Europe Releases Two New Songs

I find it fascinating that Europe chose the MTV platform to release two new songs, but whatever. Check out "Days of Rock n' Roll" and "Nothig To Ya." The songs are from the upcoming album War of Kings. What do you think?

Update: apparently MTV took down the stream, so here's a YouTube clip.

Comments

[Metalboy!]

"Days of Rock and Roll" makes me yearn for the days of Rock and Roll gone by... days with fresh big hooks, riffs and licks which this song has. My only complaint is they could have really let loose on this.

The song has all the bones it needs to have Tempest go an octave higher and for Norum to totally blaze a screeching outro guitar solo where they could both really drive it home at it's conclusion... Instead the song solidly plods along, never really taking off, which is kind of a let down.

I'd love to hear one of our other bands of heroes do a cover of this and really ROCK it out. Admittedly, sings with "Rock and Roll" or "Rock" in the title can be a bit cliché, but I'm a sucker for it every time. EUROPE has a history of Rockin' tunes such as "Rock The Night" and "Let the Good Times Rock" and hats off to them for continuing on in their tradition with this new number.

However, "Nothin' to Ya" leaves me flat as does the rest of the album including the unintentionally insipid album cover and title, for that matter, worthy of a "Spinal Tap" LP.

Still, I hope they play "Days of Rock and Roll" in their new set list, which is more than you can say about most "legacy" acts newly released material with maybe Accept, RATT ("Infestation" when it came out) and L.A. Guns some of the few other exceptions.

After listening to it, "Days of Rock and Roll" makes me want to see these guys, whereas before I was kinda blasé about it. So, now, thanks to them (and stalwart KIX), I've got M3 back in my sights again.

"Long Live Rock"!

[The Cheap Seats]

So, this is the same band that released "The Final Countdown" and "Carrie"?

Who relieved them of their fun and replaced it with sludge?

Everything I've heard lately is plodding and overthunk. Can't anybody just let it rip anymore?

[Him]

Metalboy!, I have to say, you just impressed me. Like my review of the Crue awhile ago, I appreciate your willingness to shift your opinion when the music moves you to do so. Not stationary, but passionate. Not always right, but rightfully opinionated. I don't have your depth of experience (or Ace's, or Christian's likely, or on and on).

But I try to balance honesty (and lengthy postings) with a realistic approach to my own biases. You just did that here. Not your longest or most "hell yeah" post. Still, another reason I keep coming back to BBG!

My opinion on Europe (not that you asked)? This is the band that they matured into being. Not always rocking and certainly not always lyrically crisp or even fashionably atrocious. Just confident, mostly middle-of-the-road rockers, churning out music that hits a sweet spot for their mostly European fan-base.

Again, though, thanks. I can be as strident as the next person. I just like to see dedicated posters shift as a consequence of the evidence they find, even as I like to sift through the materials that people like you bring to the table.

[B Lucas]

Neither song grabbed me. However Nothing to Ya is better than Days of Rock and Roll. Regardless, I'm still pumped to see them, for I've never had the pleasure. Hope to see you there Metalboy

[Shawn]

I wonder if the choice to use MTV as a launch pad has anything to do with the way music is delivered overseas. This music we all love that is dead in America is actually thriving around the world. As HIM pointed out they have a loyal European fan base as do much of our glam favorites.

Lyrically I thought the Days of Rock and Roll was good. The guitars may have been dumbed down in production. The keys and Joey's voice took center stage. Reminds me of Give me all your love tonight by Whitesnake without the awesome guitar sound.

[Bob]

Days of Rock and Roll reminds me of a more subdued Deep Purple. Like MB!, I agree that if they had just let loose more on this song it could have been absolutely epic.

[Metalboy!]

See, Bob AND Shawn know their Rock and Roll! "Days of Rock and Roll" is WAY... well, MORE Rock and Roll than "Nothin' to Ya", B Lucas!

And I thought the same thing, Bob... how EUROPE could really crank up "Days of Rock and Roll" Blackmore style before he kissed it all goodbye for that nutter blonde on the Renaissance Fair Circuit.

Anywho, you gonna be at M3, Mr. Lucas? If so, we'll be watchin' Europe blow TESlUGH! off the stage!

[JackT.Ripper]

Sux So sad no TESLA at M3!!!!

[GNR]

Europe blow Tesla off a stage ? hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.... (breathe)... hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah.... (choke) hahahahahahahahahahahahah.... oh Metalboy! you are one funny mother*cker

[Badland]

Europe blow Tesla off the stage
Photograph is a power ballad
Maiden has one good song

What a idiot i understand everybody has their own opinion but cmon now. Is it the hatred or lack of knowledge

[Metalboy!]

Damn, Ripper, Badland is right about my lack of knowledge as far as thinking TeslUGH! would be headlining M3! So, I stand corrected... Europe will blow them away on The Monster's of Rock Cruise! And so will KIX, Stryper, Heaven's Edge, Babylon A.D., Leatherwolf and Zebra!

p.s. And though I stand by my claim Iron Maiden has only one good song, my prayers go out to Bruce Dickinson during this time. No matter what I think about Maiden, I do appreciate him as one of THE Greatest Metal Singers Ever, as he so superbly demonstrates on his excellent solo record, "Tattooed Millionaire", which is so vastly superior to ANY of his band's albums.

[Him]

Hate to recycle a question I asked months ago re: Maiden. But this seems like an opportune time. Metalboy!, do you at least dig some of the stuff on Maiden's first two albums? I would think that rawer sound had something for you. You are right though: cancer is no joke and tongue cancer, for a singer, has got be a one scary thing with which to contend. I hope it is smooth sailing for him from this point forward. Business sense and a great voice, Dickinson is one of those that can't be replaced (well, there was that whole Blaze era thing . . .).

[Metalboy!]

Dude, I was probably one of the first people in the States to hear "Run To The Hills", etc. and I played it to death before I realized it bored me to death and that I like Saxon much better. Though I do appreciate the earlier stuff, nothing stacks up to "Can I Play With Madness". And for the record (pun intended), I've got every Maiden LP and many of the CDs from the first album to the early 90's.

Give me Priest and Saxon over these guys... WAY over! Still, I like Dickinson's voice, LOVE that solo album and I'm prayin' for him.

p.s. I catch a lot of flack about my distaste for another band that's quite popular here, those arbiters of Metal Mediocrity, TeslUGH! Aside from them behaving like self important jacka*ses, it's mainly the music that dissapooints me, though, unlike Maiden, I do like a handful of their songs, as opposed to just one. And Keith is a h*lluva singer, too, and I personally told him that. But he just laughed, willing to keep eaking out a decent living churning out the mediocre oldies and putting out new stuff that, well, just plain s*cks with his fellow a*sclowns.

[Metalboy!]

By the way, I am tempted to go through the entire Maiden catalogue, to try and find SOMETHING that could parallel "Can I Play With Madness" but I just can't bring myself to do it.

I did drink a "Trooper" beer the other day. Crazily, the owner of one of my neighborhood bars is old school chums of Dickinson's so he's always well stocked with it. The stuff tastes great and love the label.

And the Brand Iron Maiden typeface is the best!

p.s. HIM, you say you would expect I'd like the older, RAWER pre-Dickinson stuff better and though I do appreciate the pure NWOBHM stuff a little more, one of the main reasons I REALLY like "Can I Play With Madness", aside from the one-off great songcraft, lyrics and playing, is the SLICK and clean production.

[Him]

Really appreciate the reply, Metalboy!

I tend towards their lesser, though still Dickinson-based, songs. I really enjoy "The Prisoner," if for no other reason than it reminds of what a great TV show that was! I also mentioned "Reach Out" when I initially asked you about the pre-Dickinson era, sung by Smith, because it is so not what you expect with Maiden. And if I had to pick one their standards, I would almost always go with "Wasted Years." Something about that song gets me every time.

Sounds like a mighty cool bar to have in your neighborhood, by the way.

[GNR]

Suggestions for Metalboy! "Maiden Quest" songs (3 of my faves)

Wasted Years (because like Him said, just something about the song)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnqkDbrIfps

2 Minutes to Midnight (great chorus)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPbqQOf41Qc

Where Eagles Dare (for the drum fills in the middle)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYDR5yWas8M

[Rita]

Wasted Years for me is because of the amazing guitar riff intro, as well as the chorus itself. Very melodic and full of meaning.

[Him]

I hear you, GNR and Rita. Though it could have been just another "life on the road" sort of song, "Wasted Years" has layers of meaning that go beyond that.

I have talked to friends about that very point. Some slag on Maiden for a host of reasons (some in the vein of Metalboy!). But I then ask them to compare that song to others of the genre, Crue's "Home Sweet Home," sometimes also Kiss's "Beth". In the wake of Maiden's song, those two sound cheesy and cliche and wanting (though both are good songs).

The only other song of that sort that hits me is Thin Lizzy's "Cowboy Song." Lynott is without peer. He takes one sort of song (the life on the road), weaves it into another (the Western), and still comes out sounding like a poet and not just a singer. Miss that man's music quite a bit.

GNR and Rita, I would be interested to hear your thoughts on "Reach Out." When I found it in a record store (remember those?), one of the extra tracks on the "Wasted Years" single (alongside "Sheriff of Huddersfield," the closest Dickinson has gotten to sounding both punk-ish and drunk on a song), it just stopped me. From McBrain's changed up drumming, to Smith's voice and Dickinson's backing vocals, to the lyrics . . . I was shocked to hear this coming from Maiden. I listen to this song frequently even to this day.

Truth be told, contextually, I still find _Somewhere in Time_ to be my personal favorite, even if I deep dive into Maiden's back catalog for a lot of songs I enjoy. It is the glorious counter to the glorious and misguided technological mess that is Priest's _Turbo Lover_. Both released in 1986, nearly thirty years ago. Amazing.

[Rita]

HIM - I came relatively late to the Maiden party. While I knew their more popular songs back in the day, I am only recently discovering some of their older material that would not have been on the greatest hits packages or live CD's.

So, with that in mind, I had never heard this song before until now. AND I LOVE IT! It is really good. The intro guitar reminded me a bit of Wasted Years. And I really love the melody and message. This song will definitely go into my iTunes. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I really, really like it. A lot.