"1982-1992" is maybe the best EUROPE compilation made (and there are MANY!)

Picking out some of the best tracks from the five studio albums, as well as some unreleased tracks and different versions of a couple of tracks, this really is a testimony to the fact that EUROPE was a band with talented musicians and more than just "The Final Countdown".

As well as the great hits like "The Final Countdown" and "Carrie", you'll find both good, heavy tracks like "Seven Doors Hotel", "Stormwind" and "Yesterday's News", and beautiful ballads like "Open Your Heart", "Dreamer" and "Sweet Love Child".

Every track has meaningful lyrics and great melodies, which is more than can be said about most of today's popular music.

Joey Tempest has a great voice and is also a good keyboard player, as we can hear on the tracks from the two first EUROPE albums. Both John Norum and his replacement in 1986, Kee Marcello are excellent guitarists. Mic Michaeli does well with his keyboard work, and Tony Reno and Ian Haugland are some of the world's best drummers. John Levén is a skilful bassist.

As you've maybe noticed, SONY Music has released an "updated" version of this album, and it's been given the original name "1982-2000"... The only new things you'll find on it, are new front and back covers (the booklet inside is just like "1982-1992"), and yes, "The Final Countdown 2000", a dance remix of the classic song. A new cover and a disappointing remix isn't really worth the extra money, so unless you're a die-hard EUROPE collector, take my advice: Buy this one instead.

Europe was a hair band from Sweden who enjoyed their gratest commercial success with 1986's The Final Countdown. Some of it may be a little AOR influenced, but it still is very good. The first few tracks are VERY heavy and power metal sounding. Then some lighter, but still powerful songs come. Included on here is some of the band's biggest hits, The Final Countdown, Rock The Night, and the sometimes corny power ballad Carrie. But in spite of the lyrics sometimes being corny, they were one of the most unusual, fun, and interesting bands of the infamous hair metal era.

This is a really good taster for this band. The main reasons are that it has their huge hits plus doesn't shy away from putting on some of their earlier rockers either and some of them may surprise people who only knew their couple of megahits back in the day.

Really it's a good buy for Europe fans too as it collects most of the stuff that make us like this band. For the real fan one of the attractions is the liner notes by Joey Tempest. They do add to the listening experience and aren't just chest beating nonsense.

I'm not going to go into detail with the various tracks - the newcomer can discover for themselves what songs apart from the hits they like and determine if they want to explore further (the chronological order of this album is a good touch, more bands should do this with 'best ofs').

Just a note for those who already have all the albums - there are a couple of non LP tracks here - study the tracks listing our mates at Amazon have available and decide for yourself if hearing/owning these are worth the money. My vote is that yes, get this disc even if you have all their studio LP's.

I HAVE BEEN A FAN OF EURPOE SINCE I WAS 13 YEARS OLD. I STILL ENJOY LISTENING TO THEM AND WAS THRILLED WHEN THEY CAME OUT WITH THIS NEW ONE. I WOULD ENJOY HEARING FROM ANYONE WHO KNOWS WHERE THEY ARE NOW, IF THEY ARE STILL TOGETHER, AND ESPECIALLY ANYONE WHO HAS BAND MEMORABILIA. ALL THE EUROPE ALBUMS ARE AWESOME, AND THIS ONE TAKES THE BEST FROM THE BEST!!!

Europe scored big in the 80s with Carrie and the Final Countdown and produced a string of hits and it's a shame that Europe is often over-looked and under-appreciated. Europe was one of the best bands from the 80s and their Prisoners in Paradise album was a great album. Europe has released an album with all their greatest hits and this is an excellent collection. This is a great album.