#14 Europe: The Final Countdown/ John Norum : Face The Truth (TIE)
Released 1986/1992 Ranking The Final Countdown was one of the harder ones to do -in terms of influence during my teens there's not too many bigger albums but , after listening to it today for the first time in years, I was pretty uninspired. I suppose my tastes are changing and so on , but it also seems to have dated rather badly all of a sudden. So it had to be Top 15 no doubt ,but I've put it back near the bottom of that range as a result of current taste. And to cement its position I have tied it with a related project that could easily hold the #14 position itself and has dated a lot better - John Norum's Face The Truth , which is easily the best thing he ever did IMHO.
I imagine a few of you would’ve preferred to see Wings of Tomorrow or Prisoners In Paradise here but based on my criteria it’s pretty clear TFC deserves the spot. Back in 1986 there was an extended period where 3 albums only were on rotation – TFC, Slippery When Wet and 5150. I actually think everything from Wings of Tomorrow through to PIP are great albums – even when they get a bit sappy you can usually be assured of some tasty guitar work from John or Kee as compensation. These days perhaps I might make a compilation of the more rocking tracks from The Final Countdown , Out Of This World , and PIP along with some non-album tracks like On Broken Wings and Break Free. Come to think of it I did always tend use the Skip button a bit on all Europe albums but TFC is the one I’d be most likely to play and enjoy from start to finish back in the day.
In revisiting the album I learned to my surprise that Carrie (#3) charted higher than The Final Countdown (song) – certainly not the case in Australia but it was in the US.
One weird thing to me is that John Norum bagged it and left , citing the whole “too fluffy” excuse , and then produced his solo album Total Control which IMO wasn’t really any heavier.
Onto Face The Truth – John's brilliant second (and last decent) solo album – he was at the absolute peak of his powers on this and , if I’m honest , it’s more consistent than any of the Europe albums . Just a brilliant mix of heavy rockers, ballads and aggressive lead playing that we expect from John. Sharing vocals is also a very in form Glenn Hughes, which I'm sure will impress Paul
. For mine it's a melodic hard rock classic. It's worth noting that there are two quite distinct editions of this album , each of which have two exclusive tracks. It is a much better album if you put together the whole 13 tracks. Solid rhythm section too - basically the same as on the Don Dokken album (Baltes & Dee)
The Jap/Euro Disc from 1992 has Still The Night (which also featured on Hughes/Thrall) and We Will Be Strong - a cool ballady duet with Joey Tempest. The US (1994) pressing drops those two and adds live versions of Don't Believe A Word (Lizzy) and Free Birds In flight (instrumental). Norum likes his Thin Lizzy - another of the album tracks is a cover of Opium Trail.
Favourite Tracks (Europe) : On The Loose ,Danger On The Track , Ninja , The Final Countdown ................no links.
Favourite Tracks(Norum) :
Face The Truth ,
Distant Voices,
Nightbuzz, Time Will Find The Answer ,
Still The Night ,
We Will Be StrongHonourable Mention : Jaded Heart - Mystery Eyes ..........a few of you guys have been liking Michael Bormann on the new Silent Force. This is the first album I owned with him singing - back in 1998.