Track Listing

1. Animation
2. Charade
3. Dulce et Decorum Est (Pro Patria Mori)
4. Pros and Cons
5. Home of the Saved
6. Working for the Yankee Dollar
7. Olympian
8. Thanatos
9. Day in Europa
10. Peaceful Times
11. Masquerade [*]
12. Out of Town [*]
13. Another Emotion [*]
14. Aitermath Dub [*]
15. Grey Parade [*]
16. Working for the Yankee Dollar [Single Version][*]
17. Panguards Crusade [*]

Product Details

• Released on: 2004-02-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Album Description
First time on CD for the Scottish art-punk unit's second album, originally released in 1979. Includes bonus tracks 'Masquerade', 'Out Of Town', 'Another Emotion', 'Aftermath Dub', 'Grey Paradise', 'Working For The Yankee Dollar (Single Version)', & 'Vanguards Crusade'. Packaged in original album artwork complete with lyrics.

Customer Reviews

Bigger, Better, Brilliant
Thanks to my wife I got Days in Europa in my Christmas stocking. This CD is choc full of perfectly formed guitar riffs and solos and now that it includes bonus tracks this album is a revelation even to a long standing Skids fan like myself. This is because according to the liner notes the album was remixed and released with an alternative cover shortly after its original release in 1979. My cassette version is obviously the latter and is minus Pros and Cons but includes the single mix of Masquerade. The most refreshing thing about this album apart from the remastering is that it is the original mix which makes it eminently collectible. You cannot deny the power of classic anthems like The Olympian or Thanatos while the original album's closer Peaceful Times is sublime, complete with backwards drums, guitars and backing harmonies and a lead vocal narration not unlike a serman from the pulpit - and sounding uncannily like the Band Aid song Feed the World some six five years earlier. Stuart Adamson was a true guitar hero even at the age of 20 and has influenced the likes of The Edge. This is very obvious in Out Of Town where the middle eight uses the same chords as the middle eight in Two Hearts Beat as One, and the atmospheric intro to Another Emotion is a not unlike the intro to Where the Streets Have No Name. If you like good guitar oriented rock this album is a must have.

Skids: Gone but not Forgotten
I stumble across the Skid in 1980 as I discovered the Virgin label. Since that time and up to the present I listen to them and rediscover the potency that originally attracked me. Little has been said of this band who in part became Big Country (remember the guitar in the title track?). However to dismiss earlier Skids albums is a mistake. Scared to Dance(1979)is the first North American release with its edgy punk riffs and rhythms. Days In Europa (1979) showed a maturation of their sound with shades of Hendrix tossed in. Absolute Game (1980) is probably their most accessable release with plenty of air-guitar potential. But the darkest and the least accessable is Joy(1981). This release is the reason for this discussion. Without a doubt it is the most difficult, deepest and ultimately most rewarding of all the Skids albums. Foreshadowing the celtic-rock revival that was to come many years later, Joy finds its influences and spirit in the land. Listen to the fusion of Blood and Soil, the aching voices playing against the hammering of drums and screeching guitar. Punk angst meets island anguish in the haunting A Challenge. The strongest track is the last on side one. Iona with its strings, bodhran and fairlite (M. Oldfield)has all the ingrediants of traditional celtic music. Fear of Fire starts with as carousel of voices that give way to Brothers with its rhythmic bass and Scottish accents. The tatto of J.J. Johnsons drums carries the music as we hear the old Skids surface again. A rendition of Waltzing Matilda echoes with the fear and destruction of Gallipoli well before Mel Gibson had been thought of. The Men of the Fall is perhaps the gentlest of all the tunes and provides a beautiful rhythm of bass with crescendos of drums and a sparkle of saxaphone that segues with The Sound of Retreat. The album finishes with rousing Fields - is there any doubt at this time? Throughout the album (yes I have vynal still) the recording is superb.

If you made it this far then buy it. So grab a six of MacEwan and play Joy at the end of the night. Cheers all and enjoy.
My question to all:is Paul Wishart related to Peter of Runrig fame? 10 points to the winner.

Nope, Still Can't Make Out The Words
Then again, diction was never Richard Jobson's strong point (UK readers may remember "Into The Valley" being used in a memorable TV ad for precisely this reason), except when he did the spoken word/poetry thing (and the less said about that the better). It wasn't just the accent either, I was born within an hour's travel of Dunfermline and even I can't tell what he's saying most of the time. The booklet comes to the rescue, including complete lyrics and a brief history of the album (although it's rather skimpy when it comes to credits).

The credits thing might seem to be a bit of a nitpick, but it's key to one of the album's main characteristics. While the combination of Jobson's vocals and Stuart Adamson's guitar is still the backbone of the band's sound, _Days In Europa_ strongly bears the imprint of its producer, Bill Nelson.

The observant might note that while the album's sound marks a transition from the "intelligent punk" of _Scared To Dance_ to a more "new-wavy" sound with plenty of synth work in evidence, the band hadn't actually added a keyboard player. Although he's not credited as such (actually, he's not credited at all, just briefly mentioned in the liner notes) Bill Nelson was to all intents and purposes a fifth Skid on this album. His sound is all over the production on many tracks, I believe he had some co-writing credits, and even some of the treatments applied to Adamson's guitar hint strongly at his presence.

An earlier reviewer mentioned how much influence "Pros & Cons" must have had on others. He might want to check out the Red Noise album _Sound-On-Sound_ or Nelson's _Quit Dreaming & Get On The Beam_ and see if those revise his opinion any on just who was influencing who. Oh, and "Peaceful Times" is so heavily reminiscent of Nelson's later solo instrumental material, it's more a Bill Nelson track with Richard Jobson vocals and a smattering of Adamson's guitar.

In a lot of places, Nelson's involvement is much less obvious. In fact, I'd split the tracks here into two groups - the ones that sound like a natural evolution from _Scared To Dance_ and the ones that sound like Bill Nelson was in complete control of proceedings. There's good material in both groups, and they play off each other nicely, the variation in the sound from anthemic guitar to atmospheric synth washes is what gives the album a lot of its appeal.

Ironically, it may also be this mix that spelt the beginning of the end for the Skids. Riffling through my CD collection I dig out Big Country's first album _The Crossing_ and find big, all-out, completely non-synthetic guitar anthems. Then I dig out a compilation of material from Nelson's Cocteau label at around the same time as _The Crossing_, and find Richard Jobson reciting poetry in Japanese over ambient synths. Put the two together and they spell "artistic differences" in big, big letters.