless he or the rest of the band want him to, if they did need to do anything. He wasn't in the band at that time, and he's never held that album in great regard. I could almost see this being a pet-project of Mic's and Ian's since they seem to be the biggest fans of the album overall.
I'd love to see them do more with this era of their music, the demos, live stuff. I feel like there's probably a lot of "gold" there, but there doesn't seem to be much interest in doing anything with the past albums. Understandably, it could be because of the rights, but I would think some live recordings could come out. Again, could be an issue with Kee not in the band and not wanting it to be a slap in the face so to speak to JN, but who knows. I've always had a soft spot for PIP, and love it and the demos.
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Post by marco17 on Feb 4, 2022 21:59:02 GMT 2
Great album, great artwork. Agree. I think SS could be the most underappreciated album since the reformation. It's got some great, rocking tracks on it. It sounded "different" when it first came out, but now when I go back to it, it's just a good, upbeat rock album for the most part.
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Post by marco17 on Jan 17, 2022 18:50:32 GMT 2
John was the first Europe member I got to see live in the US when he was playing with Dokken the last time in 2002. I was hoping to meet him after the show at the small club, but he didn't come out. Have to admit I was disappointed, but got to meet him a few years later when Europe was finally back and did a club tour in the US.
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Post by marco17 on Jan 17, 2022 18:44:08 GMT 2
A more official release of this just came out worldwide. I've heard the first couple singles, and I don't know if it's just me, but I like the music, but lyrically, it seems very weak. I feel like these guys are veteran enough to write better lyrics. Most of us could have written better lyrics when we were teenagers. Just my opinion though.
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Post by marco17 on Dec 4, 2021 21:25:32 GMT 2
Would be nice to hear something new as by the time they start touring again, it's going to be hard to tie it to WTE as a current album. It doesn't sound like they did much related to Europe music while being cooped up during the pandemic. Hopefully something new soon.
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Post by marco17 on Oct 5, 2021 16:48:40 GMT 2
Ian brings that up in a a recent interview with 80’s Glam Metalcast (you can watch that interview here): Hey thanks for the link Stein! Interesting. So it is a rights issue... OOTW was remastered by Rock Candy a few years back. Nothing new really and no unreleased material, just better sound. I think the current band lineup makes celebrating OOTW and PIP difficult, and may be why you don't see more attention given by the band. As we all know, Norum wasn't around then, and do Joey and/or the rest the guys really want to say, "Hey John - Go learn all the other songs from OOTW and PIP so we can do something?" Or, do they try to work Kee into a couple one-off shows, which based on some of his comments in interviews, at least towards Joey, seems unlikely, and probably leaves John L, Mic, and Ian thinking, why bother? I mean, presumably, they didn't offer to include him in the band anniversary show at Sweden Rock, and that would have been ideal to have him participate in some manner, to celebrate the band and his contributions. As a result, there are certainly some challenges and complexities to really recognizing those albums. I'll also mention that when they did the "special" shows in Asia a few years back, focusing on various albums, PIP was still pretty much ignored on it's highlighted night. They played mostly the songs they have always rotated in/out of the set, nothing new that I can recall. Personally, I was hoping for a couple more deep tracks to make it special, but it really was underwhelming.
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Post by marco17 on Oct 5, 2021 15:13:39 GMT 2
Interesting read. I would have liked for the interview to dive a bit more into Joey's answer about " now more ready to embrace our earlier songwriting energy and expression." Is he referring to being more open to their 80's sound with a modern flare, or writing more in line with the sound of their influences?" Just curious? Have to admit, WTE has not held up for me, and while I enjoy a lot of the newer output, I could go for a bit flashier, fun, energetic Europe like we had in earlier times. The serious content is nice for a song or two, like Girl from Lebanon, but most of an album...not so much.
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Post by marco17 on Oct 5, 2021 14:57:42 GMT 2
Thanks for the translation Stein. Great read for us non-Swedes! I gotta give it to Kee... He's more subtle about it in this interview, but he never misses an opportunity to take a jab or make you feel like he's a bit of a victim. That said, PIP is in the top 3 Europe albums over the entire discography for me, if not my favorite. I really liked the heavier sound after the very pop-polished OOTW. I'd love to see the demos out there sometime, cleaned up a bit. I always thought we might see something like that a few years back when the band teased the "vault" or whatever they called it, on their website, with rarities and things like that, but nothing ever happened. I'm sure they could work it out, but it would also mean that everyone involved in those sessions would have to be in the same room, and unless embellished in the interviews, Kee, most of time sounds like he can't stand Joey, so would they even want to be bothered?
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