Prisoners in Paradise

Prisoners in Paradise is the fifth studio album by the Swedish rock band Europe. It was released on 23 September 1991, by Epic Records and spawned hits such as the title track, "Prisoners in Paradise" and "I'll Cry for You". The album did not chart in the US, which is unusual for a major label follow-up to two recent (multi)platinum albums. Prisoners in Paradise is the last album to feature guitarist Kee Marcello.

Prisoners in Paradise
Cover art by Mark Wilkinson
Studio album by Europe
Released	23 September 1991
Recorded	1990-1991
Studio	Enterprise Studios, Burbank, California, United States
Genre	Glam metal
Length	54:57
Label	Epic
Producer	Beau Hill
Europe chronology
Out of This World (1988) Prisoners in Paradise (1991) 1982–1992 (1993)
Singles from Prisoners in Paradise
"Prisoners in Paradise" Released: September 1991 "I'll Cry for You" Released: December 1991 "Halfway to Heaven" Released: March 1992

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Classic Rock	[1]
The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	3/10[2]
Record Collector	[3]

The band's guitarist Kee Marcello states in his 2011 biography that Bob Rock was the first choice for producer for this album, and agreed initially but pulled out to work on Metallica´s eponymous album instead. The large number of finished bonus tracks is also explained in this book: the first version of this album, called "Seventh Sign" was rejected by the label in 1990 and the band had to write and record new songs.[4] Five more tracks were demoed in addition to the 25 listed below; two of them were rewritten and became "New Love in Town" on Last Look at Eden and "Bring it All Home" on Bag of Bones. Most of the unreleased songs down below can be found on YouTube as demo recordings. Two of the previously unreleased tracks, "Wild Child" and "I Don't Know How to Love No More"[5] were re-recorded for Kee Marcello's 2016 solo album "Scaling Up" on Frontiers Records.[6]

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"All or Nothing"	Eric Martin, Andre Pessis, Joey Tempest	Tempest	3:54
2.	"Halfway to Heaven"	Tempest, Jim Vallance	Tempest, Vallance	4:06
3.	"I'll Cry for You"	Tempest, Nick Graham	Tempest, Graham	5:21
4.	"Little Bit of Lovin'"	Tempest	Tempest, Kee Marcello	4:48
5.	"Talk to Me"	Tempest, Mic Michaeli	Tempest, Michaeli	4:06
6.	"Seventh Sign"	Tempest	Tempest, Marcello, Michaeli	4:42
7.	"Prisoners in Paradise"	Tempest	Tempest	5:36
8.	"Bad Blood"	Tempest, Michaeli	Tempest, Marcello	4:19
9.	"Homeland"	Tempest, Michaeli	Tempest, Marcello, Michaeli	4:51
10.	"Got Your Mind in the Gutter"	Tempest, Beau Hill	Marcello, Hill	4:59
11.	"'Til My Heart Beats Down Your Door"	Brian McDonald, Fiona	Tempest, Michaeli	3:47
12.	"Girl from Lebanon"	Tempest	Tempest	4:20

Japanese edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
13.	"Break Free"	Tempest	Tempest, Marcello	4:05
14.	"Yesterday's News"	Tempest, Marcello, Michaeli, John Levén, Ian Haugland	Tempest	5:27

Spitfire Records 2001 remaster bonus tracks

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
13.	"Mr. Government Man"	Tempest, Hill	Tempest, Hill	3:36
14.	"Long Time Comin'"	Tempest	Tempest, Marcello	3:55

Tracks from the Prisoners in Paradise recording sessions available on various compilations

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Sweet Love Child" (released on the 1982–1992 and 1982–2000 compilations)	Tempest, Marcello, Michaeli	4:57
2.	"Rainbow Warrior" (released on CD with Encyclopedia of Swedish Hard Rock and Heavy Metal 1970-1996)	Tempest, Marcello, Michaeli, Levén, Haugland	6:35
3.	"Blame It on Me" (released on CD with Encyclopedia of Swedish Hard Rock and Heavy Metal vol II (2002)[7])	Tempest, Marcello, Michaeli, Levén, Haugland	4:45
4.	"Here Comes the Night" (released on the compilation album Rock the Night: The Very Best of Europe)	Tempest	4:27

Demo tracks that remain unreleased

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Wild Child"	4:05
2.	"Don't Know How to Love No More"	5:50
3.	"Wanted Man"	4:44
4.	"Little Sinner"	3:56
5.	"Never Gonna Say Goodbye"	3:45

(Note: These unreleased demos can, for some reason, be heard on YouTube and, thusly, accurate time lengths for these songs were acquired.)

Personnel

Europe

• Joey Tempest – lead vocals, acoustic guitars
• Kee Marcello – electric guitars, background vocals
• John Levén – bass guitar
• Mic Michaeli – keyboards, background vocals
• Ian Haugland – drums

Additional musicians

• Nate Winger, Paul Winger – background vocals

Production

• Beau Hill – producer, mixing
• Jimmy Hoyson – engineer, mixing
• Martin Horenburg – assistant engineer
• Ted Jensen – mastering
• Jeff Katz – photography
• Mark Wilkinson – illustrations
• Tony Sellari – art direction

Charts

Album Year Chart Position 1991 Swedish Albums Chart[8] 9 Japanese Albums Chart[9] 12 Swiss Albums Top 100[10] 17 Norwegian Albums Chart[11] 18 Austrian Top 40 Albums[12] 32 German Albums Chart[13] 38 Dutch MegaCharts[14] 60 UK Albums Chart[15] 61

Singles Year Single Chart Position 1991 "Prisoners in Paradise" Swedish Singles Chart[16] 8 1992 "I'll Cry for You" UK Singles Chart[15] 28 "Halfway to Heaven" UK Singles Chart[15] 42

Certifications

Country	Organization	Year	Sales
Sweden	GLF	1992	Platinum (+ 100,000)[17]

References

1. Elliott, Paul (February 2010). "Europe - Out of This World/Prisoners in Paradise". Classic Rock. No. 141. p. 92.
2. Popoff, Martin (1 August 2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
3. Jones, Tim (June 2013). "Europe - Out of This World / Prisoners in Paradise". Record Collector (415). Retrieved 2016-10-19.
4. Marcello, Kee; Johansson, Stefan (8 June 2012). Rockstjärnan Gud glömde (in Swedish). Sweden: Månpocket. ISBN 978-917-2-32258-5.
5. http://getreadytorock.me.uk/blog/2016/11/album-review-kee-marcello-scaling-up/
6. "Kee Marcello släpper nytt album - Rocknytt". 21 February 2016.
7. "Encyclopedia Of Swedish Hard Rock And Heavy Metal av Janne Stark (Bok)".
8. "Europe – Prisoners in Paradise (Album)". Swedishcharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
9. AA.VV. (25 April 2006). Album Chart-Book Complete Edition 1970~2005. Tokyo, Japan: Oricon. ISBN 978-487-1-31077-2.
10. "Europe – Prisoners of Paradise". Hitparade.ch (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
11. "Europe – Prisoners in Paradise (Album)". Norwegiancharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
12. "Europe – Prisoners of Paradise". Austriancharts.at (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
13. "Album – Europe, Prisoners in Paradise". Charts.de (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
14. "Europe – Prisoners of Paradise". Dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
15. "Europe Official Charts". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
16. "Europe – Prisoners in Paradise (Song)". Swedishcharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
17. "Swedish album chart". sverigetopplistan.se. Archived from the original on 27 July 2010. Retrieved 18 September 2009.