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Last night I saw one of the most enjoyable concerts I’ve been to in recent years, with a band I never thought I’d go to see.

If you only know the swedish rock group Europe for their massive hit “The Final Countdown”, you’ve not heard Europe at all. I’ve had The Final Countdown for a number of years, on both casette and CD, and while the title track is the epitome of 80’s Hair Metal, the rest of the album is a much rockier sound, which is more of what Europe’s music is like.

Since their reformation in 2000, the band have released two new albums, and toured both of them. I missed out on the “Start From The Dark” tour, due to it clashing with another concert, so I was determined to see them this time.

No support act meant that Europe had their hands full as they had to warm the crowd up, blasting straight in to “Love is not the enemy” from their newest album, the initial response was somewhat subdued, but quickly warmed up.

Interestingly, many of the parts that I thought were guitar on the album are actually keyboards, but that’s not to take anything away from John Norum’s playing. A fantastic bluesy player, and great performer (Like Richie Sambora, every note causes pain to etch across his face).

Each band member had a solo, which was just the right length - sometimes guitar solos (and particularly Bass solos!) go on for far too long. The shortest “solo” was drummer Ian Haugland - 4 bars that lead straight into “Cherokee”, but the best solo was Norum’s; a fusion of styles leading into the opening lick of “Girl From Lebanon”.

With a wide catalogue of great music to choose from, there are always favourites that will be missed off. For me, “Hero” and “Prisoners In Paradise” were notable omissions.

The sign of a good concert is one where you don’t notice the time fly, and “The Final Countdown” came all too quickly.

If when you think of Europe you think of hairspray and lipstick, consider listening to “Start From The Dark” - and you’ll discover a different side to the band.

Set List: (as far as I can remember - and not in this order!)

• Love is not the enemy 
• Always The Pretenders
• Superstitious
• Seven Doors Hotel
• Rock The Night
• Carrie (Acoustic)
• Cherokee
• Yesterday’s News
• Girl From Lebanon
• Got to have Faith
• Flames
• The Getaway Plan
• Let The Children Play
• Forever Travelling
• The Final Countdown

The White Room The KLF
As an ardent Heavy Rock fan, you might be surprised to find The White Room in my collection, but it is one of my favourite albums of all time.

At the time, I had no idea what Stadium House or Ambient House music was, and to be honest, I still have trouble with the differences between House and Garage music. I just knew that I liked some of The KLF’s songs, and most of those were listed on the track list of this album.

Pidgeonholing and labeling aside - this record was released at the peak of The KLF’s popularity, having just released the single “Justified & Ancient” with Tammy Wynette. The single peaked at #2 in the UK single charts, but this album is a complete departure from the radio-friendly commercial material that The KLF had been releasing.

Perhaps as a departure from the commercial world that Caulty & Drummond aped so much (to the point where they were to eventually delete The KLF’s back catalogue and burn the £1M royalties they still had remaining). This album is a mixed selection of ambient chill-out and loud ‘Stadium House’ - House music mixed with crowd noises and a large ambiance, making the music sound as if it was being played in a large stadium.

I remember being somewhat underwhelmed by the album, as the versions of the chart songs I was familiar with were different. In fact, if you’re used to the source material and listen to the album with those expectations, it feels like a collection of outtakes and ‘b-side’ mixes.

However, for some strange reason, I keep coming back to this album…
You can only listen to it as an album - individual tracks flow into each other, and the vocals reflect various themes across songs - prominently the Justified & Ancient melody, which opens the album, and also features on track 7 “No More Tears”.
Unlike a lot of music from the late 80’s/early 90’s, this album still sounds as fresh as ever. I know it’s a cliche, but it’s true… Perhaps because it is so unique it has stood the test of time.

Lyrically, it is nothing clever, witty or cerebal, but musically it is something else.

I’d highly recommend getting this album, listening to it a couple of times, and then leaving it alone for a couple of years - putting it on when you’re a bit bored with your record collection and rediscover it as opposed to just listening to it.

I’m hoping that I’m wrong about Bat out of Hell 3. Using one of my free iTunes downloads, I downloaded the first single from the album: It’s All Coming Back To Me.

Most people will know it from the Celine Dion version, but that itself was a cover. The original was written by Jim Steinman for his girl-band project Pandora’s Box.

This version sees Meat Loaf duetting with Norwegian singer Marion Raven, and I must say it is quite stonking.

Raven’s voice takes a while to get used to - IMHO, her voice is a little child-like and nasal, but after the first couple of listens, it doesn’t grate as much. For the time being (at least until Google notice it!) you can watch the video at YouTube. It’s not the best of his videos (that place is reserved for the Michael Bay epic “Objects in the rearview mirror”) but it’s quite good.

Featuring all the trademark overblown operatics that characterise any Meat Loaf song, it certainally whets my appetite for the forthcoming album. With Desmond Child (Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Aerosmith) producing and writing, perhaps it is in safe hands…

This must be the day for Dead Horse Floggerage…

I found out that Meat Loaf is to release “Bat Out of Hell 3“

The initial Bat album is a classic - described by Q magazine as a guilty pleasure album, Steinmann and Meat’s opus has stood the test of time. In 1993, the followup was released. In a marketing masterstroke, the album marked the re-collaboration of the two men.

So in 2006, they decide to collaborate again. and so we get another Bat album.

The first has hardly dated, each track is a classic, and the title piece is still a fun driving track. However, the second album does not stand up to listening 13 years later. The stand-out tracks “I’d Do Anything for Love”, and “Objects in the Rearview mirror” still shine, but others, such as “Rock n’ Roll Dreams Come Through” and “Everything Louder than Everything Else” are just annoying now (Perhaps due to the amount of times I used to play this album I’m a bit fed up of it?).

My parents used to laugh at how Meat Loaf has apparently built an entire career around one album, and while this isn’t totally true, This is actually the 5th Bat Out Of Hell album I can think of (Bat 1 was remixed and “Dead Ringer For Love” added later, and there is the Orchestral version “Bat Out Hell Live“)

Meat’s last two studio albums have actually been very good, and truthfully I really want Bat 3 to be a hit, but I have my worries…

But you can rest assured that when the inevitable world tour comes, I’m going to be there! Meat Loaf is at his best live, one of the best performers I have ever seen.

I saw the new Pixar film ‘Cars’ last night, and despite the general panning it has received from the critics, I thought it was superb.

With Pixar you really do set your sights high. The original Toy Story broke new ground in animation and set the bar for others to jump. The second Toy Story proved the exception to the rule that a sequel can never live up to the original. Again, the standard of animation was improved upon to the point where they were ready to animate people in ‘The Incredibles’. With Cars, the character models are less animated, they are after all, cars. However, they do not have any less of a personality.

Some critics have complained that the audience is never engaged enough to care about the plight of the characters (In short, hot-shot race car gets stranded in hick town and can’t escape) however, I’d disagree. While the central character arc is fairly predictable Pixar fare: The hot-shot comes to realise that there is more to life than racing, and eventually grows to love the town he is ‘trapped’ in and the residents. There are several other narratives running through the film, with themes such as how the town of Radiator Springs, once a thriving community, falls into a ghost town as a new Bypass is built.

Character-wise, again, it is what we’ve come to expect: The young, good looking hot shot, the love interest who seems out of place in the small town, the crochety old man with a hidden past, the goofy sidekick, the hippy VW camper, the militaristic jeep…

But it is because we are in familiar territory that makes the film so enjoyable. There are no big twists in the plot, but as this isn’t “The Usual Suspects”, does it really matter? It is a fun film, with a simple story and amusing characters that provides genuine escapism for a couple of hours. But I defy anyone not to be even slightly moved when the historical montage of Radiator Springs is shown.

The jokes do not come as thick and fast as in say, Toy Story or Monsters Inc. but again, there are some for the adults and some for the children. (Although from the giggles in our screening, I imagine more children understood the joke about the ‘Piston Cup’ than the BBFC would have liked.

Pixar, being Pixar bring a huge amount of detail that brings the town of Radiator Springs to life. From the ‘Diner’ Petrol station that looks like an engine block to the shapes in the rocks that look like cars, to the reference to Cadillac Ranch, where a group of rocks in the background look like the tail fins of the Cadillacs in the famous art piece.

Again, as we have come to expect from Pixar, the animation is stunning. The cars may not be as agile as The Incredibles, but what they lack in flexibility, they make up for in detail. Apparently a single frame of Cars took 17 hours to render. If there was any one thing to encourage me to make the switch to HD-TV and the next generation of DVD, it would be to see the detail in Cars.

More than any other Pixar film though, the music really takes centre stage. From the opening rocky Sheryl Crow track (which wouldn’t look out of place on a ZZ Top album) to the Rock & Roll playing in the 1950’s style Radiator Springs, to the uptempo version of ‘Route 66′, this is a driving soundtrack. I had to purchase the album (something I rarely do for soundtrack albums) and although I was driving through the town, closing my eyes at a red traffic light, I could easily have been cruising through the American midwest.

Finally, it wouldn’t be a pixar film without a smattering of ’star’ voices. Owen Wilson is perfectly cast as the young, cocky Lightning McQueen. Paul Newman was good as the grouchy Doc Hudson, but Michael Keaton was unrecognisable and unmemorable as bad guy Chick. Long-Time Pixar voice artist John Ratzenberger again makes an appearance, a joke that is played on during the closing credits.

Racing legends also make cameo appearances, including Michael Schumacher, Mario Andretti and Richard Petty.

Overall, a good night at the cinema, much more fulfilling than the disappointing Pirates of the Carribean 2.