Walk the Earth

Walk the Earth
Studio album by Europe
Released October 20, 2017 (2017-10-20)
Recorded April–May 2017
Studio Abbey Road Studios, London
Genre Hard rock, heavy metal
Length 40:54
Label Hell & Back
Producer Dave Cobb
Europe chronology
War of Kings
(2015)War of Kings2015		 Walk the Earth
(2017)
Singles from Walk the Earth
  1. "Walk the Earth"
    Released: September 1, 2017

Walk the Earth is the eleventh studio album by the Swedish rock band Europe. It was released on October 20, 2017.[1][2][3] The album was produced by Dave Cobb and recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London.[2]

Background

The album was recorded in Abbey Road Studios in London in a period of two weeks. The band entered the studio with ten songs and produced them with Dave Cobb. The song "GTO" originates from a riff composed by John Norum. The band was looking for an up-tempo song for the album, so Norum presented his idea for the riff. He worked on that riff with Cobb in the studio and later Joey Tempest co-wrote the lyrics with Cobb. Lyrically, it became a song about cars, love of the road and freedom. Musically, it was influenced by Deep Purple. The song "Pictures" originates from an idea that Tempest had in mind for some years. He had half of the verse in his head for a while and, a few weeks before the final rehearsal, while at his parents' house, wrote a second part of the verse. After that, he presented it to the band and producer and they all loved it because it was different. Lyrically, song it's a sequel to the song The Final Countdown (1986). Band co-wrote it with a Cobb's friend Aaron from Nashville and they all explored what happened to the people who left the ground in 1986 and headed for Venus. "Wolves" is a political song about a whistleblower who had to move away with his family because he told the truth about something wolves were hounding him in a situation where nobody trusts anybody. Intro of the song was done with an old recording technique on old tape recorder and it's also different on vocal range and the arrangements. Tempest originally had in mind for a band to do a concept album, but after a while he realised that Europe is a rock band after all, so he and the band decided to have every song unfold in the studio and that they wrote together. Joey originally wanted to do some research, so he met a college professor to learn from him about how democracy as we see it today came to be, where and how and when it happened at different points of time. It ended up with just some research and few song touched upon it, "The Siege", "Kingdom United" and "Election Day".[4][5] Song "The Siege" is an about the part of French Revolution when Napoleon started to defeat the aristocrats and when democracy started in France. "Election Day" is an observation song about simultaneous elections that were going on in United States and England. Chris Difford, from band Squeeze helped Tempest to co-write the lyrics on "Election Day" and "Kingdom United". Song "Turn to Dust" musically originates from Mic Michaeli's idea. Band tried to work it out for every album, but this time Joey pushed the band to finish the song. Title of the song is also Michaeli's idea. Lyrically, the song is warning for the people to not waste their time. Joey explained:"I may have forgotten to send those letters and say those words to people I know, but there's still a chance to do it. It was a great ending to the album". "Walk the Earth" is a positive rebirth song.

"Kingdom United" is the first song that was written for the album. First demo where Tempest played only drums was called "Path of Democracy" and it was quite naive and chaotic compared to the more straight forward groove version on the album. The song was put together in two main parts; the main riff part and the outro guitar solo. During the rehearsal, working name of the song was changed to "ProgLizzy" and it was the song that gave birth to the entire album because it came from a more progressive place and lyrically from the democracy theme. While band was in the studio recording this song, Cobb suggested adding the instrumental part filled with Mellotron keyboards after each verse. At the early stage while song was still called "Path of Democracy", Tempest had in mind to do a concept album with every song touch uppon democracy subject. After the arrangements of the were done in the studio, Tempest contacted Difford and explained him that he wants to write with him a lyrics about period in United Kingdom history when Magna Carta was formed, written and signed and when democracy started in United Kingdom. While Tempest and Difford were writing the lyrics, there was a Difford's friend Boo Hewerdine who was staying in the house and who also helped adding a few lyric lines. "Haze" is a song that originates from riff composed by John Norum. Band worked on this song in their rehearsal place in Stockholm. After they came in the Abbey Road Studio, Cobb helped to take a song to a different level with arrangement ideas, effects and production. It is also the first time that band had put drum solo into a song. Lyrics was done by Cobb and Tempest around grand piano in Studio 3. They took the lyrics to a far out psychedelic place because of the chords and the vibe of the song. "Whenever You're Ready" originates from up-tempo riff composed by Tempest in his studio in London. They worked on the song in band rehearsal place in Stockholm. Later in studio Cobb added a musical part after every verse that made a different flow of a song. Lyrics was done with Tempest and Aaron Raitiere and is a straight forward rock lyrics.[4][5]

Album cover

The album cover features original artwork by Los Angeles artist Mike Sportes of Filth Mart. Few days into recording of the album, Dave Cobb came one day into the studio wearing a t-shirt with one of the Mike's design on it. Band members were impressed by that design and they contacted Sportes and asked him if he is interested in design the album cover. After he agreed, they have sent him the lyrics an the titles of the songs, thoughts about what they like, including Pink Floyd album covers. He sent the back the artwork and band members tweaked it a little bit. Joey Tempest explaining the album cover: "For us, it just worked so well, this character walking into some sort of light or another place. I loved the grid on there, like walking the mountains, the earth and the sky. And the triangle which we have used for so many things, it's a beautiful symbol. We love the triangle. During 'The Final Countdown' tour we had three triangles above us when we played and on the flip side of 'The Final Countdown' album and on 'Prisoners In Paradise' our last album we had a triangle".[5][2]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Walk the Earth"Joey Tempest, Mic Michaeli, Dave Cobb, Aaron Raitiere4:15
2."The Siege"Joey Tempest, John Levén, Mic Michaeli, Chris Difford, Dave Cobb4:00
3."Kingdom United"Joey Tempest, Chris Difford, Dave Cobb, Boo Hewerdine2:51
4."Pictures"Joey Tempest, Dave Cobb, Aaron Raitiere4:48
5."Election Day"Joey Tempest, Mic Michaeli, Chris Difford, Adam Lamprell, Dave Cobb4:06
6."Wolves"Joey Tempest, John Norum, Dave Cobb3:55
7."GTO"Joey Tempest, John Norum, Dave Cobb3:29
8."Haze"Joey Tempest, John Norum, James Fucci, Dave Cobb3:49
9."Whenever You're Ready"Joey Tempest, Dave Cobb, Aaron Raitiere2:51
10."Turn to Dust"Mic Michaeli, Joey Tempest, Aaron Raitiere6:50[6]
Total length:40:54

[7]

Personnel

Europe

Production

Artwork

Charts

Chart (2017) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[8] 28
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[9] 75
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[10] 109
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[11] 23
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[12] 31
French Albums (SNEP)[13] 62
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[14] 40
Italian Albums (FIMI)[15] 43
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[16] 46
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[17] 38
Scottish Albums (OCC)[18] 43
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[19] 23
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[20] 2
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[21] 20
UK Albums (OCC)[22] 69

References

  1. ↑ "Here it is Folks!!". facebook.com. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Europe To Release 'Walk The Earth' Album In October; Cover Artwork Unveiled - Blabbermouth.net". blabbermouth.net. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  3. 1 2 3 "Europe announce new album Walk The Earth - Classic Rock". teamrock.com. Retrieved 2017-07-27.
  4. 1 2 "Exclusive: Listen to Europe's new album 'Walk The Earth' in its entirety". Planet Rock. Retrieved 2017-10-29.
  5. 1 2 3 "Interview with Joey Tempest". Rocktopia. Retrieved 2017-09-23.
  6. ↑ Includes a hidden track which is a short instrumental
  7. ↑ https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/walk-the-earth/id1276633113
  8. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Europe – Walk the Earth" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  9. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Europe – Walk the Earth" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  10. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Europe – Walk the Earth" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  11. ↑ "Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 201744 on the field besides the word "Zobrazit", and then click over the word to retrieve the correct chart data. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  12. ↑ "Europe: Walk the Earth" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  13. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Europe – Walk the Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  14. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Europe – Walk the Earth" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  15. ↑ "Album – Classifica settimanale WK 43 (dal 2017-10-20 al 2017-10-26)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  16. ↑ "Oricon Top 50 Albums: 2017-10-30" (in Japanese). Oricon.
  17. ↑ "VG-lista – Europe / Walk the Earth". VG-lista. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  18. ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  19. ↑ "Top 100 Albumes — Semana 44: del 27.10.2017 al 02.11.2017" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  20. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Europe – Walk the Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  21. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Europe – Walk the Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  22. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
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