Out of This World (Europe album)

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Out of This World
Studio album by
Europe
Released5 August 1988[1]
RecordedMarch–June 1988
StudioOlympic Studios and Townhouse Studios, London, England
GenreGlam metal, hard rock
Length47:50
LabelEpic
ProducerRon Nevison
Europe chronology
The Final Countdown
(1986) 		Out of This World
(1988) 		Prisoners in Paradise
(1991)
Singles from Out of This World
  1. "Superstitious"
    Released: August 1988
  2. "Open Your Heart"
    Released: October 1988
  3. "Let the Good Times Rock"
    Released: January 1989 (US)[2]
  4. "More Than Meets the Eye"
    Released: March 1989 (JPN)[3]

Out of This World is the fourth studio album by the Swedish rock band Europe. Released on 5 August 1988 through Epic Records, the album was a commercial success selling over 3 million units worldwide, peaking at number 19 on the US Billboard 200 chart and reaching high positions in charts worldwide. It was recorded at Olympic Studios and Townhouse Studios, London, England. Out of This World is the first Europe album to feature former Easy Action and Noice guitarist Kee Marcello.

Four singles were released worldwide from the album: "Superstitious", "Open Your Heart", "Let the Good Times Rock", "More Than Meets the Eye".

Music[edit]

Songs[edit]

"Superstitious" is the first song on the album, written by Joey Tempest. It was the first single released from the album and is arguably one of Europe's most recognizable and popular songs. The song was released in Europe, Australia and New Zealand in July 1988. The song reached number one in Norway[4] and their homeland Sweden[5] and peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks.[6] The single charted in many other European charts as well.

"Open Your Heart" and "Let the Good Times Rock" would become minor hits in the UK. Three more singles would be released, yet none of them charted. "Sign of the Times" was released as single only in Argentina in 1988 and "Tomorrow" only in Brazil in 1989.

Release and Reception[edit]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
Classic Rock[8]
The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal3/10[9]
Record Collector[10]

Out of This World was the band's follow up album to the successful album The Final Countdown, but it did not match the success of its predecessor. Upon its release in August 1988, Out of This World peaked at No. 19 on the Billboard 200 album chart.[6] The album is Europe's best-selling album in Switzerland. Out of This World achieved Platinum status in the United States,[11] platinum status in Switzerland[12] and gold in Canada.[13]

Out of This World included the hit singles "Superstitious", "Open Your Heart" and "Let the Good Times Rock", all of which had accompanying music videos. "Superstitious" was released in the fall of 1988 and became arguably the band's most recognizable song from the album. Its music video received heavy airplay on music television.

Reviewing the album, AllMusic contributor Andy Hinds writes that "Europe produces made-to-order lite metal with admirable craftsmanship and occasionally memorable hooks. "Superstitious" even has a disarming gospel quality. This is hard rock with all the edges sanded off. Capable lead singer Joey Tempest carries the tunes with nonthreatening panache, while Kee Marcello (who proved his virtuosity on Europe's previous by performing "Flight of the Bumblebee") provides plenty of nice guitar solos."[7] Paul Elliott of Classic Rock considers Out of This World "the strongest" of the two follow-up albums to the highly successful The Final Countdown and "Superstitious" "arguably Europe's greatest ever song".[8] Tim Jones of Record Collector is even more enthusiastic, defining the album "a stratospheric set of a dozen imperious rockers."[10] On the contrary, Canadian journalist Martin Popoff wrote a bad review of the album, comparing it to "an offensive pop rock outing, much closer to early Warrant ... than The Final Countdown could or would dare" and calling Europe "a dunce-cap posse solidly in search of cash and chicks, egregiously removed from any sort of hard rock acumen."[9]

Out of This World Tour[edit]

Prior to the release of the album, in the summer of 1988, the band travelled the U.S. together with Def Leppard. However, the band's management considered a promotional tour of Europe (the continent) more important and made the band withdraw from the highly successful American tour. It has been reported that manager Thomas Erdtman made the decision as he did not want to share more US revenues with American manager Herbie Herbert as this was agreed in a contract.

After the promotional tour was over, the band set on rehearsing for the upcoming Out Of This World Tour, which began with a bombastic show (60,000 visitors) in Mumbai, India in November 1988. Then the band flew to Japan, where they filmed the video for "Let the Good Times Rock". The scheduled tour of Australia was, however, unexpectedly cancelled. From January to April 1989, the band toured all over Europe. In some places, in Germany particularly, the band did not manage to fill up the arenas and concert halls like they had done during the Final Countdown Tour, despite more and more good reviews from the musical press. In May 1989 the band was supposed to go over to the USA again. But the album sales were not as high as had been expected. So in the end, there was no U.S. tour and the only concert the band played in the summer of 1989 was the legendary festival in Milton Keynes (UK). After that, the band decided to move to Los Angeles and compose new songs for the next album.

Track listing[edit]

All tracks are written by Joey Tempest, except where indicated

Side one
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Superstitious"  4:35
2."Let the Good Times Rock"  4:04
3."Open Your Heart"  4:04
4."More Than Meets the Eye"TempestTempest, Kee Marcello, Mic Michaeli3:20
5."Coast to Coast"TempestTempest, Marcello, Michaeli4:00
6."Ready or Not"  4:05
Side two
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
7."Sign of the Times"  4:15
8."Just the Beginning"Marcello, TempestMarcello4:32
9."Never Say Die"  4:00
10."Lights and Shadows"  4:04
11."Tower's Callin'"  3:48
12."Tomorrow"  3:04

Interviews with the band from before and around the album's release indicate that a title track and a cover song were recorded but not included. Kee Marcello claims in his biography The Rock Star that God Forgot to have written a number of complete songs that were rejected for this album - "Too Far Gone", "Another World" and "Can't Fake Love" are listed. [14] Marcello also clarifies that the "cover song" was in fact a Diane Warren demo called "Look Away", a Billboard No. 1 hit for the band Chicago in December 1988.[15]

Personnel[edit]

Europe[edit]

Additional musicians[edit]

  • Keith Murrell – backing vocals on "Coast to Coast" and "Just the Beginning"
  • Mike Moran – conductor, string arrangements

Production[edit]

  • Ron Nevison – producer, engineer, mixing
  • Paul Hume – engineer, string engineer
  • Rob Bozas, Andy Bradfield, Heidi Cannavo – assistant engineers
  • Mats Grahn – multitechnician (bass, guitar, and keyboard technician)
  • Paul Jamieson – drum technician
  • Bernard Maisner – hand lettering
  • Lynn Goldsmith – photography
  • Joel Zimmerman – art direction

Charts[edit]

Chart (1988) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[16] 28
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[17] 16
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[18] 30
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[19] 7
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[20] 5
French Albums (SNEP)[21] 19
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[22] 10
Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)[23] 8
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[24] 4
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[25] 1
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[26] 1
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[27] 3
UK Albums (OCC)[28] 12
US Billboard 200[29] 19

Sales and certifications[edit]

Certifications for Out of This World
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[30] Gold 50,000^
France (SNEP)[31] Gold 100,000*
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[32] Gold 50,000^
Sweden (GLF)[33] Platinum 100,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[34] Gold 25,000^
United States (RIAA)[35] Platinum 1,000,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "RIAA certifications". Recording Industry Association of America.
  2. ^ "Europe singles".
  3. ^ "Europe singles".
  4. ^ "Europe – Superstitious (Song)". Norwegiancharts.com. Media Control Charts. Archived from the original on 3 May 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  5. ^ "Europe – Superstitious (Song)". Swedishcharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  6. ^ a b "American Album Chart". Billboard.com. Billboard. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
  7. ^ a b Hinds, Andy. "Europe - Out of This World review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  8. ^ a b Elliott, Paul (February 2010). "Europe - Out of This World/Prisoners in Paradise". Classic Rock. No. 141. p. 92.
  9. ^ a b Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 109. ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5.
  10. ^ a b Jones, Tim (June 2013). "Europe - Out of This World / Prisoners in Paradise". Record Collector (415). Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  11. ^ "RIAA Gold & Platinum Database: search for Europe - Out of This World". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  12. ^ "Swiss certification". Die Offizielle Schweizer Hitparade. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
  13. ^ "Gold Platinum Search for Europe". Music Canada. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  14. ^ Marcello, Kee; Johansson, Stefan (8 June 2012). Rockstjärnan Gud glömde (in Swedish). Sweden: Månpocket. ISBN 978-917-2-32258-5.
  15. ^ Olivier (6 April 2021). "Kee Marcello recalls Europe turning down recording song "Look Away" which became #1 single for Chicago - Sleaze Roxx". sleazeroxx.com. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  16. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Europe – Out of This World". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  17. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Europe – Out of This World" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  18. ^ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 8716". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  19. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Europe – Out of This World" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  20. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 166. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  21. ^ "Le Détail des Albums de chaque Artiste – E". Infodisc.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2024. Select Europe from the menu, then press OK.
  22. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Europe – Out of This World" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  23. ^ "Classifiche". Musica e Dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 12 January 2024. Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Europe".
  24. ^ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  25. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Europe – Out of This World". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  26. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Europe – Out of This World". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  27. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Europe – Out of This World". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  28. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  29. ^ "Europe Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  30. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Europe – Out of This World". Music Canada. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  31. ^ "French album certifications – Europe – Out of This World" (in French). InfoDisc. Retrieved 22 July 2022. Select EUROPE and click OK. 
  32. ^ Salaverrie, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (PDF) (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Madrid: Fundación Autor/SGAE. p. 923. ISBN 84-8048-639-2. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  33. ^ "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 1987−1998" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 May 2011. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  34. ^ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('Out of This World')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  35. ^ "American album certifications – Europe – Out of This World". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
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