Force - Endless Voyage Of Dreams (1981)

Force came together in 1979, in Upplands Väsby, Stockholm, and was formed by vocalist Joey Tempest, guitarist John Norum, bass guitarist Peter Olsson, and drummer Tony Reno. They started by playing covers in their rehearsal room, in order to learn their instruments, and when Tempest suggested that they should do their own stuff, he brought some of his songs to the rehearsal room, and they started writing their own material. Demos were recorded in 1980 and 1981, and they were sent to several record companies, but they were told that in order to be published they had to cut their hair and sing in Swedish. Two years later, Olsson left the band and was replaced by John Levén, and just a couple of months later, Levén joined Yngwie Malmsteen's band Rising Force, and Malmsteen's former bassist, Marcel Jacob, joined Force. This only lasted for three months, however, as Levén apparently had issues with Malmsteen, so he and Jacob traded places again. In 1982, Tempest's girlfriend entered Force in the Swedish rock talent contest Rock-SM, and competing against 4,000 bands, they won the contest thanks to two songs, 'In The Future To Come' and 'The King Will Return'. Tempest also won the individual award for Best Lead Singer, and Norum won the award for Best Guitarist. The prize was a record deal with Hot Records, and as they had changed their name to Europe just before the contest (taken from the Deep Purple album 'Made In Europe'), they signed to Hot Records under that name. Their self-titled debut album was released the following year, and sold well both in Sweden and Japan, reaching number 8 in the albums chart in the band's home country, while the single 'Seven Doors Hotel' became a Top 10 hit in Japan. It was to be another three years before they made their international break-though with the triple platinum selling album 'The Final Countdown', along with the single release of the title track topping the charts in 25 countries, and which was based on a keyboard riff composed by Tempest back in their Force days in 1981. To hear how they progressed from those early days as a covers band to international stardom with one of the most famous riffs in hard rock, here are the demos that they recorded in 1980 and 1981 as Force.  

Track listing

01 Hold On
02 Give Me A Break
03 The Roses

04 Midnight Show

05 Strange
06 Rock On

07 Black Rose

08 Mystery
09 Endless Voyage Of Dreams
10 Can't Work It Out
11 Power Of Rock