Europe - Wings of Tomorrow

The year was 1988 and I was at the grocery store with my dad, looking through the cassette shelf at the front of the grocery store. I saw the name "EUROPE" in those big red bold letters that were on the side of most tapes of the era. It wasn't The Final Countdown, which was probably my favorite album at the time. I pulled the tape out and saw this awesome metal space bird on the front.

I ran back to the cash register and begged my dad to let me get the tape, which of course he did. Once home I threw that bad boy in my Walkman, put on the headphones and promptly had my mind blown. I didn't even know that Europe had an album prior to The Final Countdown, and after listening through the tape, it was obvious that this album was heavier, more raw, more guitar driven and WAY better...

Many years have passed since that fateful day at the grocery store. My neck is no longer kept warm in the winter by the fluffy glory of my mullet. Countless genres of music (or even just metal) have risen, fallen and risen again, but the metallic wings of this space hawk have not tarnished one bit over the years.

Obviously I have quite a sentimental attachment to this album. Dreams of one day playing the instrumental "Aphasia" was the catalyst to my ditching the piano and picking up a guitar instead. Literally, I had a dream about shredding the shit out of that song on a huge lighted stage and the next day I told my mom that I had to play guitar. The cassette was flipped back and forth countless times while I rode the charlift up and then blasted my way back down the mountain on my skis. Enough about me, lets talk about the album itself!

Europe is generally placed in the sub-genre of pop metal (or hair metal). While not entirely untrue, I don't think that is quite fair to them, at least when talking about this album. I wouldn't call this album metal, though you could make the argument that "Scream of Anger" is about as metal as a song can get. Arch Enemy even covered it. While there are some poppy tendancies, this album is straight up classic hard rock in the tradition of Thin Lizzy, The Scorpions, etc.

The album kicks off with "Stormwind", a straight up mid-tempo rocker. A good start, just thinking about it makes me want to shred down the mountain on my good ol neon yellow skis. Guitarist John Norum immediately kicks off the album with a huge melodic guitar line, not afraid to show his classic rock / blues influences. Vocalist Joey Tempest has a great voice for rock, with just enough of a raw edge backing his strong melodies. If you read the lyrics I don't think it is hard to figure out that English is not their native language, but who really cares about the words anyway... lets get to rockin!

Next comes "Scream of Anger", the fastest and most angry song of the album. Double bass drums, wah-filtered guitars, lyrics about a guy waiting for the death sentence, yup... that's metal.

At this point you know that a power ballad is absolutely neccessary (it is 1984 after all...) and Europe delivers with "Open Your Heart" Not too shabby at all, as far as ballads go. They later did a completely unneccessary re-do of this song on "Out of this World" but the original is much better.

"Treated Bad Again" kicks the heat back on with a monster Deep Purple-ish guitar riff. The song has a stomping, slow, greasy and bluesy feel (with a great, though brief interlude). Not afraid to wear their influences on their sleeve, they aren't trying to reinvent the wheel here. Europe is smart enough to keep it simple, do it right and just play some ROCK!

Now comes the aformentioned guitar instrumental "Aphasia". In hindsight I have my suspicion that Norum wanted to show that Yngwie wasn't the only Strat-wielding Swede who could melt your face off. He is certainly more in tune with the blues and making each note count rather than Mr. Malmsteen though. I think this one might not have aged as gracefully as some of the other cuts on this album but it is a great way to close out Side A.

Flip that tape over and you come to the title track "Wings of Tomorrow". Moderately up-tempo, this one has some great guitar playing as well. Some cheesy backing vocals on the chorus have definately not stood the test of time, but still some good stuff.

Next up is "Wasted Time" which is another mid-tempo rocker. Again, not trying to re-invent the wheel here, it's just a straight up rocker with an absolutely blistering short guitar solo. John Norum can obviously deliver the shredding goods when he wants to, but luckily he doesn't need to constantly remind the listener of that.

"Lyin' Eyes" follows, which may be the strongest overall song on the album. A great chorus, strong lyrics (considering...) and great rhythm guitar that doesn't just stick to power chords. I believe this was the first single from the album, for a good reason. I would love to track down the vinyl version of that single, which had a different vocal track than the album itself...

We're getting close to the end, and it's time again for another ballad. "Dreamer" is piano / keyboard based. It's a pretty good, if standard, slow song for the era. The lyrics again are pretty cliche... OK, OK, it may have made the pre-teen me get misty-eyed a few times. Shut up.

Now, time to close it out with an up-tempo rocker "Dance the Night Away". This one actually does make me want to MOVE, as does a lot of this album. It makes me wish for the days that you could go to a night club, listen to awesome rock music, drink countless shots and beers and just get down and party. There would be pink neon lights and checkered tile floors, and of course lots of hot rocker chicks with Aqua-Netted teased hair, pegged Guess? jeans and 3 pairs of different colored socks on. I'd be sporting my lightning-dagger dangly earring, an awesome jean jacket, my mullet blowing behind me in the breeze from the fog machine, lasers cutting through all over the place...

OK, I'm pretty sure that club never existed, and even if it did the 10 year old me wouldn't have been able to get in.

I'm just a Dreamer I guess!