Out of This World (Europe album)

Out of This World
Studio album by Europe
Released 9 August 1988
Recorded March–June 1988
Studio Olympic Studios and Townhouse Studios, London, England
Genre Glam metal
Length 47:50
Label Epic
Producer Ron 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: July 1988
  2. "Open Your Heart"
    Released: October 1988
  3. "Let the Good Times Rock"
    Released: March 1989
  4. "More Than Meets the Eye"
    Released: October 1989
  5. "Sign of the Times"
    Released: 1988 (Argentina only)
  6. "Tomorrow"
    Released: 1989 (Brazil only)

Out of This World is the fourth studio album by the Swedish rock band Europe. Released on 9 August 1988 through Epic Records, the album was a huge commercial success selling over 1 million units in the United States alone, 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.

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

Music

Songs

"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[1] and their homeland Sweden[2] and peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks.[3] 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

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Classic Rock[5]
The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal3/10[6]
Record Collector[7]

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.[3] The album is Europe's best-selling album in Switzerland. Out of This World achieved Platinum status in the United States,[8] platinum status in Switzerland[9] and gold in Canada.[10]

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."[4] 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".[5] Tim Jones of Record Collector is even more enthusiastic, defining the album "a stratospheric set of a dozen imperious rockers."[7] 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."[6]

Out of This World Tour

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. 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

All tracks written by Joey Tempest, except where indicated. 

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, Marcello, Michaeli3:20
5."Coast to Coast"  TempestTempest, Marcello, Michaeli4:00
6."Ready or Not"    4:05
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. He 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.[11]

Personnel

Europe

Additional musicians

Production

Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1988 Swedish Albums Chart[12] 1
Norwegian Albums Chart[13] 1
Swiss Albums Top 100[14] 3
Japanese Albums Chart[15] 4
Dutch MegaCharts[16] 7
Italian Albums Chart[17] 8
German Albums Chart[18] 10
UK Albums Chart[19] 12
Austrian Top 40 Albums[20] 16
Billboard 200 (USA)[3] 19
French Albums Chart[21] 19
Australian Albums Chart[22] 28
RPM100 (Canada)[23] 30

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1988 "Superstitious" Swedish Singles Chart[2] 1
Norwegian Singles Chart[1] 1
Mainstream Rock (USA)[3] 9
Swiss Singles Top 75[24] 9
Italian Singles Chart[25] 10
Dutch MegaCharts[26] 11
South African Singles Chart[27] 12
German Singles Chart[28] 21
New Zealand Singles Chart[29] 22
Irish Singles Chart[30] 24
Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)[31] 24
Billboard Hot 100[3] 31
French Singles Chart[32] 33
UK Singles Chart[19] 34
Top Singles Canada[33] 35
Australian Singles Chart[34] 45
"Open Your Heart" Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)[35] 31
Dutch MegaCharts[36] 42
UK Singles Chart[19] 86
1989 French Singles Chart[37] 67
"Let the Good Times Rock" UK Singles Chart[19] 85

Certifications

Country Organization Year Sales
USA RIAA 1989 Platinum (+ 1,000,000)[8]
Sweden GLF 1988 Platinum (+ 100,000)[38]
France SNEP 1989 Gold (+ 100,000)[39]
Canada CRIA 1988 Gold (+ 50,000)[10]
Switzerland IFPI Switzerland 1989 Gold (+ 25,000)[9]

References

  1. 1 2 "Europe – Superstitious (Song)". Norwegiancharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Europe – Superstitious (Song)". Swedishcharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "American Album Chart". Billboard.com. Billboard. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
  4. 1 2 Hinds, Andy. "Europe - Out of This World review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  5. 1 2 Elliott, Paul (February 2010). "Europe - Out of This World/Prisoners in Paradise". Classic Rock. No. 141. p. 92.
  6. 1 2 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.
  7. 1 2 Jones, Tim (June 2013). "Europe - Out of This World / Prisoners in Paradise". Record Collector (415). Retrieved 2016-10-19.
  8. 1 2 "RIAA Gold & Platinum Database: search for Europe - Out of This World". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  9. 1 2 "Swiss certification". Die Offizielle Schweizer Hitparade. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
  10. 1 2 "Gold Platinum Search for Europe". Music Canada. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  11. ↑ Marcello, Kee; Johansson, Stefan (8 June 2012). Rockstjärnan Gud glömde (in Swedish). Sweden: Månpocket. ISBN 978-917-2-32258-5.
  12. ↑ "Europe – Out of This World (Album)". Swedishcharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  13. ↑ "Europe – Out of This World (Album)". Norwegiancharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  14. ↑ "Europe – Out of This World". Hitparade.ch (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  15. ↑ AA.VV. (25 April 2006). Album Chart-Book Complete Edition 1970~2005. Tokyo, Japan: Oricon. ISBN 978-487-1-31077-2.
  16. ↑ "Europe – Out of This World". Dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  17. ↑ "Gli album più venduti del 1988" (in Italian). Hit Parade Italia.it. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  18. ↑ "Album – Europe, Out of This World". Charts.de (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  19. 1 2 3 4 "Europe Official Charts". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  20. ↑ "Europe – Out of This World". Austriancharts.at (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  21. ↑ "infodisc.fr Note : You must select Europe". infodisc.fr. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
  22. ↑ "Europe – Out of This World (Album)". Australian-charts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  23. ↑ "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 48, No. 25, October 08, 1988". Library and Archives Canada. 8 October 1988. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  24. ↑ "Europe – Superstitious". Hitparade.ch (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  25. ↑ "I singoli più venduti del 1988" (in Italian). hitparadeitalia. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
  26. ↑ "Europe – Superstitious". Dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  27. ↑ "SA Charts 1965 - 1989: Acts E". South Africa's Rock Lists Website. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  28. ↑ "Single – Europe, Superstitious". Charts.de (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  29. ↑ "Europe – Superstitious (Song)". Charts.org.nz. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  30. ↑ "Irish Singles Chart: search for Europe". The Irish Charts. Archived from the original on 3 June 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
  31. ↑ "Europe – Superstitious". Ultratop.be (in Dutch). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  32. ↑ "Europe – Superstitious (Song)". Lescharts.com (in French). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  33. ↑ "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 48, No. 26, October 15, 1988". Library and Archives Canada. 15 October 1988. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  34. ↑ "Europe – Superstitious (Song)". Australian-charts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  35. ↑ "Europe – Open Your Heart [88]". Ultratop.be (in Dutch). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  36. ↑ "Europe – Open Your Heart [88]". Dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  37. ↑ "infodisc.fr Note : You must select Europe". infodisc.fr. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
  38. ↑ "Swedish album chart". sverigetopplistan.se. Archived from the original on 27 July 2010. Retrieved 18 September 2009.
  39. ↑ "Les Certifications depuis 1973: select Europe" (in French). InfoDisc.fr. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
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