Def Leppard

[TAC]

Cram, I LOVE High n Dry. One of my favorite and most important albums. Amazon has a 2 CD/DVD package for 14.99. Strange as the Amazon download is 15 and change.

I'm only seeing the CD only.  Link?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E5N8E2O/ref=s9_simh_gw_g15_i1_r?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=1C3T3PVHF3WH81DQNTVJ&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2079475242&pf_rd_i=desktop

[bosk1]

Oh, sorry.  I thought you were saying there was a High n Dry 2 CD/DVD package, and I was thinking, "I have no idea what is on that DVD, but whatever it is, I'm all over it!"

[mrrct]

Retroactive is my favorite album of theirs, especially my personalized car stereo version without the "Miss You in a Heartbeat"s and the electric "Two Steps Behind."  Makes me wish that they kept Jim Steinman and stayed away from Mutt Lange, since the bulk of the album was essentially from the Hysteria writing/recording sessions that Lange scrapped when he got back together with the band.

Then again, strippers in Florida would not have had "Pour Some Sugar on Me" to dance to onstage, with patrons requesting it over the radio and then it becoming a major seller.  The band wouldn't have been as wealthy, but they might have kept some of their credibility and not tried to duplicate Hysteria's success (except for Slang).

[TAC]

Retroactive is my favorite album of theirs, especially my personalized car stereo version without the "Miss You in a Heartbeat"s and the electric "Two Steps Behind."  Makes me wish that they kept Jim Steinman and stayed away from Mutt Lange, since the bulk of the album was essentially from the Hysteria writing/recording sessions that Lange scrapped when he got back together with the band.

 

Oh so there ARE Steinman mixes available??

[bl5150]

Retroactive's best tracks are right up there with Pyro and HnD.................I agree .  A couple of duds leave it at #3 for me but it has some of my favourite songs.  I do like Hysteria but I don't think anything on it would make my Top 10 Lep songs.

[TAC]

Actually I have most of those songs on the Hysteria 45's. I should get a real copy of Retroactive. Those B sides are fantastic. I wish there were copies of the Steinman mixes. Not even sure how many songs that he was involved in actually ended up on Hysteria.

[mrrct]

Retroactive is my favorite album of theirs, especially my personalized car stereo version without the "Miss You in a Heartbeat"s and the electric "Two Steps Behind."  Makes me wish that they kept Jim Steinman and stayed away from Mutt Lange, since the bulk of the album was essentially from the Hysteria writing/recording sessions that Lange scrapped when he got back together with the band.

 

Oh so there ARE Steinman mixes available??

No, they said that they scrapped all of the Steinman recordings and re-recorded the songs during or after the Adrenalize tour.

[TAC]

I remember reading in Kerrang that the album was done (with Steinman) and then oops, another two years later we get the shit that was Hysteria.

[mrrct]

Not to say that I don't like Pyromania.  The songs on that album are great (8 out of 10 anyway), it just sounds too dated with the lack of real guitar.  I loved Hysteria at the time, but I find it too sappy and cringe worthy, and like Pyromania, sounds too synthesized.  I am not crazy about High 'n' Dry, but I liked some of On Through the Night, especially the NWOBHM and progressive elements that they never used again ("Overture," "When the Walls Came Tumbling Down," etc.).  While the growing pains showed in some of the songwriting, they still showed potential that they never showed again.

[TAC]

I'm with you on OTTN and its progressive elements. Highly underrated part of the album. I was a little disappointed when Pyromania came out for sure, but it was still listenable for me. Now when I hear it, it's probably more about nostalgia and memories than for actual rocking.
But OTTN and HnD are great. Still.

[King Postwhore]

I blast them once in a while.  When you have the I-Pod on random driving around and Photograph comes on you can't help but feel good and sing your brains out in the car.

[TAC]

I blast them once in a while.  When you have the I-Pod on random driving around and Photograph comes on you can't help but feel good and sing your brains out in the car.

Oh man I feel so bad for the woman in the car next to you at the red light when you go "I WANNA TOUCH YOU!"

[King Postwhore]

I look right at them.

[TAC]

I look right at them.

And then give them one of these:

[King Postwhore]

 

[Lowdz]

So, has Leprador fecked off now he's pimped the album?

[Kotowboy]

So, has Leprador fecked off now he's pimped the album?

ToolGuy says : Hey everyone - Tool has a new album out ! Go Check It Out !

Posted May 1st 2006.

Posts : 1

[TAC]

So, has Leprador fecked off now he's pimped the album?

It's just another hit and run.

[bl5150]

 

[Stadler]

Actually I have most of those songs on the Hysteria 45's. I should get a real copy of Retroactive. Those B sides are fantastic. I wish there were copies of the Steinman mixes. Not even sure how many songs that he was involved in actually ended up on Hysteria.

NO.  Get the Hysteria deluxe version.  Those are the actual b-side tracks. The versions on Retroactive have all been f-ed with in some way.  Not that they are bad, but if you are (like me) trying to get the versions you fell in love with the first time, you might be disappointed.  For me, those b-sides were magic.  Tear It Down (not the version on Adrenalize), Ride Into The Sun, Ring of Fire... and...

I can remember being in college, and I had a tape of all the Hysteria b-sides.   The girl next door (I lived on a co-ed floor) heard me playing it and said "Do you have that song about a hero? ("I Wanna Be Your Hero"), and lo and behold I did.   So we listened to it.  More than once.   A great night that I remember almost 25 years later...

[KevShmev]

What's funny about Def Leppard is their big vocal harmonies are clearly inspired by Queen, but while Queen's always sounded natural (while overdubbed to the max, they had that sound like a choir was singing), Leppard's kind of had that processed, over-layered feel to them more often than not.

[mrrct]

What's funny about Def Leppard is their big vocal harmonies are clearly inspired by Queen, but while Queen's always sounded natural (while overdubbed to the max, they had that sound like a choir was singing), Leppard's kind of had that processed, over-layered feel to them more often than not.

Just like their guitar synths.

[Kotowboy]

Mutt Lange sounds like some kind of mad scientist.

I heard but I don't know if it's true that he made Shania Twain do as many vocal takes for a song as there were words in the song -

- so he could comp the best versions of each word into the perfect vocal

[jammindude]

Mutt Lange sounds like some kind of mad scientist.

I heard but I don't know if it's true that he made Shania Twain do as many vocal takes for a song as there were words in the song -

- so he could comp the best versions of each word into the perfect vocal

I know AC/DC won't really talk about the Mutt Lange years that much.  Other than the For Those About to Rock sessions not being at all pleasant. 

Sounds like he's a hyper-perfectionist.   And while I love most of his early work, he really overdid it later on.   Pyromania was a really fantastic record to my ears, but not too long after that he did a re-mix of "Bringing on the Heartbreak" from High n Dry and that was just bloody awful.    That was the "jump the shark" moment for my fandom of all things Mutt Lange.

[Kotowboy]

Waking Up The Neighbours by Bryan Adams sounds fantastic. I only found out recently that all the drums bar cymbals were a drum machine.

[millahh]

I've read stories about his work with The Cars from the mid-80s that sound nightmarish (read them here, I think it was Bosk1 who posted them?)

Lead vocals aside, Shania Twain at her pop-country peak sounds almost indistinguishable from some Hysteria/Adrenalize Def Leppard.

[Stadler]

Not that I am some huge Mutt Lange aficionado, but for all the knocks on him, you can't knock his results.   I get it, this is a prog-metal forum, so record sales are bad, it has to sound like Slayer could have done it for it to be cool, and any song under 5.30 is shit by definition, but that Hysteria album didn't sell 10 million copies because it blows.  And their current setlist isn't 50% from that album because no one wants to hear it.

I took my 14-year-old to see Kiss and Def Leppard, and after DL played, she was like "I can't believe five guys alone can make all that sound!".  She was blown away.   

As for Mutt:   In addition to the Leppard albums (four of them):  Highway To Hell.  Back In Black, FTATR, Heartbeat City, Foreigner 4, Hands All Over (Maroon 5), Drones...

I'm not positive, but that gives him FOUR Diamond records (10 million sold). 

[Kotowboy]

Back In Black sounds extremely under-produced for a Mutt Lange album

[Lowdz]

Back In Black sounds extremely under-produced for a Mutt Lange album

But it's overproduced for AC/DC.

Mutt did sell shitloads of albums.didnt have the desired effect for Romeo's Daughter.

[Cruithne]

I'm not positive, but that gives him FOUR Diamond records (10 million sold).

If you just stick to RIAA certifications:

AC/DC - Back In Black
Def Leppard - Pyromania
Def Leppard - Hysteria
Shania Twain - The Woman In Me
Shania Twain - Come On Over
Shania Twain - Up!

And along the way there's been several other multi-platinum efforts that've done upwards of 4x million copies. Not half bad.

[Kotowboy]

How many did Waking Up The Neighbours sell ? I thought that was a lot as well.


EDIT : The album sold more than 16 million copies worldwide.[2]

[bl5150]

Extensive Phil Collen overview of Hysteria

https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/interview-phil-collen-on-recording-def-leppards-hysteria-track-by-track-551822

[Stadler]

Just got the new one, and have listened to it three times now, right in a row (which is unusual for me).   

I like it.

It's got enough classic Leppard so you know who it is, but it's not retread of anything.  Joe is singing better than ever, IMO, and the songs are catchy and memorable.  There are little moments that stir recollection to just about every album, from the first one through Adrenalize.

I have to admit, I don't quite get the lyrical sentiment of "Man Enough", but other than that, it's a very strong record. 

[cfmoran13]

To be fair, I don't own the new album.  I've heard about 8 of the songs, though.  It sounds awful.  The lyrics are go generic.  And, the forced rhyming of some of the lines is cringe-worthy.

"Let's Go" is Pour Some Sugar On Me II.  And, not in a good way.  I agree on the sentiment of "Man Enough".  The first verse had me thinking this was a song being sung from one man to another.  Nothing wrong with that per se.  Just not what I'd expect in a Def Leppard song.

Everything said building up to this album's release had me hopeful of a return to DL to which I could listen.  No such luck.

[Cruithne]

Joe is singing better than ever, IMO

...except when he goes into his upper register on All Time High and Blind Faith and engages "wet flannel stuck in the sinuses mode"  It's a shame about Blind Faith as the notes he goes for are absolutely right for the song but the delivery is weak, particularly compared to what he would've done with that in his youth.

I guess a combination of age, the kind of material he's been singing all these years, a certain amount of alcohol (and *cough* allegedly other things *cough*) and cigarette intake (I assume/hope he's long since given them up, but who knows) has taken its toll.

I have to admit, I don't quite get the lyrical sentiment of "Man Enough", but other than that, it's a very strong record.

It's easily my favourite since Retro Active. It's like every album since then - there's some moments where the rhythm guitar work is so flat it's easy to miss Steve Clark's arrangement touches (let alone his spark of creativity) - but I'm finding it a very enjoyable album nonetheless.