Bag of Bones

Bag of Bones is the ninth studio album by the Swedish rock band Europe. It was released on 18 April 2012 in Japan by Victor Entertainment and on April 25 in Sweden by Gain Music Entertainment. Bag of Bones is the first Europe album to chart in UK Top 100 Albums since Prisoners in Paradise in 1991 and also entered in UK Top 40 Rock Albums at number 3. Background and recording The band decided to work with Kevin Shirley after appreciating his production on Joe Bonamassa's song "Ballad of John Henry". Before they met him, they had prepared about 12-13 songs. Recording of the album began on 3 October 2011, and by the next day they band had recorded the first song for it, "Doghouse". By the end of the first week, they recorded two more songs. Between October 24 and October 27 they recorded overdubs and guitar solos; they officially wrapped up the album recordings on 27 October 2011. On 7 November 2011, Anton Fig came into the recording studio to record percussion on several songs on the album, while Joe Bonamassa recorded slide guitar on song "Bag of Bones". Band members were absent from the studio at this time. On November 13, Shirley finished the rough mixes of some of the songs on the album. Later on, the band decided to go in studio in early December to do some additional recordings, so that the album could be ready for Shirley to mix it in early January 2012.