Prisoners in Paradise

Prisoners in Paradise
Prisoners in Paradise
	Cover art by Mark Wilkinson
Studio album by Europe
Released	23 September 1991
Recorded	1990–1991
Studio	Enterprise Studios, Burbank, California
Genre	Glam metal, hard rock
Length	54:57
Label	Epic
Producer	Beau Hill
Europe chronology
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;

Last updated February 13, 2025

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

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.

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 "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.	"A 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
6.	"Stranded"	4:32
7.	"I Want Your Love"	6:20

(Note: These unreleased demos can 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

Chart (1991)	Peak position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)^[8]	32
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)^[9]	60
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)^[10]	21
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[11]	38
Italian Albums ( Musica e Dischi )^[12]	22
Japanese Albums (Oricon)^[13]	12
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)^[14]	18
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)^[15]	9
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)^[16]	17
UK Albums (OCC)^[17]	61

Certifications


Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Sweden (GLF)^[18]	Platinum	100,000^{^}
^{^} Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

↑ Elliott, Paul (February 2010). "Europe – Out of This World/Prisoners in Paradise". Classic Rock . No. 141. p. 92.
↑ 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.
↑ Jones, Tim (June 2013). "Europe – Out of This World / Prisoners in Paradise". Record Collector (415). Retrieved 19 October 2016.
↑ Marcello, Kee; Johansson, Stefan (8 June 2012). Rockstjärnan Gud glömde (in Swedish). Sweden: Månpocket. ISBN 978-917-2-32258-5.
↑ "Album review: KEE MARCELLO – Scaling up".
↑ "Kee Marcello släpper nytt album – Rocknytt". 21 February 2016.
↑ "Encyclopedia Of Swedish Hard Rock And Heavy Metal av Janne Stark (Bok)".
↑ "Austriancharts.at – Europe – Prisoners in Paradise" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Europe – Prisoners in Paradise" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
↑ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 166. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Europe – Prisoners in Paradise" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
↑ "Classifiche". Musica e Dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 12 January 2024. Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Europe".
↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Europe – Prisoners in Paradise". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Europe – Prisoners in Paradise". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
↑ "Swisscharts.com – Europe – Prisoners in Paradise". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
↑ "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 1987−1998" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 May 2011.

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[classic-1] Elliott, Paul (February 2010). "Europe – Out of This World/Prisoners in Paradise". Classic Rock . No. 141. p. 92.

[martin-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.

[collector-3] Jones, Tim (June 2013). "Europe – Out of This World / Prisoners in Paradise". Record Collector (415). Retrieved 19 October 2016.

[4] Marcello, Kee; Johansson, Stefan (8 June 2012). Rockstjärnan Gud glömde (in Swedish). Sweden: Månpocket. ISBN 978-917-2-32258-5.

[5] "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)".

[ac_Austria_Europe-8] "Austriancharts.at – Europe – Prisoners in Paradise" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 12, 2024.

[ac_Netherlands_Europe-9] "Dutchcharts.nl – Europe – Prisoners in Paradise" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 12, 2024.

[FINI-10] Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 166. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.

[ac_Germany4_Europe-11] "Offiziellecharts.de – Europe – Prisoners in Paradise" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved January 12, 2024.

[12] "Classifiche". Musica e Dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 12 January 2024. Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Europe".

[JPN-13] Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.

[ac_Norway_Europe-14] "Norwegiancharts.com – Europe – Prisoners in Paradise". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 12, 2024.

[ac_Sweden_Europe-15] "Swedishcharts.com – Europe – Prisoners in Paradise". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 12, 2024.

[ac_Switzerland_Europe-16] "Swisscharts.com – Europe – Prisoners in Paradise". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 12, 2024.

[ac_UK2_-17] "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 12, 2024.

[SwedenEuropePirsoners_in_ParadisealbumCertRef-18] "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 1987−1998" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 May 2011.

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v t e Europe
Joey Tempest John Norum John Levén Mic Michaeli Ian Haugland Tony Reno Marcel Jacob Kee Marcello
Studio albums	Europe Wings of Tomorrow The Final Countdown Out of This World Prisoners in Paradise Start from the Dark Secret Society Last Look at Eden Bag of Bones War of Kings Walk the Earth
Live albums	The Final Countdown Tour 1986 Extended Versions Almost Unplugged Live at Shepherd's Bush, London Live at Sweden Rock – 30th Anniversary Show
Compilations	1982–1992 Definitive Collection Super Hits 1982–2000 Rock the Night: The Very Best of Europe The Final Countdown: The Best of Europe
Videography	The Final Countdown Tour 1986 Rock the Night: Collectors Edition Live from the Dark The Final Countdown Tour 1986: Live in Sweden – 20th Anniversary Edition
EPs	On the Loose
Singles	"Seven Doors Hotel" "Dreamer" "Stormwind" "The Final Countdown" "Love Chaser" "Rock the Night" "Carrie" "Cherokee" "Superstitious" "Open Your Heart" "Let the Good Times Rock" "More Than Meets the Eye" "Prisoners in Paradise" "I'll Cry for You" "Halfway to Heaven" "Got to Have Faith" "Hero" "Always the Pretenders" "Last Look at Eden" "New Love in Town" "Not Supposed to Sing the Blues" "Firebox"
Related articles	Discography