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General => General Music Discussion => Topic started by: Deadeye21 on May 04, 2022, 12:17:37 AM

Title: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 04, 2022, 12:17:37 AM
Alright, so I’ll start by saying that this is just for me, and I’m well aware that this may annoy some people. If it does, can ya drop me a PM so I know wether or not I should just stop?

That bit of housekeeping out of the way, this is my own little review thread. I thought I’d go back and do a fairly comprehensive listen through of Def Leppard’s discography, seeing as they’ll be releasing their brand new album, Diamond Star Halos on the 27th of May. I’d like to encourage anyone (who wants to) to weigh in, and listen in to the Def Leppard discography with me.

I’ll be making 3 posts today, and then one a day until we get to the double live release of Hysteria at the O2 and Hits Vegas at the end. Hope you’ll enjoy the ride with me!

Deadeye21
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 04, 2022, 01:02:23 AM
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Def_Leppard_E.P.#/media/File:Defleppardep.png)

The Def Leppard EP - 1979
Tracklisting: 1. Ride Into The Sun. 2. Getcha Rocks Off. 3. The Overture.
 https://open.spotify.com/album/2zpE4hPWA3pSufqbKEruPt?si=cSal1pYwR0Su3KwfEEzXMw (https://open.spotify.com/album/2zpE4hPWA3pSufqbKEruPt?si=cSal1pYwR0Su3KwfEEzXMw)

So, where else do you start if not the beginning? Released in January of 1979, The Def Leppard EP is, as the name would suggest, the very first release from a young 5 piece from Sheffield, England.

This EP is super raw, with a sound that’s somehow smooth and rough all at once. The first thing that hit me here was how prominent Rick Savage’s bass was in the mix, which I really appreciate being able to hear. Joe Elliott’s voice is far less refined than it will become by High ‘n’ Dry, Steve Clark’s guitar is nice and punchy, Pete Willis is possibly the most stable he’ll ever be as a player, and the session drummer Frank Noon provides a strong backbone, though not as strong as Rick Allen would be upon his arrival in the On Through the Night album.

The songs here are Ride Into The Sun, Getcha Rocks Off and The Overture. To an extent, I believe the EP versions could be considered as demos, as (at least in my opinion) Ride Into the Sun was improved during the Hysteria sessions, and the other two tracks were further worked into tracks on On Through the Night. However, if they are demos, they’re very promising.

Ride Into The Sun wastes no time in introducing the band and their tenacious NWOBHM spirit. This track charges in on a killer riff and never relents. While later revisions give this tune a better guitar tone, more refined solos and different lyrics that I believe suit the tune much better, this is a massive first song and one that I would love to see back in the setlist sometime. It definitely deserves it’s place in the Def Leppard history books.

Getcha Rocks Off is a faster paced rocker and would become largely successful as the flagship track for the EP. While I will dive into this song more when we look into On Through the Night, this song is a banger even in it’s a rawest form.

The Overture is a solid 7:45 in length, and each moment is utilised well. This is filled with great guitar harmonies and three killer solos, even going as far as to give the bass a great moment to itself early on. This whole thing feels very 70s to my ear, and I’ll be interested to see how we go in it’s ultimate release on the album version.

This is all said and done in under 15 minutes, but I’d have to think that this would leave a huge impact on people back in the day (I wasn’t really around until much later in their discography). This is a super solid introduction to Def Leppard’s early sound, and each song is something very different. I give this 4 stars.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 04, 2022, 07:50:03 AM
On Through the Night - 1980

Tracklisting - 1. Rock Brigade. 2. Hello America. 3. Sorrow Is A Woman. 4. It Could Be You. 5. Satellite. 6. When the Walls Came Tumbling Down. 7. Wasted. 8. Rocks Off. 9. It Don’t Matter. 10. Answer to the Master. 11. Overture.
 https://open.spotify.com/album/5MDUAzbkTZwDUN5DvC9l8m?si=V97mODMQQMm_RP9_tQg-CQ (https://open.spotify.com/album/5MDUAzbkTZwDUN5DvC9l8m?si=V97mODMQQMm_RP9_tQg-CQ)

A year on from The Def Leppard EP, what has changed? For one, we have a new band member, a two armed Rick Allen! Def Leppard have moved on and started playing shows all around England and starting to branch out into the rest of the UK with their original material. So, with that, it’s time for a new release, which was delivered in the form of On Through the Night.

Taking cues from their previous release, the new album reuses two tracks from the 79 EP, while adding new touches to them. It also adds 9 brand new tracks that were no stranger to the stage.

The songs presented on On Through the Night are very different than what you would think from DL. With a sound like more of a 70s affair, songs like It Could Be You feel like an old school Led Zeppelin production.

Rock Brigade kicks us into the album, and though the lyrics are a bit unrefined, this is a great kickoff track. As one of the most recently played tracks from this album, and one of only two featured on the band’s Rock of Ages compilation in 2005, you can see how this track has stood the test of times. Killer rocking vibes, helping to set the scene for the rest of the album.

Hello America especially feels like a rocked up Beach Boys anthem, while still providing a great insight to who Leppard were at the time. The interesting thing to me is that even though the harmonised vocals are present, they are nowhere near as punchy as they’ll become, and are far from the anthemic multi-vocal section that they would become on subsequent releases.

Sorrow Is A Woman, It Could Be You and Satellite are a bit more generic to me, not really standing out to my ear. The best of the three is definitely It Could Be You, with a killer hook of a riff. Satellite does offer a nice clean section midway through though, but post-listen, these don’t offer as many memorable moments as the rest of the album.

When The Walls Came Tumbling Downis a great look into their early epics, with a really story driven lyric structure. There are some great instrumental hooks here too, which is a trait that a lot of these songs have to offer.

Wasted is, for all the right reasons, the most played song off of this album. The edge of the guitars on this track very much speak to the powerhouse of Steve Clark’s sound. This and the closing track, Overture, are head too head for my favourite from On Through the Night.

Rocks Off, sadly, seemed to leave less impact on me than the original on The Def Leppard EP. The production is enhanced, but certain lead fills that have been added are somewhat distracting to me.

It Don’t Matter almost feels like something that could’ve been on one of the first Van Halen albums, and has a sound that almost reminds me of Fly By Night era Rush.
Answer to the Master has a killer main riff which reminds me of Creed’s Fear. The instrumental section proves how much of a powerhouse Def Leppard were as a band, with a powerful guitar harmony into a massive guitar solo.

The whole album comes to a head on the re-recorded Overture, which sounds even more epic than it ever did before. This wouldn’t feel out of place on one of the Paul Di’Anno Iron Maiden albums to my ear. An epic ride through most of what the album has had to offer, all rolled up into a single smorgasbord.

On Through the Night isn’t my favourite Leppard album, not by a long shot, but this is still a great rock album for 1980. One could see it as a valuable stepping stone between the EP and High n Dry, which really it is. Due to seeing it as an extension, and really enjoying a fair few of these songs, I’m giving it the same rating as the EP, a 4 out of 5.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 04, 2022, 07:53:07 AM
A year on from The Def Leppard EP, what has changed? For one, we have a new band member, a two armed Rick Allen! Def Leppard have moved on and started playing shows all around England and starting to branch out into the rest of the UK with their original material. So, with that, it’s time for a new release, which was delivered in the form of On Through the Night.

Taking cues from their previous release, the new album reuses two tracks from the 79 EP, while adding new touches to them. It also adds 9 brand new tracks that were no stranger to the stage.

The songs presented on On Through the Night are very different than what you would think from DL. With a sound like more of a 70s affair, songs like It Could Be You feel like an old school Led Zeppelin production.

Rock Brigade kicks us into the album, and though the lyrics are a bit unrefined, this is a great kickoff track. As one of the most recently played tracks from this album, and one of only two featured on the band’s Rock of Ages compilation in 2005, you can see how this track has stood the test of times. Killer rocking vibes, helping to set the scene for the rest of the album.

Hello America especially feels like a rocked up Beach Boys anthem, while still providing a great insight to who Leppard were at the time. The interesting thing to me is that even though the harmonised vocals are present, they are nowhere near as punchy as they’ll become, and are far from the anthemic multi-vocal section that they would become on subsequent releases.

Sorrow Is A Woman, It Could Be You and Satellite are a bit more generic to me, not really standing out to my ear. The best of the three is definitely It Could Be You, with a killer hook of a riff. Satellite does offer a nice clean section midway through though, but post-listen, these don’t offer as many memorable moments as the rest of the album.

When The Walls Came Tumbling Downis a great look into their early epics, with a really story driven lyric structure. There are some great instrumental hooks here too, which is a trait that a lot of these songs have to offer.

Wasted is, for all the right reasons, the most played song off of this album. The edge of the guitars on this track very much speak to the powerhouse of Steve Clark’s sound. This and the closing track, Overture, are head too head for my favourite from On Through the Night.

Rocks Off, sadly, seemed to leave less impact on me than the original on The Def Leppard EP. The production is enhanced, but certain lead fills that have been added are somewhat distracting to me.

It Don’t Matter almost feels like something that could’ve been on one of the first Van Halen albums, and has a sound that almost reminds me of Fly By Night era Rush.
Answer to the Master has a killer main riff which reminds me of Creed’s Fear. The instrumental section proves how much of a powerhouse Def Leppard were as a band, with a powerful guitar harmony into a massive guitar solo.

The whole album comes to a head on the re-recorded Overture, which sounds even more epic than it ever did before. This wouldn’t feel out of place on one of the Paul Di’Anno Iron Maiden albums to my ear. An epic ride through most of what the album has had to offer, all rolled up into a single smorgasbord.


Deadeye, is this your text?
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 04, 2022, 08:09:48 AM
Yeah, that’s my text?
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: ReaperKK on May 04, 2022, 08:14:28 AM
Oh man I'll be following, I'll give the EP a listen to today. :tup
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Stadler on May 04, 2022, 08:15:25 AM
Interesting that you say "It Don't Matter" is Rush-like; for me, "Overture" is the real Rush track in the Leppard catalogue.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 04, 2022, 08:18:49 AM
Yeah, that’s my text?

OK.  :tup
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: WilliamMunny on May 04, 2022, 08:24:24 AM
Oh, man, I am so here for this!

I'm not sure that I will post all that much (my 6-month-old is making it harder and harder to find 'me' time), but I have recently did a run-through myself.

I like OTTN, but to be honest, 'my' Leppard begins with Pyromania, as that album (along with Hysteria) are foundation records for my youth.

That said, the E.P. and OTTN are both remarkably realized albums. Considering how fully-formed the band was from day one, it's hardly any surprise that they'd eventually reach the heights of the Hysteria-era.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 04, 2022, 08:25:46 AM
I like OTTN, but to be honest, 'my' Leppard begins with Pyromania, as that album (along with Hysteria) are foundation records for my youth.


Mine ends with Pyromania. :lol
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 04, 2022, 08:27:18 AM
Deadeye, can you give us a chance to spin the EP and OTTN before you post High n Dry?

What is your schedule expected to be..an album a day or every other day?
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 04, 2022, 08:32:46 AM
Love this thread.  I was part of the majority that came to discovery Def Lep with the massive exposure they got with Pyromania, and I then went back and discovered their (then) small back catalog.  At the time, the EP was a rarity, so I did not hear it until MUCH later.  Given that I got into the band with the slick '80s production and songwriting of Pyromania, and the fact that I generally didn't like much music that sounded like it came from the '70s (how foolish I was), On Through the Night did not immediately resonate with me.  I liked it, but didn't love it, and spent most of my time listening to the two albums that followed it.  It was not until the relatively recent release of The Ultimate Collection that I really dug into it and began to appreciate it.  I can definitely say I love it now. 
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 04, 2022, 08:40:49 AM
The Def Leppard EP - 1979
Tracklisting: 1. Ride Into The Sun. 2. Getcha Rocks Off. 3. The Overture.

This wasn't available to hear when I got into Def Leppard, which was with High n Dry.

I love the EP's rawness. They definitely would improve on Ride Into The Sun.
The Overture is actually pretty faithful to the OTTN version. I kind of like its less produced version on the EP.

Drummer Frank Noon would reemerge on Waysted's Vices album in 1983.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 04, 2022, 09:04:12 AM
Deadeye, can you give us a chance to spin the EP and OTTN before you post High n Dry?

What is your schedule expected to be..an album a day or every other day?

I suppose so. I will cut down to just the main stuff, was gonna cover the lives as well, but I can also not do that. I am going to do Retro Active though, as that was a lot of my upbringing as a kid.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 04, 2022, 09:08:24 AM
Deadeye, can you give us a chance to spin the EP and OTTN before you post High n Dry?

What is your schedule expected to be..an album a day or every other day?

I suppose so. I will cut down to just the main stuff, was gonna cover the lives as well, but I can also not do that. I am going to do Retro Active though, as that was a lot of my upbringing as a kid.

No, please cover everything you were planning on doing!

I was just wondering what the pace would be. I am planning on listening along, that's all.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: WilliamMunny on May 04, 2022, 09:13:17 AM
Deadeye, can you give us a chance to spin the EP and OTTN before you post High n Dry?

What is your schedule expected to be..an album a day or every other day?

I suppose so. I will cut down to just the main stuff, was gonna cover the lives as well, but I can also not do that. I am going to do Retro Active though, as that was a lot of my upbringing as a kid.

Retro Active might be my 3rd or 4th favorite Lep release—"Desert Song" is easily my favorite opener from them. Outtakes, schmouttakes, that be a damn fine collection of songs.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 04, 2022, 09:17:47 AM
My original schedule showed I had a lot to cover (something every day practically) but if people are keen to follow along, I will happily slow it down and give people a chance to meet up with it all. There was a lot of bonus material that can be condensed into footnotes during the album rundowns.
I actually did not expect this to take on the way it already has, so many thanks to you all for showing the support!

There are 11 main albums (including Retro Active) to cover over the next 23 days, so I’ll give it a rest for tomorrow, and we’ll meet up again on Friday.

Keep in mind, I’m posting these around 1pm AWST (Western Australian time) as that”s what my end of time turns out to be, so I hope that doesn’t bother anyone.


Retro Active might be my 3rd or 4th favorite Lep release—"Desert Song" is easily my favorite opener from them. Outtakes, schmouttakes, that be a damn fine collection of songs.


Couldn’t agree more!
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Stadler on May 04, 2022, 10:17:16 AM
Deadeye, can you give us a chance to spin the EP and OTTN before you post High n Dry?

What is your schedule expected to be..an album a day or every other day?

I suppose so. I will cut down to just the main stuff, was gonna cover the lives as well, but I can also not do that. I am going to do Retro Active though, as that was a lot of my upbringing as a kid.

Retro Active might be my 3rd or 4th favorite Lep release—"Desert Song" is easily my favorite opener from them. Outtakes, schmouttakes, that be a damn fine collection of songs.

Agreed.  I like the Sweet song as well.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Podaar on May 04, 2022, 02:47:18 PM
Had my first listen ever to the EP today. I really dig it, especially Getcha Rocks Off and The Overture. It's been a long time since I listened to Clark and Willis play together, and off each other. It's easy to forget, all these years later, how much of a chemistry they had in those early days. It sucks that Willis couldn't stay off the juice and that Clark died.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 04, 2022, 02:53:20 PM
I never realized how much the solo in Rock Brigade sounds like Michael Schenker.

Hello America..Beach Boys? Hmm.. Their 70's glam influences definitely show through on this.

Sorrow Is A Woman sounds like Chapman Era UFO. Love the guitar harmonies in the instrumental part.

It Could Be You is a cool rocking tune. The verse..great. The Chorus...not so much. But the rest of it smokes.

Satellite is really interesting. It's not really like anything else. I really wish they would've pursued this kind of thing going forward.

When The Walls Came Tumbling Down is a great tune.

Wasted and Rocks Off are classic. Great tunes.

It Don't Matter previews the type of songs that would appear on High n Dry.

Answer To The Master has a cool intro. Has a cool groove to it and mid section.

Overture is fantastic. Hearing this song, and then seeing what the band would ultimately become..it's just so disheartening.


Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Podaar on May 04, 2022, 03:03:55 PM
I never realized how much the solo in Rock Brigade sounds like Michael Schenker.

It does, doesn't it! I guess that's only natural, I've seen videos of Def Leppard members all talking about going to UFO concerts and being mesmerized by Schenker. I'm sure Willis wanted to be him.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 04, 2022, 03:09:49 PM
I never realized how much the solo in Rock Brigade sounds like Michael Schenker.

It does, doesn't it! I guess that's only natural, I've seen videos of Def Leppard members all talking about going to UFO concerts and being mesmerized by Schenker. I'm sure Willis wanted to be him.  :biggrin:

And I thought the guitar in Sorrow Is A Woman sounded a lot like Paul Chapman.  But enough UFO references.. ;D


I love this album. They put a fresh spin on English rock like UFO and Thin Lizzy, and you can hear their glam influences like Bowie and The Sweet.

Oddly, I don't consider On Through The Night a classic NWOBHM styled album. That would come with High n Dry.


And I believe they won Circus Magazine's 1980 New Arstist Of The Year.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 04, 2022, 05:44:59 PM
Hello America..Beach Boys? Hmm.. Their 70's glam influences definitely show through on this.

I more meant in lyrical content, not overall, though the vocal harmonies do fit that vibe to me too.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 04, 2022, 07:05:56 PM
I just wanted to touch in a few extra tracks from around the 79/80 era that never made it to full albums.
As with the rest of these reviews, I will provide the Spotify link where possible (the self titled album from 2015 isn’t available, I’m actually going to have to import it from my CD copy to review it properly). For this one, we will be looking at the tracks Glad I’m Alive, Good Morning Freedom, Medicine Man and When the Rain Falls.
 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7aTa6KK70VRLDKZYh0Fjrl?si=7ypGq6dwT361VsTtKXoacg (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7aTa6KK70VRLDKZYh0Fjrl?si=7ypGq6dwT361VsTtKXoacg)

Glad I’m Alive is an early rocker that has only recently been released to us through Def Leppard box sets. This one is super raw, you can tell it didn’t really get far into production. The main riff’s guitar tone is very tiny outside of the main stabs. The chorus is pretty fun too. Great solo, sounds like a bit of a back and forth between Willis and Clark. There’s also a harmony section just after the third chorus that’s pretty cool, though a little repetitive. I can say that this doesn’t leave much impact on me overall though.

Good Morning Freedom is up next. This is a song I really enjoy, it has a really solid energy. This is a song that kinda sits alongside Burning Ambition or Invasion for any massive Iron Maiden fans. It’s definitely out there flying the flag of all the elements super early on, and shows it’s era on its sleeve. This sounds like a song from On Through the Night, but it also really doesn’t fit, so it seems to get a little disregarded, which is a shame. I’m very glad we have a live version on Viva! Hysteria so that newer fans got to witness this one fkr themselves.

Medicine Man and When the Rain Falls are intriguing, and can kinda be lumped together. Neither of them are bad songs, actually both could’ve been great, but I’m glad neither made the debut album. By being left off, Leppard had time to work on these more for future releases and that extra time allowed these songs to become truly phenomenal landmark tracks on High ‘n’ Dry and Pyromania, becoming Rock! Rock! (‘Til You Drop!) and Let It Go respectively. By having these tracks from before On Through the Night, it really shows that Leppard were able to realise potential they hadn’t fully capitalised on yet and leaves me wondering if there are any other old ideas that still haven’t seen the light that could be on Diamond Star Halos?
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: romdrums on May 04, 2022, 07:11:04 PM
Just popping in to say I’d give my left arm to play drums like Rick Allen.   ;). In all seriousness, though, the way he found a way to get back behind the drum kit is super cool.

Hysteria is a fantastic record.  Rocket is my favorite track by far, but the production on that album is absolutely incredible.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 04, 2022, 07:25:16 PM

Medicine Man and When the Rain Falls are intriguing, and can kinda be lumped together. Neither of them are bad songs, actually both could’ve been great, but I’m glad neither made the debut album. By being left off, Leppard had time to work on these more for future releases and that extra time allowed these songs to become truly phenomenal landmark tracks on High ‘n’ Dry and Pyromania, becoming Rock! Rock! (‘Til You Drop!) and Let It Go respectively.

Oh Wow! I've never heard those before. That's amazing.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: King Puppies and the Acid Guppies on May 04, 2022, 07:42:38 PM
I like this thread already! I'll be following/listening along!  :metal
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Cool Chris on May 04, 2022, 08:49:55 PM
Following. 

DL was my first "Favorite Band." Hysteria was the 1st or 2nd CD I bought for my new stereo system I bought with my own money from my first job. It was my second "Favorite Album" and for a year or two around middle school was my most often listened to album. I quickly backtracked to buy HnD and Pyromania which I instantly loved, though somehow never OttN. Once the early 90s hit my musical tastes went in different directions, and while I still listened to those albums occasionally, I lost track of DL from that point on.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: The Realm on May 04, 2022, 09:19:00 PM
Yes, I will also be following this. Good stuff.

Never heard the EP before, gave it a spin and actually enjoyed it. Also haven't listened to OTTN in a very, very long time....so I put it on and was pleasantly surprised. Sure it is very raw and kind of straight forward musically but also very enjoyable.

Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Zoom E on May 04, 2022, 10:01:24 PM
I too have never heard the EP before, though I do know Ride Into the Sun. That must be on the Retroactive compilation that I have. I’ll give the EP a listen tomorrow, and now I have a hankering to listen to On Through the Night as well. It’s definitely been a while.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: HOF on May 04, 2022, 10:02:25 PM
Interesting that you say "It Don't Matter" is Rush-like; for me, "Overture" is the real Rush track in the Leppard catalogue.

I'm listening to the EP for the first time, and the intro to Ride Into The Sun sure sounds like early Rush to me. Just the way the chords ring out. The Overture is very cool though.

Moving on to On Through The Night, and why does this sound so much worse sonically than the EP?
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 04, 2022, 10:12:41 PM
I too have never heard the EP before, though I do know Ride Into the Sun. That must be on the Retroactive compilation that I have.

It is. One of the two versions of the 1987 re-recording. We will cover Ride Into The Sun twice more, as I want to look into the differences between different versions of songs between the Hysteria B-Sides, Adrenalize and Retro Active.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: HOF on May 04, 2022, 10:49:33 PM
So I'd probably never listened to all/any of On Through The Night before tonight. Can't say I was missing much, other than Overture which is great. I like how it's the last song on the album.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bl5150 on May 04, 2022, 11:12:09 PM
I too have never heard the EP before, though I do know Ride Into the Sun. That must be on the Retroactive compilation that I have.

It is. One of the two versions of the 1987 re-recording. We will cover Ride Into The Sun twice more, as I want to look into the differences between different versions of songs between the Hysteria B-Sides, Adrenalize and Retro Active.

Retroactive is a killer album.

Speaking of songs with various versions out there the earlier/B-side version of Tear It Down is much superior to Adrenalize too IMO
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 05, 2022, 01:24:12 AM

Retroactive is a killer album.

Speaking of songs with various versions out there the earlier/B-side version of Tear It Down is much superior to Adrenalize too IMO

I’m looking forward to forming that opinion when we get to it. It’s one of the reasons I want to look into the Hysteria B-Sides.

I’m going to also do In The Round, In Your Face live album before I move on to kinda round out the Clark era.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 05, 2022, 04:01:36 AM
I’ll be starting my High ‘n’ Dry listen in a little over an hour so that I can prepare my write up for tomorrow. Or later today, depending on where people are.

Looking at the songs though, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna be really amped up through the first side, and then drop in and out in the second. There are 3 tracks that I haven’t heard in a long time here, so it’ll be interesting to see if it holds up to how strong those first five tracks are.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Stadler on May 05, 2022, 06:38:06 AM
Two things:  one, side two of High 'n' Dry smokes side one, IMO.   That is far and away my favorite album side from Def Leppard. 

Two, with the b-sides, careful what version you get.

Tear It Down: Exists as a b-side to "Women" but also as a re-recorded track on "Adrenalize"
I Wanna Be Your Hero:  Exists as a b-side to "Animal" but also as a re-recorded track on "Retro Active" (different intro, re-recorded drums)
Ride Into The Sun: There's the EP version, the b-side version ("Hysteria"), and the Retro Active version (different intro, re-recorded drums)
Ring Of Fire:  Exists as a b-side to "...Sugar..." but also as a re-recorded track on "Retro Active" (I don't remember the differences)

In all cases, the '87 b-side versions are my favorites, maybe because I'm most familiar with them.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 05, 2022, 08:17:53 AM
Two, with the b-sides, careful what version you get.

Tear It Down: Exists as a b-side to "Women" but also as a re-recorded track on "Adrenalize"
I Wanna Be Your Hero:  Exists as a b-side to "Animal" but also as a re-recorded track on "Retro Active" (different intro, re-recorded drums)
Ride Into The Sun: There's the EP version, the b-side version ("Hysteria"), and the Retro Active version (different intro, re-recorded drums)
Ring Of Fire:  Exists as a b-side to "...Sugar..." but also as a re-recorded track on "Retro Active" (I don't remember the differences)

In all cases, the '87 b-side versions are my favorites, maybe because I'm most familiar with them.

Yeah, I know. The versions on Hysteria are different to everything else, and I have checked they’re not the versions on Retro Active on Spotify, so we are good.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: cramx3 on May 05, 2022, 09:45:58 AM
Folllowing
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 05, 2022, 09:58:39 AM

Medicine Man and When the Rain Falls are intriguing, and can kinda be lumped together. Neither of them are bad songs, actually both could’ve been great, but I’m glad neither made the debut album. By being left off, Leppard had time to work on these more for future releases and that extra time allowed these songs to become truly phenomenal landmark tracks on High ‘n’ Dry and Pyromania, becoming Rock! Rock! (‘Til You Drop!) and Let It Go respectively.

Oh Wow! I've never heard those before. That's amazing.

TAC, you really should consider getting the Early Years box set.  I know you are a fan of the band, and not only do the remixes of the albums proper sound great, but the bonus content is truly stellar.  You get demos as well as a few different live sets, which really gives you a flavor of how a lot of these songs evolved and changed.  They really did a fantastic job with that release as far as giving a lot of great "bonus" content that fans would be interested in vs. just putting out a rehash of old material in new packaging, as a lot of bands do.


Regarding Good Morning, Freedom, it's not the best song.  But I think it's really cool that we got a modern live version on Viva! Hysteria and the early version on The Early Years set.  I hadn't heard it before Viva! Hysteria, and I thought it was a great addition to be able to hear something from so early in their history.  I forget whether this is truly the first complete song they wrote, but I know it was one of the first, so it's great that they revisited it. 

I haven't always liked the direction Def Lep have gone after Hysteria, and it goes without saying that I am not alone.  But I have come to respect that the band is truly following their creative muse and playing the kind of music that makes the most sense to them in terms of melding their influences, their own style, and what sells.  And I really appreciate that they seem to have found a nice balance between doing what they want to do and also recognizing what the fans like and digging up a lot of that for us.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Stadler on May 05, 2022, 10:10:57 AM

Medicine Man and When the Rain Falls are intriguing, and can kinda be lumped together. Neither of them are bad songs, actually both could’ve been great, but I’m glad neither made the debut album. By being left off, Leppard had time to work on these more for future releases and that extra time allowed these songs to become truly phenomenal landmark tracks on High ‘n’ Dry and Pyromania, becoming Rock! Rock! (‘Til You Drop!) and Let It Go respectively.

Oh Wow! I've never heard those before. That's amazing.

TAC, you really should consider getting the Early Years box set.  I know you are a fan of the band, and not only do the remixes of the albums proper sound great, but the bonus content is truly stellar.  You get demos as well as a few different live sets, which really gives you a flavor of how a lot of these songs evolved and changed.  They really did a fantastic job with that release as far as giving a lot of great "bonus" content that fans would be interested in vs. just putting out a rehash of old material in new packaging, as a lot of bands do.

I've commented recently on some of the reissues of '80s rock and how Sharon and Jayne Andrews have fallen short, whereas Wendy Dio has done a good job.  Joe Elliott was in charge of "The Early Years" set and I have to say, he did a good job.  Warts and all you got EVERYTHING from that era.  That live set is killer; I saw them open for Billy Squier and as good as Squier was (and he was) they still blew him off the stage and that is a good example of why (better than the live set that is on the Pyromania reissue).

Quote
I haven't always liked the direction Def Lep have gone after Hysteria, and it goes without saying that I am not alone.  But I have come to respect that the band is truly following their creative muse and playing the kind of music that makes the most sense to them in terms of melding their influences, their own style, and what sells.  And I really appreciate that they seem to have found a nice balance between doing what they want to do and also recognizing what the fans like and digging up a lot of that for us.

I think that credit goes to Joe Elliott; he's a businessman, and he makes no bones about wanting to be popular and selling records.  But he seems to remember what it's like to be a fan, and he seems to remember what it's like to enjoy certain aspects of a band.   He has not shied away from putting everything out there and letting the fans decide.  I LOVE that deeper cut stuff, so for me, I'm all in.  I only wish Ozzy would do the same thing.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 05, 2022, 10:19:27 AM
^Yeah, I mean it's no coincidence that a lot of us here lapped up the Ytsejam releases when Portnoy was putting those out (and that many are going back and buying the LNF releases now, even if in much lower numbers).  That kind of thing tends to be appreciated by the fans.

Y&T did a similar thing years ago where they went back, and Dave Meniketti and Phil Kennemore manually went through stack of old cassettes and reel-to-reel tapes of old demos and rarities, and put out a couple of sets of all of that stuff that covered their entire history, from before they got signed, up to the then-present, in some cases, even going in and adding vocals and guitar solos to unfinished songs that they felt had potential that fans might want to hear after all this time.  A lot of fans, myself included, lapped that up.  It wasn't quite as comprehensive as The Early Years or the entire Ytsejam collection, but was still a LOT more than what most bands out there do.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 05, 2022, 03:47:11 PM
TAC, you really should consider getting the Early Years box set.  I know you are a fan of the band, and not only do the remixes of the albums proper sound great, but the bonus content is truly stellar.  You get demos as well as a few different live sets, which really gives you a flavor of how a lot of these songs evolved and changed.  They really did a fantastic job with that release as far as giving a lot of great "bonus" content that fans would be interested in vs. just putting out a rehash of old material in new packaging, as a lot of bands do.

I'm good. I've given Def Leppard the last dollar I'm ever going to give them. It's not worth the $68 on Amazon, plus it's on Spotify if I need it. I have the Oxford show on my iPod, and that's honestly all I'd be interested in "having".

But yes, it's an excellent collection of material.


Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 05, 2022, 04:08:32 PM
I've given Def Leppard the last dollar I'm ever going to give them.

Yeah, after what they did to your mom, your dog, and your cereal, I get that you still have hard feelings.  Totally understandable. 
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 05, 2022, 04:10:22 PM
I've given Def Leppard the last dollar I'm ever going to give them.

Yeah, after what they did to your mom, your dog, and your cereal, I get that you still have hard feelings.  Totally understandable.

Not necessarily in that order. ;D
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 05, 2022, 04:11:31 PM
:lol
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Zoom E on May 05, 2022, 07:29:37 PM
I too have never heard the EP before, though I do know Ride Into the Sun. That must be on the Retroactive compilation that I have.

It is. One of the two versions of the 1987 re-recording. We will cover Ride Into The Sun twice more, as I want to look into the differences between different versions of songs between the Hysteria B-Sides, Adrenalize and Retro Active.

Retroactive is a killer album.

Speaking of songs with various versions out there the earlier/B-side version of Tear It Down is much superior to Adrenalize too IMO


Retroactive is great. A bright spot in the later Leppard catalogue.

Now that I’ve listened to the EP, that version of Ride Into the Sun is much rawer, as expected. I’m interested to hear the Hysteria b-side version when we get there.


Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 05, 2022, 11:26:54 PM
High ‘n’ Dry - 1981
Tracklisting - 1. Let It Go. 2. Another Hit & Run. 3. Saturday Night (High ‘n’ Dry). 4. Bringin’ on the Heartbreak. 5. Switch 625. 6. You Got Me Runnin’. 7. Lady Strange. 8. On Through the Night. 9. Mirror Mirror (Look Into My Eyes). 10. No No No.

https://open.spotify.com/album/10cQ91uKUfT8KV0Knk38Lh?si=HqIHPIRYTJGckvXZ9oiJ-A (https://open.spotify.com/album/10cQ91uKUfT8KV0Knk38Lh?si=HqIHPIRYTJGckvXZ9oiJ-A)

Soon after On Through the Night, Def Leppard was already starting to tour America and seeing quite a bit of success. So, what do you do? Strike while the iron is hot, of course! Released one year after On Through the Night, High ‘n’ Dry capitalised on the young band’s metal sound and, with the help of Mutt Lange’s production, saw two successful singles and the real start to the band’s rise to fame.

Let It Go kicks off the album in a huge way. This song, much like Rock Brigade before it, wastes absolutely no time in setting up the album. It’s no surprise that this one still rotates in and out of the recent setlists. This is the song I think of when I think of early Def Leppard. Great energy, especially with the group vocals in the choruses. The solos here are amazing and a bit of a structural change helps really cement this as a great song!

Another Hit & Run is ballsy. That’s the most simple thing I can say about it. Massive cracking drums, a huge harmony, and then the song breaks down. And we haven’t even started the vocals yet! The main riff is killer, in fact everything on this track is. This is one song I’d love to have the chance to see live. More killer solos, more great group vocals. I just really love this song!

Saturday Night (High ‘n’ Dry) is probably my least favourite of the first half of this album. It’s fundamentally a good song, but it’s got a very different vibe to the others, almost more akin to Bon Scott era AC/DC to me. These lyrics aren’t anything to write home about, nor is it an overly memorable instrumental. But that’s just my opinion. I can see why many people love this track, but it’s not for me.

Bringin’ on the Heartbreak is one of the first for Leppard’s many ballads, and for my money one of their best. Opening with another great harmony section, we get a really beautiful clean riff to set up the main verses of the track. And the progression of this song, my god! Perfectly balanced to get us to the climax, starting from the bridge. The chorus vocal, under Mutt’s guidance is the first instance of the Leppard chorus sound that I’ve really come to love! The solos on this are perfectly tender and really lead into the next track beautifully.

Switch 625. Man, what an instrumental! While in later years, Phil Collen and Steve Clark would become the terror twins, this whole instrumental leads up to an absolute twin guitar attack that comes barely a second to Iron Maiden’s Adrian and Dave. This track is just a beast. The main riff is simple, but effective. The two Ricks hold the rhythm section so tightly. If you’ve not seen even a live video if this song, you don’t fully appreciate its power. These days, it’s place in the setlist is seen as a tribute to Steve Clark, and it’s one I will always go mental for.

That’s the first half. An epic scale metal record that still stands the rest of time. What follows on side B?

We kick off with You Got Me Runnin’. I don’t think I’ve actually heard this one before, but it’s a simple effective rocker. A simple riff with decent bass hooks kicks us into the second half of the album. This gives me early AC/DC and Queen vibes (most directly, Liar, due to some of the lead note choices). I love the call and response between the second chorus and solo. This one hasn’t stood up quite as well for my ear, but I quite like this!

Lady Strange follows closely behind, and while it takes a moment to set up the verse rhythm, it’s got a pretty cool riff. This one actually feels really like an On Through the Night track, but it was also being played during the early days. I’m glad it got held back, as it really fits the High ‘n’ Dry sound.The song really kicks off halfway through. The faster riff and solos are huge and really take this one up a step for me.

The Queen comparisons apply more to later songs, but much like Sheer Heart Attack on News of the World, the title track for On Through the Night is here on High ‘n’ Dry. This is a faster rocker  that straight up says “you can’t stop me now”. It’s a really punchy chorus, and the instrumental to this song is one of my favourites. I’d love it if this song got dug out a little more often live as this is a really cool tune, so I’m really glad this saw inclusion on Viva! Hysteria. I can definitely hear that this would inspire others that came after, as the ending to the instrumental section almost gives me Ride the Lightning vibes (though obviously a little less heavy).

Mirror Mirror (Look Into My Eyes) has always been a favourite. This is a deep cut, but does see the occasional airing, probably the most common off of the second half of High ‘n’ Dry. This is really heavy, almost ominous sounding, and has one of my favourite lead runs of all time right before the harmony section. This one has made it to the Viva! Hysteria and Hits Vegas live albums, and it’s always awesome to hear. This one takes on a huge life live and I love it!

No No No is the album closer. Opens with a nice twisted riff and a really cool juxtaposition between vocal and guitar to define the verses.
While the chorus isn’t all too great in my opinion, this has an undeniable energy to it. I don’t think any other song on High ‘n’ Dry could’ve closed as well as this one did. The guitar work on this is great!

See, High ‘n’ Dry is an awesome album. While Hysteria still seems to set the gold standard for Def Leppard overall, High ‘n’ Dry is huge. I almost want to retroactively put On Through the Night and the EP down to a 3.5, as there’s a valley between those and this one, which I’m awarding a 4.5. Seven out of the ten songs are absolute gold class material, and the three others are no slackers either. I’m getting very keen for Pyromania, which will be reviewed over the weekend.

Once again, I’d like to thank you all for following this thread, it excites me to have you along for the ride, and I’m looking forward to having a discussion on this album.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 05, 2022, 11:54:26 PM
I get why HnD is THE favorite album for a lot of fans.  It captures the tighter songwriting that would come later with the youthful rawness and energy of the first album.  If I didn't first learn of the band and just start getting into hard rock/metal with the more slick, polished Pyromania, this might be my favorite.  As it is, it is a VERY close #3 right up there with Pyromania and Hysteria.  And that is not a knock on this album at all, but speaks more to the strength of those two albums and my love for them. 

My first copy of this was the re-release with the two bonus tracks.  And even though I had first gotten into the keyboard-laden remix of Bringin on the Heartbreak, I have always liked the original better.  This may be my all time favorite Lep song. 
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: DoctorAction on May 06, 2022, 12:18:39 AM
My big sister bought all the back catalogue after Hysteria got huge and I didn't pay much attention at the time (SLAYEEERR!!! etc) but High & Dry DID catch my attention.

Cracking album. Undoubtedly my favourite DL, and I'm not really a fan.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 06, 2022, 12:37:50 AM
I get why HnD is THE favorite album for a lot of fans.  It captures the tighter songwriting that would come later with the youthful rawness and energy of the first album.  If I didn't first learn of the band and just start getting into hard rock/metal with the more slick, polished Pyromania, this might be my favorite.  As it is, it is a VERY close #3 right up there with Pyromania and Hysteria.  And that is not a knock on this album at all, but speaks more to the strength of those two albums and my love for them. 

My first copy of this was the re-release with the two bonus tracks.  And even though I had first gotten into the keyboard-laden remix of Bringin on the Heartbreak, I have always liked the original better.  This may be my all time favorite Lep song.

I gotta give it to you man, as much as I’m into the later stuff (I actually love Slang and Euphoria) I think High n Dry will make it to the top of my list.
And, if I could at all get KevShmev to tell me how he does it, you sharing your favourite track so openly makes me want to run a top 75 of Leppard songs when this is all finished.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: The Realm on May 06, 2022, 12:57:17 AM
Big High n Dry fan here. I love this album. Actually been listening to it the last couple of days and is just sounding as good as ever to me. Great write up Deadeye.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 06, 2022, 02:38:27 AM
Cheers, Realm!
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 06, 2022, 09:44:03 AM
Suppose I should touch on these as well, since bosk kindly brought them up

High ‘n’ Dry Reissue Bonus Tracks - 1984
Tracklisting - 11. Bringin’ on the Heartbreak (Remix). 12. Me and My Wine (Remix).
 https://open.spotify.com/album/2FC50FeHFVmksOYX1cymxr?si=NiF3uFTeRTi3EnP2JA0DbA (https://open.spotify.com/album/2FC50FeHFVmksOYX1cymxr?si=NiF3uFTeRTi3EnP2JA0DbA)

So, not long after the massive success that was Pyromania (which is up next), Def Leppard reissued their back catalogue. For the release of High ‘n’ Dry, two bonus tracks were added, both remixes.

The first of which is Bringin’ on the Heartbreak. This version of Heartbreak features a few extra synthesiser overdubs, which to me aren’t that great of an addition. While they feel stylistically similar to parts that would be used within Pyromania, their inclusion don’t really help the song, and actually remove some of the original rawness of the original. What is interesting is that some of the lead lines sound a little bit different, but it’s possible that this could’ve been an alternate take used for the redone version. This also fades out differently, instead of running into Switch 625. While it’s interesting to hear, this definitely isn’t my favourite version of Heartbreak, but we will get to that a fair ways down the line from here.

The other bonus track is a remix of Me and My Wine. The original version of this track can be found on the recently released The Early Years box set, but for most fans, I’m fairly sure this is the most commonly known version of the track.
Me and My Wine feels like a lesser version of You Got Me Runnin’. There’s a similar vibe to it, but Runnin’ has a stronger chorus to get behind. Joe’s vocal sounds really rough here, not quite having the charm it has during the main High ‘n’ Dry sessions. This feels like it was recorded early on, as if between On Through the Night and High ‘n’ Dry. There’s not really a whole lot to say about this one. It’s just an interesting track to have, I’m sure there’s plenty who enjoy it, but this one really isn’t for me. Fairly average solo from Steve Clark here, so I can’t even give it the point for great instrumental as I usually do. 

Check these out for yourselves and see what you think. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on these, especially Me and My Wine, maybe I’m missing something?
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 06, 2022, 10:16:56 AM
I get why HnD is THE favorite album for a lot of fans.  It captures the tighter songwriting that would come later with the youthful rawness and energy of the first album.  If I didn't first learn of the band and just start getting into hard rock/metal with the more slick, polished Pyromania, this might be my favorite.  As it is, it is a VERY close #3 right up there with Pyromania and Hysteria.  And that is not a knock on this album at all, but speaks more to the strength of those two albums and my love for them. 

My first copy of this was the re-release with the two bonus tracks.  And even though I had first gotten into the keyboard-laden remix of Bringin on the Heartbreak, I have always liked the original better.  This may be my all time favorite Lep song.

I gotta give it to you man, as much as I’m into the later stuff (I actually love Slang and Euphoria) I think High n Dry will make it to the top of my list.
And, if I could at all get KevShmev to tell me how he does it, you sharing your favourite track so openly makes me want to run a top 75 of Leppard songs when this is all finished.

75 might be a chore.  I might pare it down to 50.  But I would definitely be up for that.  I wanted to do the VH one, but just didn't have the time to go back and relisten, and I felt that mine being almost solely a hits list, and most of VH-I and 5150 would skew things too badly.  For Lep, I can easily do a list and would welcome it.  Bring it on!  [I can preview by saying that mine will be heavily weighted in favor of HnD, Pyromania, Hysteria, Retroactive, and Euphoria, with a small smattering from other albums and Undefeated probably in there somewhere too]

As for the bonus tracks, they were good.  And that about sums it up.  Just giving us a remix that isn't that different from the original would feel like nothing special.  And just giving us a decent but not great bonus song wouldn't feel that special either.  Giving us both of those is a nice bonus addition for a single album. 

Going back to The Early Years, I'm really glad they released that for another reason:  HnD was one of the CDs that I somehow never replaced when building my CD collection.  Every now and then, I would realize I didn't have it, and would feel like I really needed to fix that "some day," but never did.  Glad to finally have the album again.  Now where did I put that box set?  It's not on the shelf where it is supposed to be...
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 06, 2022, 04:06:02 PM
High n Dry is an absolute seminal album in the TAC Musical Journey. I spent my entire 8th grade (81-82) listening to it. There was something about it that I could not get enough.

For one thing, it was a young new band. Everything I had in my collection up until then were established hold overs from the 70's...bands like Rush, VH, AC/DC, Aerosmith...
I heard Let It Go on the radio and I was blown away. Then seeing the Let It Go, HnD, and Bringin' On The Heartbreak videos on Don Kirshner..I just thought they were so cool. In 1982, I was prepared to be a Def Leppard fan for life.


Here's a pic of a 13 y/o TAC from August of 1982(at Disney World with my father and brother) in my High n Dry t shirt. It's fuzzy, but you can see my shirt..

(https://i.imgur.com/F0HrgUi.jpg)


I love this album. Did a say that already?

I bought the 45 to Bringin' ON The Heartbreak, so I had Me And My Wine right off. They had a great video for that. I never understood how that didn't make the album.

I also find both album sides equal. I can't pick one over the other.

I really wished they would have stayed with this style. I thought they were excellent on it. Joe Elliot is a monster on this.

Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: The Realm on May 06, 2022, 04:39:02 PM
High n Dry is an absolute seminal album in the TAC Musical Journey. I spent my entire 8th grade (81-82) listening to it. There was something about it that I could not get enough.

For one thing, it was a young new band. Everything I had in my collection up until then were established hold overs from the 70's...bands like Rush, VH, AC/DC, Aerosmith...
I heard Let It Go on the radio and I was blown away. Then seeing the Let It Go, HnD, and Bringin' On The Heartbreak videos on Don Kirshner..I just thought they were so cool. In 1982, I was prepared to be a Def Leppard fan for life.


Here's a pic of a 13 y/o TAC (at Disney World with my father and brother) in my High n Dry t shirt. It's fuzzy, but you can see my shirt..

(https://i.imgur.com/F0HrgUi.jpg)


I love this album. Did a say that already?

I bought the 45 to Bringin' ON The Heartbreak, so I had Me And My Wine right off. They had a great video for that. I never understood how that didn't make the album.

I also find both album sides equal. I can't pick one over the other.

I really wished they would have stayed with this style. I thought they were excellent on it. Joe Elliot is a monster on this.

Great story TAC and I totally agree with the bolded parts. HnD is just a killer album.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Zoom E on May 06, 2022, 07:38:57 PM
Like TAC, High n Dry was a key album for me back in 1981, which was the year I started getting into hard rock and metal in a big way. I discovered High n Dry just from seeing a full page ad for it in either Hit Parader or Circus magazine, and it lured me in right away.

Definitely my fave Lep album, though I like Pyromania almost as much.

Nice Disney World photo, TAC  ;)
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Cool Chris on May 07, 2022, 09:46:37 AM
I also find both album sides equal. I can't pick one over the other.

If there is a "lesser" side to High N Dry, or any weak part anywhere in the album, I am unaware of it.

I first heard the remix Bringing on the Heartbreak and instantly loved it, and didn't realize it was a remix for a while, until I bought the reissue CD. I didn't know it was a reissue, I just thought they recorded and released 2 versions of the song for some reason, Same with not knowing Me and My Wine was a "bonus" track.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 07, 2022, 11:12:21 PM
Pyromania - 1983

Tracklisting - 1. Rock! Rock! (‘Til You Drop!). 2. Photograph. 3. Stagefright. 4. Too Late for Love. 5. Die Hard the Hunter. 6. Foolin’. 7. Rock of Ages (http://Rock of Ages). 8. Comin’ Under Fire. 9. Action! Not Words. 10. Billy’s Got A Gun.

 https://open.spotify.com/album/5ab6RIlAGwbVAacV1JIr2d?si=3B3XK45sQVuJ8YhPOihNhQ (https://open.spotify.com/album/5ab6RIlAGwbVAacV1JIr2d?si=3B3XK45sQVuJ8YhPOihNhQ)

High ‘n’ Dry, led by Bringin’ On The Heartbreak is doing very very well in America and parts of Europe. The touring cycle sees them playing support slots for large auditorium shows in the US, and finishing off with a tour supporting Judas Priest from late November to mid December of 1981. Def Leppard is really gaining traction.

Almost all of 1982 is spent writing and recording a follow up album, which under Mutt’s guidance is given a singular mission. Following the success of Heartbreak, he wants 4 hit singles for the follow up. A massive undertaking for sure, but for Def Leppard, this didn’t prove too difficult a task. While this would also be the last album to feature founding member Pete Willis, this was also the album that introduced the “terror twins” by bringing in Phil Collen.

Right, then. That’s enough setting the scene. Pyromania begins in Globen, Glauchen, Glieben, Gunter

Rock! Rock! (‘Til You Drop!) is the opening track, and of the three we’ve gone through so far, it’s easily my favourite. This one starts by setting the scene before getting into the main riff, and once we’re there, man, these thing takes you all the way. As I mentioned in my early cutouts review, this song used to be around before On Through the Night under the name Medicine Man, but I’m glad it got held back. This song has an intro that sets the scene, and it’s also a track that sets the tone for all that will come for the rest of the album.

Photograph is the second track, and the first single. This is one of their biggest hits, and while I have to admit I’m a bit over it after hearing it so many times, I still love this song. It’s a huge sounding track with great riffs and killer hooks. There’s really not a lot to say about it, this is just a catchy song, and well worth being one of their biggest songs to date.

In my opinion, Stagefright also could’ve been the opening track of this album. This song is one of Joe’s most difficult vocals these days, but it’s such a hard hitting track. The group vocal in the chorus is beautiful, and while a lot of this song is centred around chugging guitars, the chords throughout the choruses and solos are so thick and serve the song very nicely. There are so many killer songs on Pyromania, but I think this one could be my second favourite to something coming a little later. There’s a great live version of this on Viva! Hysteria if anyone cares to know how this sounds in 2013.

Too Late For Love opens with a swirling wind and synth beeping before we get a really hooky riff. Joe’s vocals paint a really vivid picture, and then we get that glorious group chorus. This song is one that keeps getting bigger in all the best ways. This was the fourth single released from the album, and it’s a huge track. This is actually fairly underrated against the three other singles from Pyromania, and in my opinion it’s actually the best of the four. Everything here doesn’t just work, but works phenomenally well. Hope they play this next time I get to see them.

Die Hard the Hunter closes out side A of Pyromania. This thing is epic. The acoustic intro into the rest of the song is immense and cinematic as all hell. The riffs throughout the rest of the song are huge too, and this is another song that really utilises the group vocal really well. But for me, it’s all about the instrumental section. The descending riff that starts at the 4:02 mark is just incredible, and the closing lick to the instrumental section gets me every time. This is probably my favourite track on all of Pyromania, and I think this song opening the 2019 Las Vegas residency (captured on Hits Vegas) was a stroke of genius. This song spent way too long out of Def Leppard’s live catalogue, and now that it’s been brought back, I hope it finds its way out much more often.

Foolin’ opens side 2. Another subdued intro with an acoustic guitar and vocals gives the pre-choruses and chorus a much bigger impact. Bringing everyone in for the heavier sections make the verses seem much more tender and fragile. Playing with the elements like this gives the song a really distinct character. This was the third single released from Pyromania, and still sees inclusion on a lot of the band’s setlists. This is a huge fan favourite, and to be fair, it’s a huge Deadeye21 favourite too.

Gunter, Glieben, Glauchen, Globen. Right then, Rock of Ages. Such a huge track that one of the many Greatest Hits compilations shares the name. This single alone (the second released for Pyromania) went gold, remains in the encore of all Def Leppard shows, and kinda counts as the title track for the album, containing the line “no serenade, no fire brigade, just Pyromania”. What can be said about this one you don’t already know. Overrated? Maybe a little. Deservingly so? Yup, 100%. If you’re not singing along when this song comes on, there’s a good chance you’re doing it wrong!

So, we’re seven tracks in and we’ve got seven absolute bangers! Let’s see what’s in store with the next two that are kinda less known. Comin’ Under Fire has a blend of Too Late For Love and Foolin’ in its DNA. Another huge chorus (man, these songs all have really good choruses!) There’s a great call and response after the second chorus, much like on You Got Me Runnin’ from High ‘n’ Dry. Yet, for as good as this song is, it also seems to lack some of the charm that the rest of this album has had so far. This feels a little bit like a B-Side track to me, but that’s ok. This is still a pretty enjoyable song. I love the outro of this one.


Action! Not Words doesn’t earn that same goodwill from me though. It’s a song that might’ve been an absolute banger on another album, or an absolute hit from another band, but for Leppard on Pyromania, this song is largely shippable for me. It has got a really cool setup to the solo, but these lyrics aren’t good. I think this song may actually be in Drop D which is pretty cool, there’s a real nice tone to the guitars that isn’t present on other tracks from Pyromania, and the sliding lead that opens and closes the track is pretty decent, but this is a bit of a clunker for the album.

Billy’s Got A Gun is the closing track here. This is a real dark track, almost like a precursor to a song like Pumped Up Kicks for example, but done with the metal tone of early Def Leppard. This is a song that actually could’ve fit on High ‘n’ Dry, if not for the keyboards. The bridges of this song are definite highlights, and Steve’s soloing on this track is really effective and emotive. This is a mini epic, for sure, and closes the album really well. This does close Pyromania off on an interesting note with the electronic drum loop after the song’s proper ending, but that’s what Leppard felt like doing and it doesn’t really hurt the album any, so… cool, I guess? The version found on the Rock of Ages compilation cuts that out though, if anyone is super bothered by it, and there are great live versions of this on Hits Vegas and the super deluxe version of Hysteria.

When all is said and done, this album SLAPS! Perfection isn’t quite the word I’d use for it though, as Action! Not Words does hold it back a little. But for a band to make such a massive album so early in their career is truly phenomenal. 8 out of 10 are absolute gold,, and one of the other two is still pretty good.  Is 4.75 out of 5 too low for this? Honestly, maybe. I could be convinced this goes all the way to 5 out of 5, as even looking into Hysteria there is at least one song that doesn’t grab me on there too. I’m conflicted how I should rank this one, but out of the three so far, this is definitely my favourite!

Since this one is such a massive album in the Leppard catalogue, I can’t wait to read your thoughts on it! Tomorrow, I’ll do a smaller deep dive into the bonus disc of Pyromania’s deluxe edition, Live at the LA Forum.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 08, 2022, 07:35:11 AM
Pyromania - 1983

Tracklisting - 1. Rock! Rock! (‘Til You Drop!). 2. Photograph. 3. Stagefright. 4. Too Late for Love. 5. Die Hard the Hunter. 6. Foolin’. 7. Rock of Ages (http://Rock of Ages). 8. Comin’ Under Fire. 9. Action! Not Words. 10. Billy’s Got A Gun.

 https://open.spotify.com/album/5ab6RIlAGwbVAacV1JIr2d?si=3B3XK45sQVuJ8YhPOihNhQ (https://open.spotify.com/album/5ab6RIlAGwbVAacV1JIr2d?si=3B3XK45sQVuJ8YhPOihNhQ)

High ‘n’ Dry, led by Bringin’ On The Heartbreak is doing very very well in America and parts of Europe. The touring cycle sees them headlining auditoriums in the US, and finishing off with a tour supporting Judas Priest from late November to mid December of 1981. Def Leppard is really gaining traction.


I don't remember that. They spent that summer opening for Ozzy, and then they opened for Blackfoot from mid September to mid November.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 08, 2022, 07:44:41 AM
I don't remember that. They spent that summer opening for Ozzy, and then they opened for Blackfoot from mid September to mid November.

I stand corrected then, I’ve read some reports saying they were headlining. I shall make an amendment.

Hopefully the new version is more accurate.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 08, 2022, 07:54:17 AM
They may have had a one off, which is possible.

Unfortunately, there's not a ton of bootlegs from this tour. I have one from Long Island which is OK.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 08, 2022, 07:55:51 AM
Unfortunately, there's not a ton of bootlegs from this tour. I have one from Long Island which is OK.

From High ‘n’ Dry or Pyromania?
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 08, 2022, 08:08:08 AM
Oh, that show is the High n Dry tour.

Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 08, 2022, 08:10:26 AM
Can I get a copy? Would be kinda cool to hear
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 08, 2022, 08:13:10 AM
Can I get a copy? Would be kinda cool to hear

Yes.  I'll PM you later tonight if I get a chance to upload it. If not, then tomorrow night then. It's Mother's Day here so I'm tied up for most of the day.




Thank God for the guy in Montreal! This guy filmed some classic shows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvDz1HXG63E
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 08, 2022, 09:30:41 AM
An edit... Deadeye, it's not Long Island, it's South Fallsburg, NY. That's what I have on my hard drive, but the show is available here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRal14D24Rc



In fact this youtube page has a number of Pyromania shows.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgJrV1WSHPh-IMIgn7oU6HA/videos




The Allentown show just became available a few months ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90pIH6Scg3s
It was recorded on June 27th, 1983, just TWO days after I attended my first ever concert, which of course was Def Leppard. Here's my stub..

(https://i.imgur.com/8xmc60P.jpg)




But going back to the Allentown show, it is kind of an amazing find, as the taper also recorded both Krokus and Gary Moore. And that Gary Moore set is....a Holy Grail recording for me..


Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 08, 2022, 10:31:09 AM
Cheers TAC! I’m really loving all the personal stories you’ve been sharing. What are your thoughts on the Pyromania album?
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 08, 2022, 10:50:21 AM
OK, I have some time to respond properly.

So Pyromania came out in the middle of my Freshman Year of high school. We were talking in the Dio/Ozzy thread about things happening fast. From the summer of '82 to just six months later during the winter of '83, my tastes were changing. I had by now discovered UFO/Michael Schenker and Iron Maiden, two bands that would become lifelong favorites. Plus, the rest of my musical discovery was immense at this time.

When Pyromania was released I definitely liked it. It wasn't as heavy as HnD, but it seemed like a mix of both HnD and OTTN. So I enjoyed it immensely. But it didn't hit me with the same type of wonder as HND did, or as Piece Of Mind, Holy Diver, or Kill 'Em All did in the next few months.
I wouldn't say I became less of a Def Leppard fan with Pyromania. But there was all of a sudden a lot of competition for my ears. Still, I thought Pyromania was really good, and I was still willing to be a Def Leppard fan for life. Unfortunately, they made me wait FOUR AND A HALF YEARS for the followup, when most bands were releasing almost an album a year or at least every year and a half. And let's just say that their next album was, well, not worth waiting around for.

First off, I thought Photograph was kind of light. If Def Leppard had released Heartbreak first on HnD, I may never have noticed the album. But Let It Go punched me in the face.

I remember liking pretty much all of the album, especially Billy's Got A Gun and Stagefright. The only section on the album I really didn't care for were the verses on Rock Of Ages. That was, and still is, my least favorite song on the album.

Comin' Under Fire is sneaky excellent. Action Not Words is also hidden a bit at the end of the album.




Now, just knowing the drums are programmed, it makes it really hard for me to listen to this album. If I need a fix of Pyromania, I always go to the LA Forum show.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Zoom E on May 08, 2022, 12:04:01 PM
An edit... Deadeye, it's not Long Island, it's South Fallsburg, NY. That's what I have on my hard drive, but the show is available here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRal14D24Rc



In fact this youtube page has a number of Pyromania shows.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgJrV1WSHPh-IMIgn7oU6HA/videos




The Allentown show just became available a few months ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90pIH6Scg3s
It was recorded on June 27th, 1983, just TWO days after I attended my first ever concert, which of course was Def Leppard. Here's my stub..

(https://i.imgur.com/8xmc60P.jpg)




But going back to the Allentown show, it is kind of an amazing find, as the taper also recorded both Krokus and Gary Moore. And that Gary Moore set is....a Holy Grail recording for me..

I see that you that wrote the support act names on the ticket stub. I used to do the same but would write it on the back. I caught the Pyromania tour on July 20, 1983 and the support act was Uriah Heep.

Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 08, 2022, 12:27:27 PM

I see that you that wrote the support act names on the ticket stub. I used to do the same but would write it on the back. I caught the Pyromania tour on July 20, 1983 and the support act was Uriah Heep.

Cool. Did Daisley and Kerslake tour with them at that time? I had both Abominog and Head First.

Def Leppard came back to my area and played in Providence two months after I saw them. Looking at Setlist FM, seems Uriah Heep was the support for that show as well, and Krokus was still on the bill.

Glad I saw Gary Moore instead!
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Zoom E on May 08, 2022, 12:31:04 PM

I see that you that wrote the support act names on the ticket stub. I used to do the same but would write it on the back. I caught the Pyromania tour on July 20, 1983 and the support act was Uriah Heep.

Cool. Did Daisley and Kerslake tour with them at that time? I had both Abominog and Head First.

Def Leppard came back to my area and played in Providence two months after I saw them. Looking at Setlist FM, seems Uriah Heep was the support for that show as well, and Krokus was still on the bill.

Glad I saw Gary Moore instead!

I really don’t know what the Uriah Heep line-up was. I was not big into Heep and only had the Abominog album. I definitely would have preferred to see Krokus and Gary Moore.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: The Realm on May 08, 2022, 04:31:26 PM
Pyromania - well after listening to High n Dry about 10 times over the last few days I put on Pyromania. I did once upon a time love this album, when I first heard it I was blown away by it. However my feelings are no where near as strong today. On my re-listen the song I enjoyed the most overall was Comin' Under Fire. Too Late For Love is great, still love the vibe of Foolin and Rock of Ages is a good song. Photograph and Stagefright were huge songs to me 'back in the day' and still good but just don't have the same impact anymore.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 08, 2022, 04:34:05 PM
I remember an interview with Joe Elliot when Pyromania was released, and he said that Pyromania was their "real" second album. He said that High n Dry was rushed and he didn't consider it a true follow up to On Through The Night...

My response then was...

WUT??
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 09, 2022, 03:53:59 AM
Live at the LA Forum - Recorded 1983, released 2009

Setlist - 1. Rock! Rock! (‘Til You Drop!). 2. Rock Brigade. 3. Saturday Night (High ‘n’ Dry). 4. Another Hit and Run. 5. Billy’s Got A Gun. 6. Mirror Mirror (Look Into My Eyes). 7. Foolin’. 8. Photograph. 9. Rock of Ages. 10. Bringin’ on the Heartbreak. 11. Switch 625. 12. Let It Go. 13. Wasted. 14. Stagefright. 15. Travellin’ Band (feat. Brian May).

 https://open.spotify.com/album/3MJoDIkQxY0MTXE8fqzmPu?si=JoxrW996T_G_VS3cq7GaDw (https://open.spotify.com/album/3MJoDIkQxY0MTXE8fqzmPu?si=JoxrW996T_G_VS3cq7GaDw)

In my opinion, there are a few different things that I want from a live album. Firstly, I look for the hits. How well is this going to get me hooked for a first time listener? Secondly, I’d like a blend of some rarer tracks. Now that I am a fan of the band, does this live set give me something to sink my teeth into outside of the general singles affair? And then, of course, how good is this performance?
For example, my main introduction to Rush was the Time Machine live album, which got me hooked. The second set was Moving Pictures in full and other huge hits were included all around, but there were also songs like Presto and Faithless and everything was performed super well!

So, how does Live at the LA Forum stack up? Incredibly well, in my opinion. The vibe is huge! Audiences are going nuts and the band are in absolute top form. The setlist could practically act as the greatest hits for the first three albums, including the full first side of High ‘n’ Dry, six of the ten tracks from Pyromania and two tracks off of On Through the Night, all topped off by a really special cover.

The whole thing kicks off with the intro from Die Hard the Hunter, segueing seamlessly into Rock! Rock! (‘Til You Drop!). You can tell from the word go that Def Leppard is in extremely fine form. Following on from that, as if just to prove how far they’d come in 3 years, is a blistering version of  Rock Brigade. We get a couple of tunes from High ‘n’ Dry, including an extended jam version of Another Hit and Run, before a really great performance of Billy’s Got A Gun. Mirror Mirror gives us a great deep cut and then we follow on with three of the four singles from Pyromania (kicking off with a really nice acoustic doodle from Steve before Foolin’). The 1-2 combo of Heartbreak and Switch 625 are real highlights here and then the main set closes with Let It Go and Wasted.
If that wasn’t enough, we get a great encore, starting with Stagefright. The final encore is a really great jam with Queen’s Brian May, where they rock out to Travellin’ Band by Creedence Clearwater Revival!

The set just sounds huge, every track (especially those from Pyromania) are really enhanced by the live tones and proper live drumming. There are multiple solos, showcasing Steve Clark, Phil Collen and Rick Allen. I really love this set!

It’s a great snapshot of how good they were as a live band. The tour for Pyromania lasted from February 9th, 1983 to February 7th, 1984. After having spent all of 1982 in the studio, and having not stopped since 1980, it was time for Def Leppard to take a break.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Stadler on May 09, 2022, 08:14:12 AM
Not that he needs it, but I want to vouch for TAC on this.  My first concert was Iron Maiden/Judas Priest in August of 1982.   I was very much into High'n'Dry and played it often.  There was a guy sitting near me at Maiden with a HnD shirt on and we were actively waiting on the new record (it came out in January of '83).  I liked it, not as much as HnD, but I liked it.  Def Leppard was my SECOND concert, March of '83, opening for Billy Squier.  I LOVED Billy Squier (still do); he was great, but Leppard was like Maiden:  hungry, and on the cusp and they destroyed the New Haven Coliseum.  That was RIGHT at the tipping point.   "Photograph" was the only single out at that point, and the video was all over the place.  Joe was making waves with the Union Jack shirt (pretty sure I bought one at the show), and it was all sort of fresh and new, even if it was not quite resonating like HnD did.  I liked the deeper tracks.  "Billy..." is still my favorite song off the record (and not because of the name). 

I don't mind the musical shift, even though I like the harder material, but this was the start of something I DIDN'T like: the gimmicky "Rock!" songs.   Rock of Ages is not a favorite of mine, I thought it was silly (and for the record, I don't like other acts that do that either, like Dio, Twisted Sister...)  Joe is a decent lyricist, and I like when his lyrics have a little bit of an angle to them.  The cheesy "rock" lyrics just seem to underscore the worst part of the musical shift for me.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 09, 2022, 05:25:48 PM
My first concert was Iron Maiden/Judas Priest in August of 1982.  ....Def Leppard was my SECOND concert, March of '83, opening for Billy Squier.  .....

Def Leppard was first concert, and Iron Maiden was my second.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Zoom E on May 09, 2022, 06:36:05 PM
There was an over-saturation of Def Leppard after Pyromania became huge. Joe in his union jack shirt was everywhere. At some point it just became a turn-off.

Still, Pyromania is full of great songs, even if some of the lyrics are cringe-worthy, as pointed out by Stadler.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 09, 2022, 06:37:21 PM
Pretty sure I bought one of those sleeveless union jack shirts at the concert.  :loser:  :lol


I know I bought the baseball style jersey with the Pyromania conver on the front, with the gun sight n the back, and it said Rock till you drop, tour till we drop.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Zoom E on May 09, 2022, 06:42:30 PM
Pretty sure I bought one of those sleeveless union jack shirts at the concert.  :loser:  :lol


I know I bought the baseball style jersey with the Pyromania conver on the front, with the gun sight n the back, and it said Rock till you drop, tour till we drop.

 :lol

I think I just bought a regular t-shirt, which I probably still have in a drawer.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Stadler on May 10, 2022, 07:17:27 AM
Pretty sure I bought one of those sleeveless union jack shirts at the concert.  :loser:  :lol


I know I bought the baseball style jersey with the Pyromania conver on the front, with the gun sight n the back, and it said Rock till you drop, tour till we drop.

No, now that you mention it, that's the shirt I bought.  The baseball shirt.  My buddy bought the Union Jack, and the sleeveless one I had was the Trooper shirt from Maiden's Piece Of Mind tour.   I don't have the Leppard shirt anymore, but I do have my Number of the Beast shirt from the Maiden show (I can't even fit it over my head at this point).
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 10, 2022, 07:57:26 PM
Pretty sure I bought one of those sleeveless union jack shirts at the concert.  :loser:  :lol


I know I bought the baseball style jersey with the Pyromania conver on the front, with the gun sight n the back, and it said Rock till you drop, tour till we drop.

No, now that you mention it, that's the shirt I bought.  The baseball shirt.  My buddy bought the Union Jack, and the sleeveless one I had was the Trooper shirt from Maiden's Piece Of Mind tour.   I don't have the Leppard shirt anymore, but I do have my Number of the Beast shirt from the Maiden show (I can't even fit it over my head at this point).

I've posted pics of me in my Piece Of Mind shirt here before.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 10, 2022, 10:53:30 PM
Hysteria - 1987

Tracklisting - 1. Women. 2. Rocket. 3. Animal. 4. Love Bites. 5. Pour Some Sugar on Me. 6. Armageddon It. 7. Gods of War. 8. Don’t Shoot Shotgun. 9. Run Riot. 10. Hysteria. 11. Excitable. 12. Love and Affection.

 https://open.spotify.com/album/1ja2qzCrh6bZykcojbZs82?si=CosLB7N0QSa0ngWXOsH_Mw (https://open.spotify.com/album/1ja2qzCrh6bZykcojbZs82?si=CosLB7N0QSa0ngWXOsH_Mw)

Anything after Pyromania very easily could have been a different story. While writing for the follow up had started in the months following their last show, Rick Allen suffered a life altering accident on the A57 just outside of Sheffield on New Year’s Eve of 1984. Ten months after being a huge touring act, one of the hottest young drummers of the time found himself in the unenviable position of being a drummer with one arm.

When the writing sessions for the album recommenced, Mutt Lange was unavailable and Def Leppard were instead under the direction of Jim Steinman. Their experience with Jim was less than favourable and the band soon found themselves in serious debt to the studios. This easily could’ve been the end.

But in 1986, Def Leppard made an incredible comeback. While originally touring with two drummers to give Rick a bit of a safety net, it didn’t take long before they realised that he could still do this. The spark was back. Mutt came back to the producer’s chair and the result was Hysteria, Def Leppard’s longest and best selling album to date.

But is it worth the hype? Let’s find out.

Women, is the opening track, and after a great guitar hook, we’re brought into the verse which is absolutely soaked in synth bass. As the song grows towards the chorus, the guitars start to become more prominent again and the vocal gets higher and higher in intensity and pitch. The thing that really grabs me early on is the guitar tone, especially the cleans. This thing sounds super jangly, and it’s a really nice tone. The distorted tone doesn’t feel too far removed from that of Pyromania, but polished further from there. The drums set a really solid groove and throw in a few snare-centric fills. The chorus of this one especially gives that great group vibe that Pyromania capitalised on. This is a really solid opening track, and shows off the whole “we’re back!” vibe that this album really needed.

Rocket follows shortly after, starting with a reversed version of the chorus vocals from Gods of War. This song has a unique vibe, being centred around a drum groove in many places, or around a very simple bass riff. The great thing to this song is the lyrics, which serve as a snapshot of the songs that Leppard grew up listening to (name-checking Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Benny and the Jets and Killer Queen among others, with the most prominent being Satellite of Love in the chorus). The middle section to a certain extent serves as a little bit of a twisted overture for the Hysteria album as a whole, with all sorts of clips being used out of context or in reverse. If anything sets this one back at all, I feel this song goes on a little too long once we get into that middle section, and I kinda prefer the version used in the music video for the track for this reason.

Animal sets a bit of a different pace after the first two. This is both a rocker and a bit of a ballad all at once. This one, much like Women and Rocket before it, is quite bass led. It’s actually awesome how much room Sav is getting to do his thing here. This song provides more big choruses, but also one of my favourite riffs on the record in the bridge. It’s just got a certain bite to it that I really love. The fake out ending is pretty cool too.

Love Bites, Def Leppard’s only number one hit in the US believe it or not, really changes the mood from what’s preceded it. This goes through a good emotional spectrum throughout the three main sections. To me, the verses are quite fragile and questioning, the pre chorus is almost a resignation to the way things are instead of the way he wants them to be, and then the main chorus is almost desperate. This usually isn’t a song I get into too much, but I really enjoyed it this time around. The first solo on this track is really different, nice and open. The outro is a somewhat ominous open feel as well. Hammers to me the fact that the protagonist of the track may end up alone at the end of the track.

Alright, we all know the song that’s next. If you’ve barely heard of Def Leppard, it’s a good chance this is the one you know em for. Step inside, walk this way, you and me babe, hey hey!
The first thing to say about Pour Some Sugar on Me is that the main riff is great, if a little under-utilised for my liking. The snare sound on this track gives the song a really explosive feel and I really like the stab feel of the guitars and bass. Rick’s groove in this is super recognisable too. The solo section here is replaced by a really tight unison between Phil and Steve, which admittedly isn’t a super complex riff but is super effective.  Then you get the lyrics, and they feel a little slapdash. This song was the last written and recorded for the main Hysteria album and it kinda shows, but there’s no secret as to why this was as big of a hit as it was, this song just rocks.

Armageddon It is the last track before we get to leave off from the big singles for a little bit. This one is great. The intro riff is fun, but the verse riff is a highlight for me on this album. More group vocal goodness for the pre chorus and a cool call and response for the main chorus (I remember when those were used only on some of the deepest cuts for High ‘n’ Dry and Pyromania). This song also has a really groovy solo from Steve Clark, which at this point in the album is really welcome. Phil starts soloing over the fade-out and unfortunately the song dies out before it gets a chance to really kick off. That’s something about Hysteria that really isn’t a hit for me, there aren’t as many great solos as there have been on previous albums and on this listen-through, I kinda missed them. This song always leaves me in a good mood, though, and marks the halfway point for this album.

The next song starts off with a really nice ambient guitar intro, a Steve Clark composition, which really gets me in the mood for what’s to come. Gods of War. This is the first of the deeper cuts on Hysteria, but it’s one of my absolute favourite Def Leppard songs ever. This song has a bit of a similar structure of verses and choruses to Die Hard the Hunter the album before, and while that track did have a few instrumental highlights that I did prefer, I think Gods just wins out overall. The production for this song really elevates it, and the vocals are just so infectious. If you have a chance, get the Classic Albums documentary on the Hysteria album. There’s a section where they show off a really awesome layered vocal track from the chorus of this song that is a little underpowered in the final mix. The audio samples at the end of this track give the outro a huge vibe that I don’t know Def Leppard have ever really lived up to again.  This song is just epic, and if this is one you skip, I urge you to give it another go.

Don’t Shoot Shotgun is up next. Compared to every other song on this album, this one feels very bare bones. As a musician myself, I feel like the verses of this one may have been an influence on AC/DC’s Thunderstruck. The group vocals on this track are super prominent and it’s actually a really fun song to listen to. The solo section in this one is one of my favourites for the album for sure, there’s just a really nice vibe to them which actually kinda reminds me of Hold Your Fire era Rush for some reason (conveniently released in the same year). Not too much to say about this one, but it’s a nice fun song that makes a good contrast after how serious Gods of War is.

If you wanted more straight rockers though, Run Riot should surely be on the top of your list! This is my second favourite song on the album for this listen through. The vocals have a Stagefright vibe to them, but leading into the Hysteria style choruses. I feel like this track in particular is a great summation of 80s Def Leppard, the bridge into the solo has the bite of something from High ‘n’ Dry, the soloing is classic Pyromania era and it does all of this within the Hysteria sound. It’s shocking how good this song is, considering Def Leppard almost never bring this song out live unless performing the full album.

And now, onto the title track. Hysteria is probably more of a ballad than a banger within the context of the album, but it’s beautiful. This song is probably the most overly produced, at least according to the band. There are at least 8 different guitar parts in the chorus alone, and every note of every chord was recorded individually. Did it work though? Hell yeah. This song is amazingly beautiful and well worth being the title track of the album. This showcases so many things about this album all in one go while remaining it’s own individual song. The solo here is awesome, the choruses are great, and that main riff is in mind whenever the album title is mentioned. Can you feel it? Do you believe it?

It’s a shame that the last two tracks on the album fall a little short for me. Excitable isn’t a bad song, but on the record this just never takes for me. This is one that is, again, massively produced in the studio. And yet, if I want to listen to this song, I tend to seek out a live version. There’s some really cool parts to this song. The singalong vocal runs are actually really fun, amd I love the build of the bridge, but this song just doesn’t have the energy on the album that it takes on live.

Love and Affection is kinda alright at best. I don’t have a lot to say about it and often I completely forget about it, which isn’t something I like to say about album closers. The riff doesn’t really escalate, the solo is decent but not really anything super great. The chorus vocal is kinda nice, I guess. This song as a whole just doesn’t do anything for me and feels like more worthy of being a B-Side than the actual B-Sides to Hysteria.

So, Hysteria as a whole. Man, what a great album! It’s a victory and a comeback from a point where they very easily could’ve called it quits. For many, this is their leaving point, much as the Black Album would be for Metallica fans a few years later, but I think we’re only just getting started here. This main album ranks a 4.8 for me, because I still kinda like one of the two weakest tracks on the album, but the closer just never took for me.

But hey, while we’re talking about Hysteria, there are actually a few other songs we can talk about, so get ready for the B-Sides post a little later!
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 11, 2022, 04:10:55 AM
I’ll respond properly on my laptop after work but let me just say that Hysteria might be one of the Top 3 musical disappointments of my music listening life.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: soupytwist on May 11, 2022, 04:22:04 AM
Hysteria was the first album I brought with my own money - I absolutely loved it, then went back and brought the first 3 albums.  For that period Leppard were my favorite band and Hysteria my favorite album.   It all changed in the early 90's when I turned to grunge - and Adenalize disappointed and I went away for Leppard, when I went from Tape to CD I never re brought any of their albums, only within the last few years have I gone back to them as my wife is a big 80's rock fan.  I must say Hysteria is still a fun listen, but now in my mid 40's I can say Pyromania is their best.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 11, 2022, 06:10:14 AM
Hysteria B-Sides - Released on various singles throughout 1987 and 1988.

Tracklisting - 13. Tear It Down. 14. I Wanna Be Your Hero. 15. Ride Into the Sun. 16. Ring of Fire. 27. Release Me.

So, Hysteria was a huge chart topper. Mutt’s guidance led Def Leppard to fulfil his vision of being the rock equivalent to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Seven singles were released, all hitting the top 10 in the US. Back in those days, singles were often packed with great B-Side material and with seven singles being released, there were a lot of cool hidden gems released.

So there were five extended mixes released amongst the various B-Sides. They’re not great in my opinion, and I”m not really going to go into depth with these. They’re just longer versions of the songs that kill the vibe big time by making each line from verses detach from each other unnecessarily. Meh!

Alright, so let’s get it with the cool stuff. First up, Tear It Down, which was bundled with Animal in the UK and Women. This song is a banger! Very simple riff, just three notes, but with the Hysteria production this just works. This track was later included as the closer of the Adrenalize album, but this is a way better version of the song in my opinion. Solo is great, everyone’s really together here and the group vocal is energetic as hell. This song was played a few times towards the end of the Hysteria tour, and was one of the last songs that Steve Clark contributed to the writing for.


I Wanna Be Your Hero is next. This one was the B-Side to Animal in the US and Pour Some Sugar on Me. The intro to this song is really moody before kicking into more of the usual Hysteria rocking affair. This track would later be included on Retro Active, albeit with a different intro. I actually really love this song, and this is one that I really wish could’ve made the album. The whole song sets a very different mood to a lot of what’s on the main album, but I think this could’ve been a very good album closer to Hysteria. Admittedly, for my ear, this song is a little too short and the double fade-out is a little gimmicky, but the main song actually really rocks.

Ride Into the Sun reappears here! Rick Allen and Phil Collen did not play on the original recording of this song and it hadn’t been played live with Phil in the band. So when the song was rediscovered during the Hysteria sessions, it was quickly decided to do a new version of this song and I’m really glad they did. This version was released as the B-Side to the Hysteria single. The vocals have been largely rewritten since the original version on The Def Leppard EP, and while this version fits the tone of Hysteria, I think these vocals just fit the song better as I always felt the original chorus was too crammed. The solo here is awesome, and it’s really cool to see Def Leppard visit old history. This version of the song starts off with Rick playing the main groove before the riff kicks in, different to Retro Active which has a cool piano intro.

Ring of Fire is the B-Side that was bundled with Pour Some Sugar On Me in the US and Armageddon It. The intro on this one is really faded out, which is a shame because the Retro Active version shows there was a great riff hidden underneath the whole time. This song is a total banger other than that though. This feels more at home on Pyromania than Hysteria to me, as this is probably one of the last truly metal offerings from Def Leppard. This is another of the few B-Sides that has been played live, having opened a few shows on the X tour. While I feel that the Retro Active version is maybe a little better and a bit thicker tone wise, this song is fantastic and should’ve been on a proper album.

Sometimes, you’ve gotta goof off though. I don’t even know what they were thinking on this deep cut cover from the Rocket single. This really isn’t good, being sung by one of the band’s guitar techs with Def Leppard just having a big old jam on Release Me by Eddie Miller. This is nothing shy of a parody, and the boys really just having fun. If you’re in the right mood, this is kinda passable, but man, it’s not good.   

I’m not going to give this a rating as it feels a little unfair, but most of these easily could’ve made it to Hysteria and been very welcome. What’s your favourite? Let me know and let’s see if your favourite track still holds up on Adrenalize and Retro Active.

Tomorrow, In the Round, In Your Face.

Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: HOF on May 11, 2022, 07:50:20 AM
Hysteria is a really great album from a production standpoint. Some of the songs are pretty awful, especially Women and Pour Some Sugar On Me. I always liked Love Bites musically, but man some of those lyrics are brutal too. But God’s of War is tremendous, and while Rocket is a tad overlong, I do think it was a cool experiment. I’ve always really liked Armageddon It too. But to me the title track is the high point here. Just a beautiful pop song. I also really like Love and Affection to be honest. It’s got a nice groove and is kind of a slightly rockier Hysteria. It does sound a bit like a rehash, but I enjoy it anyway.

Also agree that the Classic Albums episode on Hysteria is really good.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: WilliamMunny on May 11, 2022, 08:34:24 AM
@Deadeye21—your posts are excellent! Thank you so much for putting all that time into these write-ups. 'Must-read' quality for sure!.

As far as 'Hysteria' goes, it's my favorite Def Leppard album, but I will concede that if it was ten tracks (ending with Hysteria), it would probably be a better listen.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 11, 2022, 09:52:36 AM
@Deadeye21—your posts are excellent! Thank you so much for putting all that time into these write-ups. 'Must-read' quality for sure!.

My pleasure. Wish it wasn’t so finite, coz I’m loving writing these.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 11, 2022, 12:48:29 PM
@Deadeye21—your posts are excellent! Thank you so much for putting all that time into these write-ups. 'Must-read' quality for sure!.

Definitely outstanding writeups.



As far as 'Hysteria' goes, it's my favorite Def Leppard album, but I will concede that if it was ten tracks (ending with Hysteria), it would probably be a better listen.

As a 10 song album, I would definitely keep the last two songs. There's plenty that come before those that are just awful.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 11, 2022, 01:40:25 PM
Ok...I'm going to try and recreate my first listening experience to Hysteria.
I will say that by this time, I had completed my first year of college. It's not that I had moved on from Def Leppard, but I kind of had. It had been 4 and a half years since Pyromania, which I never really played anyway. But I was still really excited for their new album.

Wiki mentions that Animal was the lead single. I have no memory of that.

I had a gf that loved Def Leppard, so I may have actually bought 2 cassettes. One for me and ..


Anyway, Women starts off with a cool into. But then it evolves into something that I do not recognize. This is so overproduced and just icky.

Rocket didn't help things, but there's a part of me that kind of likes what they did on this, but.....as a DAMN B-side!

Animal comes next and there's nothing so far on this album that I can sink my teeth into. And just when I think it can't get any worse, along comes Love Bites. Holy shit, what suckage!
WTF HAPPENED TO DEF LEPPARD??

The best thing that I can say about Pour Some Sugar On Me is at least it's a tad upbeat. Honestly, this song is embarrasing.

Side 1 ends with Armageddon It. The first song I thought that was ok.

Side 2 starts with Gods Of War, which is easily the best song on the album so far, and I think it has stayed there. This could've come off of Pyromania, honestly, with a nod to their debut album. Now the production kicks out its legs, but that's beside the point.

Don't Shoot Shotgun and Run Riot are both quite non descript, but I feel like I can actually hear a little Def Leppard in in them.

I ain't gonna lie. I like Hysteria. It has a really cool vibe and pacing to it, and while it's still over produced, the song still cuts through it.

Excitable, like Shotgun and Run Riot was at least a hard rock song at its core. The production is awful. I group these three songs together because for a while I really tried to rationalize this album with these three songs. But at the end of the day, it would be required for me to so lower my standards to accept them as decent.

Love And Affection, believe it or not, was another song I kind of dug.

I tried. I really tried, but this album betrayed me. It was not worth the wait. This was like the hard rock version of New Edition, Mutt Lange's hard rock boy band. Disgusting.

Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Stadler on May 11, 2022, 01:56:57 PM
There's a lot in that post I can resonate with.  I TOO like Hysteria, the song.  I remember hearing "Love Bites" and thinking, "if you're going to crib something from Judas Priest, it's ought to be more than just the shitty title!".   Like TAC, I gave it a try.  And I did have things I could latch on to (I don't particularly like "...Sugar...", but that melody "easy operator come knockin' on my door..." sticks in my head.   I know I made a cassette - it was/is a LONG record, it didn't even fit on a 60 minute cassette - and I put the b-sides on there as well to make a 90 minute cassette.  That made it palatable, but I'd find myself listening to the last couple songs and the b-sides, but if I never hear "Love Bites" again, I'll be fine.  I didn't ultimately give up on Leppard until Adrenalize, but this was, like TAC said, a real letdown.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: HOF on May 11, 2022, 02:04:51 PM
I forgot about Animal, which is another one with kind of gag lyrics but it’s extremely catchy. Still love the sound of that track.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 11, 2022, 02:33:45 PM
   I know I made a cassette - it was/is a LONG record, it didn't even fit on a 60 minute cassette - and I put the b-sides on there as well

Speaking of B-sides..

I remember the 45's were supposed to be a puzzle of the album cover. I thought I had all of them, but wiki says Rocket was released in 1989. I was all set by then, and having live version of Women was not going to convince me. But here are the 6 I have. And the b-sides were easily better than anything on the album.

(https://i.imgur.com/eACxckc.jpg)
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Stadler on May 11, 2022, 02:39:00 PM
All this back and forth is sort of digging up bad - well, not "bad", but uncomfortable - feelings.   I WANT to like Leppard so bad; the guitar players are GREAT, Rick Allen is a beast, Joe Elliott is a fan's front man (and he's done an AMAZING job at being fair and respectful and complete with their reissues).  They are an AMAZING live band. They do cool shit like the "Dead Flatbird" stuff (would that Maiden did a similar thing with the Di'Anno records!)

But the songs just aren't there.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 11, 2022, 02:50:38 PM
I hear ya Stads. I have one more big post (concert pics), and then that'll be pretty much it from me. But I think I'll listen along as we go.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 11, 2022, 04:04:22 PM
So, I saw three shows on the Hysteria tour in three different venues.

October 12, 1987, Providence Civic Center.....with Tesla

July 30, 1988, Great Woods, Mansfield MA.....with Europe

September 28, Worcester Centrum....with Queensryche


I was so happy to see Queensryche for the first time. I bought a shirt, which I ended up donating to the Samsara Queensryche Museum. Seeing Scott Rockenfield's drums, especially from behind was cool as shit!

The Providence and Worcester shows were "In The Round", which I hate. I would so much rather have the whole band in front of me, rather than one guy at a time.

I'll say this though. What Rick Allen did was damn impressive.

(https://i.imgur.com/JW7zffv.jpg)




October 12, 1987
Providence Civic Center


(https://i.imgur.com/Vdu3yYN.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/JCRJ4r3.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/muDmmG8.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/1e7uNoq.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/GUG4qDP.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/QaakAUt.jpg)
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Stadler on May 11, 2022, 04:30:37 PM
I'm also going to go out on a limb:  Steve "Steamin'" Clark was irreplaceable.  Or at least the manner of his demise forever changed the band.   I love Vivian Campbell, I really do, but Clark was such a big part of that band and I like to think he was the conscience of sorts.  I know Hysteria was done with his full knowledge, cooperation and participation, but I think as he faded as a driving force in the band, my interest did as well.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 11, 2022, 04:49:16 PM
I'm also going to go out on a limb:  Steve "Steamin'" Clark was irreplaceable.  Or at least the manner of his demise forever changed the band.   I love Vivian Campbell, I really do, but Clark was such a big part of that band and I like to think he was the conscience of sorts.  I know Hysteria was done with his full knowledge, cooperation and participation, but I think as he faded as a driving force in the band, my interest did as well.

I don't know. That's an interesting thought and I've never thought about it. He may have been too far gone to have a real influence.

I'll say this, I thought Vivian Campbell was just what the band needed. Another disappointment.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: The Realm on May 11, 2022, 05:08:47 PM
Hysteria - I bought this on cassette on release day and I gotta admit I was blown away by it at the time. I think as much as anything it was where I was in my teenage years musical journey (ie I actually hadn't discovered even Metallica yet but was a massive Maiden and solo Ozzy fan, maybe a bit of W.A.S.P). So I listened to this album for about 6 months straight, just loved it. Anyway here is Australia, Def Leppard at that time wasn't a big band so the strange thing was that after my 6 months straight listening to this album and telling everyone how awesome it was, no one else I knew was actually into Def Leppard at all. So I think it was about 2 years (approx.) after the release of the album, Rocket was released as a single in Australia and it just took off. It was huge and the band all of a sudden became massive here. Meanwhile, I had well and truly moved on...and just hearing Rocket made me sick...haha...
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bl5150 on May 11, 2022, 05:35:11 PM
Hysteria - I bought this on cassette on release day and I gotta admit I was blown away by it at the time. I think as much as anything it was where I was in my teenage years musical journey (ie I actually hadn't discovered even Metallica yet but was a massive Maiden and solo Ozzy fan, maybe a bit of W.A.S.P). So I listened to this album for about 6 months straight, just loved it. Anyway here is Australia, Def Leppard at that time wasn't a big band so the strange thing was that after my 6 months straight listening to this album and telling everyone how awesome it was, no one else I knew was actually into Def Leppard at all. So I think it was about 2 years (approx.) after the release of the album, Rocket was released as a single in Australia and it just took off. It was huge and the band all of a sudden became massive here. Meanwhile, I had well and truly moved on...and just hearing Rocket made me sick...haha...

I think we went through a similar journey as fellow Aussies.  I was first into Van Halen , Ozzy, KISS , WASP and - for me - Pyromania.   And yeah it was interesting how Def Leppard built gradual momentum with Hysteria here over a 2 year period.  Animal was a minor hit , then they really broke with a Top 15 hit with Love Bites and then as the album sales started to roll in they cracked Top 10 with Hysteria in 1989 and the single of the time Rocket fed off that.   For me it was Love Bites that was the catalyst , even though Rocket ended up charting a touch higher in the end.

I was getting into Pyromania at around the same time (just before) and that got far more play , even though I didn't dislike Hysteria.   I started to view them as a bit of a parody of themselves though after I heard Let's Get Rocked.

And yeah...............a band had to break BIG worldwide (not just USA) before they got radio play out here.  It was a totally different scene and just the diehard metalheads who could find a newsagent who stocked the magazines knew anything about anything.

Just like in the Van Halen thread...........talk of songs like Beautiful Girls being summer hits.  Never heard that once outside my own listening  :lol
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 11, 2022, 05:36:13 PM
Interesting that both of you guys mention WASP.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bl5150 on May 11, 2022, 05:39:15 PM
Interesting that both of you guys mention WASP.

Yeah.......it is rather unusual.  They certainly weren't on the radio but obviously had a bit of an underground following.  Some guy at school who heard I was a fellow metalhead (we were a rare species) gave me a dubbed tape of WASP's first album and I got hooked.  Same guy got me into Pyromania too I think so kudos to him  :lol

I could've added Malmsteen to the list too.  Just a matter of who you knew/what you saw in mags as none of it was on radio out here.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Zoom E on May 11, 2022, 05:58:45 PM
While Hysteria is undeniably a quality album, I'm in the hugely disappointing camp with TAC and Stadler. The AOR vibe just didn’t do it for me. Gods of War is easily my favourite song, and I also like Women despite the godawful lyrics. I cannot stand Pour Some Sugar On Me.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Zoom E on May 11, 2022, 06:01:41 PM
   I know I made a cassette - it was/is a LONG record, it didn't even fit on a 60 minute cassette - and I put the b-sides on there as well

Speaking of B-sides..

I remember the 45's were supposed to be a puzzle of the album cover. I thought I had all of them, but wiki says Rocket was released in 1989. I was all set by then, and having live version of Women was not going to convince me. But here are the 6 I have. And the b-sides were easily better than anything on the album.

(https://i.imgur.com/eACxckc.jpg)

That’s cool. Shows how big the album was with so many singles released.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 11, 2022, 06:23:47 PM
Should I stop then? This seems like the point where many of you are done with the band already, even though I feel there are some great songs left to come in the later albums.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 11, 2022, 06:27:26 PM
Should I stop then?

No, of course not. Personally, I won't have very much to add, but I plan on listening as you go forward and commenting along the way.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: The Realm on May 11, 2022, 06:34:10 PM
Hysteria - I bought this on cassette on release day and I gotta admit I was blown away by it at the time. I think as much as anything it was where I was in my teenage years musical journey (ie I actually hadn't discovered even Metallica yet but was a massive Maiden and solo Ozzy fan, maybe a bit of W.A.S.P). So I listened to this album for about 6 months straight, just loved it. Anyway here is Australia, Def Leppard at that time wasn't a big band so the strange thing was that after my 6 months straight listening to this album and telling everyone how awesome it was, no one else I knew was actually into Def Leppard at all. So I think it was about 2 years (approx.) after the release of the album, Rocket was released as a single in Australia and it just took off. It was huge and the band all of a sudden became massive here. Meanwhile, I had well and truly moved on...and just hearing Rocket made me sick...haha...

I think we went through a similar journey as fellow Aussies.  I was first into Van Halen , Ozzy, KISS , WASP and - for me - Pyromania.   And yeah it was interesting how Def Leppard built gradual momentum with Hysteria here over a 2 year period.  Animal was a minor hit , then they really broke with a Top 15 hit with Love Bites and then as the album sales started to roll in they cracked Top 10 with Hysteria in 1989 and the single of the time Rocket fed off that.   For me it was Love Bites that was the catalyst , even though Rocket ended up charting a touch higher in the end.

I was getting into Pyromania at around the same time (just before) and that got far more play , even though I didn't dislike Hysteria.   I started to view them as a bit of a parody of themselves though after I heard Let's Get Rocked.

And yeah...............a band had to break BIG worldwide (not just USA) before they got radio play out here.  It was a totally different scene and just the diehard metalheads who could find a newsagent who stocked the magazines knew anything about anything.

Just like in the Van Halen thread...........talk of songs like Beautiful Girls being summer hits.  Never heard that once outside my own listening  :lol

Yes, totally agree. Exactly right on the Beautiful Girls comment - Summer Hit?? haha! I did forget to mention KISS and VH, yes I was also into them at the time.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 11, 2022, 06:34:57 PM
Alrighty, great!

In the Round, In Your Face coming later today (for me) and Adrenalize tomorrow.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: The Realm on May 11, 2022, 06:35:53 PM
Should I stop then? This seems like the point where many of you are done with the band already, even though I feel there are some great songs left to come in the later albums.

No way! Keep going Deadeye, I'll be still following along and will try to listen along as well.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 11, 2022, 08:14:19 PM
In the Round, In Your Face coming later today (for me)

Watching/ listening to this for the first time in probably 30+ years. Enjoying it.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 11, 2022, 09:48:31 PM
In the Round, In Your Face - 1989

Setlist - 1. Stagefright. 2. Rock! Rock! (‘Til You Drop!). 3. Women. 4. Too Late For Love.5. Hysteria. 6. Gods of War. 7. Die Hard the Hunter.8. Bringin’ on the Heartbreak. 9. Fooli’n. 10. Armageddon It. 11. Animal. 12. Pour Some Sugar On Me. 13. Phil Solo. 14. Rock of Ages. 15. Photograph.

https://open.spotify.com/album/31oeDyCOLhgeZyktfxo0pE?si=13yFd4aiTt2ZRxHskrkGqQ (https://open.spotify.com/album/31oeDyCOLhgeZyktfxo0pE?si=13yFd4aiTt2ZRxHskrkGqQ)
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP_u_WyPWzX1o8jzxfOtoTtTTgIK4Oeqj (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP_u_WyPWzX1o8jzxfOtoTtTTgIK4Oeqj)

Hysteria was massive, we’ve covered this multiple times now. The tour supporting it was even bigger though. As the album kept breaking new milestones with the album, more and more dates were added. Starting from Tilburg on the 24th of June 1987 and finishing in Tacoma, Washington on October 27th 1988, the Hysteria tour spanned 235 shows across its run.

With two shows booked in the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado, the opportunity arose to capture a document of the band’s most ambitious tour to date. Of course they took it up and on the 7th of March, 1989, their first live VHS was released.

In The Round, In Your Face is a fairly great performance and a really solid VHS presentation. This is far enough into the tour where the show is absolutely nailed but not too far so that touring fatigue has kicked in yet. The guitar tones in this are really strong. Nice and polished, but also fairly meaty. The drum tone isn’t as strong as on the LA Forum release, but this is Rick Allen’s first tour back on the drums since he lost the arm. Joe’s vocals are really full and strong here too.

How does the setlist stack up? Well, we have a huge taste of the hits. Much of the setlist is comprised of the singles from the last three albums, but we do have three deeper cuts as well. Gods of War and Die Hard the Hunter are absolutely my favourite tracks on this one, and Stagefright is a killer opening song. For Die Hard, Heartbreak and Foolin’, Steve Clark uses a double neck, and the added 12 string tone really elevates these song. Heartbreak starts off as an acoustic piece here, and it makes for one of my favourite versions of the song (though this arrangement was brought back on another live album, and I like it just a little better). Rock of Ages features a good extended singalong section, much like the LA Forum performance too. This show also uses a really cool intro tape, being the speech from Dirty Harry. “Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?” Sets a really cool vibe to open the night with.

The annoying thing to me is that there are a few songs that were cut off of this release. Don’t Shoot Shotgun, Let It Go and the B-Side Tear It Down, as well as another version of Travellin’ Band were all recorded at both shows, but not included. Thanks to a YouTuber named Rock Remastered, there are uncovered soundboards for all 4, and mixed into the playlist where they would have showed up in the setlist. It would’ve been great to have these, but I get the feeling that official releases for these cut songs wont be released anytime soon.  Check out the second link above to hear the extra songs.

So, for me, I think this is actually a really solid release and almost a perfect swan song of a release. Following the Hysteria tour, Leppard played the BRIT Awards and the MTV Video Music Awards in 1989, and then that was it for a little while.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bl5150 on May 11, 2022, 10:00:18 PM
One thing my collection lacks is live albums .............never formed a huge part of my listening apart from a few very big faves from Ozzy, Dokken etc...

I will try and take a listen.  Stagefright was my favourite Leppard song there for a while so yeah........very cool opener  :metal
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Cool Chris on May 11, 2022, 10:13:00 PM
I remember that detail with the images on the singles!

While just about every other album I enjoyed at that period of my life wouldn't hold my interest for 5 minutes, I can still find enjoyment in Hysteria, if only for the nostalgia (and I am not big on nostalgia).
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 12, 2022, 09:21:16 AM
Gonna get this one out a little early as I’ve got some studio sessions tomorrow and don’t know if I’ll get this up otherwise.

Adrenalize - 1992.

Tracklisting - 1. Let’s Get Rocked. 2. Heaven Is. 3. Make Love Like A Man. 4. Tonight. 5. White Lightning. 6. Stand Up (Kick Love Into Motion). 7. Personal Property.8. Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad. 9. I Wanna Touch U. 10. Tear It Down.

https://open.spotify.com/album/7FKcbsCm4eoDWTMTNCUUqw?si=UodG29XIRIye3s3OFfJpOw (https://open.spotify.com/album/7FKcbsCm4eoDWTMTNCUUqw?si=UodG29XIRIye3s3OFfJpOw)

Following the tour for Hysteria, the band took some time off before reconvening to start the writing sessions. But something was very different. Steve Clark was having serious problems with his alcoholism, and ultimately was given six months off from the band to sort himself out.

Unfortunately though, instead of dealing with his problems and trying to live a normal life, Steve spent most of his time in his local pub. On the 8th of January, 1991,  Steve Clark was found dead with a high blood alcohol level and traces of morphine found in his system. Once again, this could have been the end of Def Leppard.

For the first time since 1981, Def Leppard continued under their own steam without Mutt Lange, deciding instead to self-produce with their longtime engineer Matt Shipley. Instead of hiring someone else for the position of guitarist straight away, Def Leppard performed this album as a four-piece. Much like Hysteria, this album spawned six singles, four of which were largely successful.

How does it hold up though? Let’s find out together.

The first track here is Let’s Get Rocked. This intro is a lot more instant than Rock! Rock! and Women before it. Once again, the bass guitar is super prominent as the main instrument throughout the verses, and there’s some decent lead fills from Phil Collen bouncing around. The problem is this is really nothing substantial. These lyrics devolve into an almost self-parody and repeating a lot of the “rock this, rock that” pastiche that became super overdone in the 80s. This song is really fun to see in concert with a very singalong chorus and the solo is fairly decent, but I can see how this is not everyone’s cup of tea.

Heaven Is follows up. I tend to like this one a lot more. There’s still nothing super substantial on the level of the albums preceding it, but this chorus gets stuck in my head often. The open vibe that precedes the solo is fairly standout too. This one seems to have never been played live, which is a shame because I feel like it would go down really well live. I actually think this is a better song than Let’s Get Rocked, and could’ve been a great feel good opener for the album.

Make Love Like A Man is a point where I feel like they tried to take the innuendo laden Pour Some Sugar on Me and tried to one up it. It doesn’t work for me, and comes off a little second rate. It’s got a good energy to it though. This is one that I’ve managed to see live for myself and it does work quite well, but it’s at this point that I’m already realising that this album may not be the great follow-up to Hysteria that I was hoping for. Admittedly, I rarely turn to Adrenalize and I’m starting to feel like there might be a good reason for it. The ending of this song makes you realise how much Steve contributed to the group vocal, as the backing vocals here just sound like Joe multitracking. And if you’ve been following these write ups since the start, you know that’s something I tend to love in these songs.

We follow up with Tonight, which starts with a huge wall of vocals. This one is more of a ballad, and the way the riff is phrased actually kinda reminds me of Bringin’ on the Heartbreak. The build into the chorus is masterful, and the structure of this song is really well crafted. This one is fairly short, which is a shame because it’s actually a really well written song. Phil’s solo here is awesome and the vocals all over this are really good. This is the first song so far where I’ve felt like I wish it was longer, but it makes it’s point well and moves on. I liked this better than Love Bites this go around, so let that say what it will.

White Lightning is our epic for Adrenalize. The guitar intro is reminiscent of the opening ambience to Gods of War and as it moves into the main crux of the song, I feel like we’re in for something special. This song is a tribute to Steve Clark and the lyrics deal with the demons of addiction. The structure here is similar to that of Gods and that chorus is huge. The guitar work in this song is genuinely next level and almost feels out of place for Adrenalize with all that’s come before it. I feel like this one is nothing shy of cathartic, and with Die Hard the Hunter having found it’s way back to the setlist for the 2019 Vegas residency, I really want this song to see the light of the stage sometime soon.

Stand Up (Kick Love Into Motion) starts with a vibe that immediately takes me back to Animal. Sav’s staccato bass hits and that jangly guitar tone take me back to older songs and put me in the right mood for this song immediately. The chorus vocal here feels very at home. I’ve heard rumours that this song was written in 1985 and almost made the cut for Hysteria, but they thought it was too similar to other songs, and I can really hear it. Nonetheless, I think this is actually a really good song, and again, why have they not played this live? Phil’s solo includes a little bit of tapping which is really different for him, and the vocal delivery is strong.

The intro to Personal Property is great, which almost makes it a shame that the rest of the song is very undeserving of that start up. These lyrics feel more at home with Steel Panther than Def Leppard. There’s a decent pace to the guitars here, but the vocal pattern for the chorus feels uncomfortable. There’s actually a lot going on here, but I don’t know that that makes it good. The bridge gets back to that epic feeling from the intro, which kinda hammers home to me that the song didn’t deserve it. Some of the solo goes into a very Brian May direction which is refreshing. I think I’d like this song if the vocal and the lyric wasn’t what it was. I almost feel like there’s a good song being held way back.

Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad is another ballad, which works really well. However, and this is going to come out strangely so bear with me, I feel like this song has suffered for me because of what they do with it live.  While there is nothing I’d want to change about the song as it exists here, which I think is an absolutely awesome ballad, I feel that it’s inclusion as part of the 2012 acoustic medley, and the full acoustic performance on Hits Vegas, the electric version just doesn’t quite cut it for me. The lyrics are tender and fragile, naturally about needing someone that you can’t be with, and really suit the acoustic approach more. There are some weird effects under Phil’s lead in the middle which are a little distracting, but all up this is a great song.

I Wanna Touch U is the second to last song here and this is… interesting. I do not know how to feel about this song. This has a cool chorus, but everything here just feels like Hysteria leftovers in the worst way. Solo’s cool and this one is nice and short, but honestly I don’t know what to make of this. I know there’s gotta be someone who likes this a lot, and the key change into the last chorus is nice, but I really really don’t get it. This song was released as the last single from Adrenalize and I’m still kinda questioning why.

The final track on this album is surprisingly not new, nor is it old. As mentioned while discussing the B-Sides to Hysteria, I mentioned that all of them had been at least partially redone for Retro Active or Adrenalize. To close off this album, we have Tear It Down. Immediately noticeable is that there is a new lead guitar over the intro, which adds a layer of excitement to it. The bass here is a lot more prominent, but I think the Hysteria vocal served this a lot better. That said, a lot of this track feels bigger and better than the B-Side apart from that. The chorus group vocal feels like it could actually be from the original version. I think I might like the original solo for this song a bit better though. This is actually a really hard comparison to make, but it does make a great closer to Adrenalize.

Ultimately, if I had been alive and a Def Leppard fan in 1992, I don’t know how I’d have felt for this release. The landscape of rock had become very different with Nirvana and Metallica breaking big at the time and this feels like it’s maybe trying a bit too hard to be a follow up to Hysteria while maybe not fully understanding what made that album great. What’s disappointing to me is that in the years that have passed since the release of Adrenalize, so many of the great songs have fully fallen off of the setlist. This is a problem that lasts for almost every album following this too, which is a bummer because I think we’ve got a lot of great work yet to come. I’m kinda thinking this deserves a 3.5 ultimately. The songs that work really work, but the ones that don’t kinda kill my mood a little. I think this is an album where you need to look past the two biggest tracks to find the real gold.

With my own music taking a lot of precedence in the next few days, I aim to get Retro Active out on Saturday, and then hopefully be on track for Slang on Monday and once every two days following that. Sorry if I start falling behind, but I’ve finally got some things I need to take care of. 
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Stadler on May 12, 2022, 09:46:06 AM
So I'm going to introduce something new here.  I don't know if everyone is like me, but the albums that I REALLY cut my teeth on, the albums that formed my musical "being", are all ALBUMS I love.   Sure, some songs are better than others, but I don't skip one song on those formative albums - Hotter Than Hell, High Voltage, Blizzard of Ozz, Number of the Beast...   

As I got more and more broad in my listening, as bands moved more or less farther away from the core of what I initially liked, there were more and more albums - Crazy World, Ram It Down, No Prayer For The Dying, Asylum - that I realized I wasn't going to force myself to listen to or like. Some bands, Scorpions, I basically abandoned.   Def Leppard is one of those. I recognize there are some good songs on there; it's not like they completely forgot how to write songs.  It's just not what I wanted to hear then; at that time - 1992 - I was heavier into prog, and even jam bands.  I think I saw Tull, ELP and the Allman's like 10 times between them from 1991 to 1994. 

Even then I was starting to realize there is too much music to absorb everything, and if I didn't like something, well, I didn't like it.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 12, 2022, 02:02:19 PM
I don't know if everyone is like me,

Take it to the bank, brother! :lol



So I'm going to introduce something new here.  I don't know if everyone is like me, but the albums that I REALLY cut my teeth on, the albums that formed my musical "being", are all ALBUMS I love.   Sure, some songs are better than others, but I don't skip one song on those formative albums - Hotter Than Hell, High Voltage, Blizzard of Ozz, Number of the Beast...   

As I got more and more broad in my listening, as bands moved more or less farther away from the core of what I initially liked, there were more and more albums - Crazy World, Ram It Down, No Prayer For The Dying, Asylum - that I realized I wasn't going to force myself to listen to or like. Some bands, Scorpions, I basically abandoned.   Def Leppard is one of those. I recognize there are some good songs on there; it's not like they completely forgot how to write songs.  It's just not what I wanted to hear then; at that time - 1992 - I was heavier into prog, and even jam bands.  I think I saw Tull, ELP and the Allman's like 10 times between them from 1991 to 1994. 

Even then I was starting to realize there is too much music to absorb everything, and if I didn't like something, well, I didn't like it.


So while there's albums that I love and grew up with and love every song, when I was in college 86-90, I was going through tons of music. I started making Compilation Tapes. I had three 90 min UFO mix tapes, four Alice ones, two Kiss ones, you get the picture. As much as I'd like to say I'm an album guy, I think I could go both ways on that. Er..
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Stadler on May 12, 2022, 02:15:40 PM
No, me too.  Every car I owned I wired in a cheap Panasonic tape deck, and I'd do the same thing.  New albums got an entire tape side, and some bands - Kiss, Aerosmith - would get compilations.  But when I was home I would listen to albums through headphones on my Dad's kick ass stereo, and then, it'd be side one and side two. 
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 12, 2022, 02:49:11 PM
In the Round, In Your Face - 1989

Setlist - 1. Stagefright. 2. Rock! Rock! (‘Til You Drop!). 3. Women. 4. Too Late For Love.5. Hysteria. 6. Gods of War. 7. Die Hard the Hunter.8. Bringin’ on the Heartbreak. 9. Fooli’n. 10. Armageddon It. 11. Animal. 12. Pour Some Sugar On Me. 13. Phil Solo. 14. Rock of Ages. 15. Photograph.


So I listened and watched this for the first time in well over 30 years. I actually enjoyed it. It's actually not as polished as I remember it being. I don't remember loving the camera work, and I wasn't a fan of the in the round stage.

But the video isn't really that bad, actually. My chief complaint was the endless shots of the girls in the front row.

Soundtrack wise, this is really strong. I found it online last night and I will happily not wait 30 more years before I listen again.

And again...Rick Allen  :hefdaddy
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 12, 2022, 02:58:55 PM
Adrenalize - 1992.

Tracklisting - 1. Let’s Get Rocked. 2. Heaven Is. 3. Make Love Like A Man. 4. Tonight. 5. White Lightning. 6. Stand Up (Kick Love Into Motion). 7. Personal Property.8. Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad. 9. I Wanna Touch U. 10. Tear It Down.


I listened to this at work today. I was certainly willing to give this album a shot. I remember hearing Vivian joined the band and I was pumped. I seem to remember MTV showing a live show or part of a live show around this time where they played Let's Get Rocked at least.


Anyway, I think Let's Get Rocked is probably the best song here, and I'm not saying it's a great song. I mean, it is pretty good, but it was just not what I was looking for. Instead of them moving on from the Hysteria style, they seemed to double down on it. I don't remember ever owning this. My gf might have.






Even then I was starting to realize there is too much music to absorb everything, and if I didn't like something, well, I didn't like it.

I wanted to come back to this...

While my long ago imagined lifelong fandom of Def Leppard never materialized, I don't think that I ever stopped "liking" them. I mean, I faithfully checked out whatever new song that had with each new album. I was hoping, praying that I would like it. Def Leppard was a 13 y/o TAC's first favorite NEW band, and that will never go away.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Stadler on May 13, 2022, 09:43:39 AM
Even then I was starting to realize there is too much music to absorb everything, and if I didn't like something, well, I didn't like it.

I wanted to come back to this...

While my long ago imagined lifelong fandom of Def Leppard never materialized, I don't think that I ever stopped "liking" them. I mean, I faithfully checked out whatever new song that had with each new album. I was hoping, praying that I would like it. Def Leppard was a 13 y/o TAC's first favorite NEW band, and that will never go away.

Well, I DO listen; I have heard most of the catalogue.  I just don't really force myself to listen to much of it.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: The Realm on May 13, 2022, 05:12:15 PM
Adrenalize - I remember when this was released in 1992, Pantera were probably my favourite band at that time, so yeah Adrenalize wasn't for me. I thought Let's Get Rocked was pretty good though. One of my good mates got the CD but I am pretty sure I never bought it and I am pretty sure I actually have never heard the whole album before - until now. I gave the album a listen, I did struggle to get through it, it just feels very formulaic overall, like trying to catch the magic of Hysteria but the songs/melodies just not being there.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bl5150 on May 14, 2022, 02:55:34 AM
I found Let's Get Rocked cringey but , from memory , I used to play Tonight/White Lightning/Tear It Down -  but then I preferred the demo versions of Tonight and Tear It Down.  So Adrenalize got very little play as an album listen.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: HOF on May 14, 2022, 08:56:47 AM
Let’s Get Rocked was my introduction to Def Leppard when it came out on the radio. It’s a pretty catchy song, and I still love the bridge part (“all I wanna do is take a ride into the blue.”). It is pretty hokey. Still have a good bit of nostalgia for it though.

I can’t say I listen to this album very often these days, but I do think Heaven Is is a fun song. Stand Up (Kick Love Into Motion) is another that I still like. And I have always loved Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad. Call it a guilty pleasure, I just love the wash of guitars and vocals on it. Tonight and I Wanna Touch U are also catchy enough, but some iffy lyrics for sure. Then there’s a couple songs that are straight up awful in Make Love Like a Man and Personal Property (yikes!).

This is only sort of a hard rock album. It’s more of a pop thing for sure. But White Lightning is a pretty cool song, something a bit more musically deep. At 7:00 minutes it could pass for prog, and I have to say a whole album of songs in this vein would probably be really cool. Tear it Down is also a pretty fun rocker and a nice closer.

This album in particular I feel like you can really pick up on the Mutt Lange format. A lot of these tracks you can envision Shania Twain singing them with a twang and some fiddles filling out the sound. That said, I think they managed to produce another great sounding album in the vein of Hysteria, even if that style was kind of on the way out. I remember discovering Pearl Jam and Nirvana later on that same year. It’s not a bad follow up effort to a classic album, but it probably needed to come out two or three years earlier than it did.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 14, 2022, 10:50:41 AM
Retro Active - 1993
Vault - 1995

Tracklisting - 1. Desert Song. 2. Fractured Love. 3. Action. 4. Two Steps Behind5. She’s Too Tough. 6. Miss You In A Heartbeat. 7. Only After Dark. 8. Ride Into The Sun. 9. From the Inside. 10. Ring of Fire. 11. I Wanna Be Your Hero12. Miss You In A Heartbeat (Electric Version). 13. Two Steps Behind (Electric Version) 14. Miss You In A Jeartbeat (Acoustic Version).
1. When Love and Hate Collide.

 https://open.spotify.com/album/51JMDhly9GKYXgFrOekyIR?si=d2ZeeQNORJmsMcTm1vg8-w (https://open.spotify.com/album/51JMDhly9GKYXgFrOekyIR?si=d2ZeeQNORJmsMcTm1vg8-w) and  https://open.spotify.com/album/2eb76s2S0cEzqqyEeGJ8Xk?si=HBFT6hw5TpufyNg5qnufnA (https://open.spotify.com/album/2eb76s2S0cEzqqyEeGJ8Xk?si=HBFT6hw5TpufyNg5qnufnA)

12 years in  and there have been only five full length albums in the Def Leppard discography. In a time where the band’s sound was evidently changing and evolving, it was clear that an era was now over in Leppard history that deserved cataloguing one more time. To close the door on the Steve Clark era, Def Leppard released Retro Active, a collection of B-Sides and unfinished tracks.

To quote the sticker from the front of my Dad’s CD copy from 1993. “This is not a new Def Leppard album, nor is it an old Def Leppard record. It is Retro Active - a collection of songs which have appeared in various hard to find places or in certain cases never made it out of the studio until now.” I’ll be referring to the liner notes for the album and telling you their original release history as we go along here. The first thing to note here is that this is the very first release featuring performances from Vivian Campbell and sadly the last to feature any from Steve Clark.

Desert Song kicks us off and this is my favourite Def Leppard song. Did you expect me to say that? I bet you didn’t. This thing just has a crushingly heavy riff for Def Leppard and it’s HUGE! According to the liner notes, the  instrumental idea was written and completed during the Hysteria sessions but left unrecorded due to remaining lyricless. In 1993, Joe penned the lyrics on a “day off” in Portugal during the Adrenalize tour, and the track was recorded shortly after that. My question follows along the lines of that used on many Adrenalize songs. Why was this not used in a proper album and why the hell have they not played this live? The second solo is from Steve Clark and is probably my favourite of his work, the clean bridge is the perfect relief (in which Sav’s bass fills are impeccable) and the difference between Joe’s lower verse vocals and the higher choruses really sells me on the intensity. This song harkens back to Def Leppard’s metal roots and absolutely smokes it. This song is immense, and if you aren’t headbanging while this song is on, you’ve got it very wrong indeed.

As Desert Song fades out, we get the sound of almost tribal percussion fading us into the nest song. Here we have Fractured Love, another leftover from the early Hysteria sessions.  Before Mutt Lange threw the idea of making “Pyromania 2” out the window in favour of making the Hysteria album, this was one of the strongest tracks they wrote. However, the intro was incomplete and the song was shelved. You can really hear the new work from 1993 compared to the original work from 1984, as once we kick into the full song the vocals change kinda drastically. This song is a banger, and I’m left wondering what the follow up to Pyromania could have been without Lange’s push to make Hysteria what it became.

“We wanted to do a few cover tunes for the Adrenalize B-Sides, we chose this one because we are all big Sweet fans. ‘Nuff said”.
Track three is the B-Side from the Make Love Like A Man single, Action. This song sees it’s way in and out of the setlist fairly regularly, having seen it’s way as a bonus track on Mirror Ball and one of the two encore openers on the 2019 Vegas residency setlists. This cover is one of those that improve upon the originals and the Leppard version just oozes charisma. The group vocal is on point, the guitars are huge and there’s just a lot of great stuff here. This is the first performance credited to Vivian Campbell, here credited only for backing vocals.

Track four is easily the most successful song on Retro Active, Two Steps Behind. “Inspired by Joe’s original demo” (we will get to that in roughly nine more songs) “and done for fun acoustically, this song eventually surfaced as an extra track for a CD single release. Strings were added a year later when it was chosen for the “Last Action Hero” movie soundtrack.” This song is still played frequently in Def Leppard concerts and it was a huge hit. This song was released as a band only version on the Make Love Like A Man single before strings were added by Michael Kamen (composer behind a lot of great film scores including Licence to Kill and Die Hard, as well as being the orchestral composer for The Wall and Metallica’s original S&M). This is Vivian’s first appearance on guitar for the band too. Not much needs to be said about this one, it’s a huge track and we all know it.
Personal story I can add is that this was actually played at my Mum and Dad’s wedding!

Track five is She’s Too Tough, a song written back in the Hysteria sessions by Joe but for a Canadian band named Helix. In 1992, Phil laid down new guitars and then the two Ricks came in and did their parts while Joe had a day off. This song uses Joe’s original demo vocals from somewhere between 84 and 87 and this actually sounds really uncomfortable for Joe. This is a whole tone higher than Stagefright, so it’s barely in Joe’s range. Nonetheless, I like this song. Nice and shirt and would’ve made for a great B-Side to Heaven Is, Tonight AND Stand Up (Kick Love Into Motion).

Track six, Miss You Like A Heartbeat,  is a similar story. This song was written Phil for a band called The Law in 1992. This version came about when Phil heard Joe messing around with the song on a piano, and was originally intended to just be a demo recording for just guitar, piano and vocal, but the song just kept growing as it often does in Leppard land. A demo version of this, the way that Phil originally wrote it was also on the Make Love single. This is actually a really moving ballad, and is another song that could’ve fit really nicely onto Adrenalize. As it is, this song was released as a single and it did pretty well for itself. Phil plays an almost Spanish inspired guitar solo here on the acoustic, and the whole sing just has a really good mood to it.

Track seven is easily my least favourite song on Retro Active, Only After Dark. This is a cover of a Mick Ronson song that was “updated and given the profile we felt it always deserved”. This song is a decent jam, but it just doesn’t do very much for me ultimately. This was released as a B-Side for the Let’s Get Rocked single, so I guess that whole single was a little disappointing ultimately. This is a cool enough song, but even at just under 4 minutes I feel like it goes on too long for the limited ideas presented. Rest In Peace Mick Ronson.

Track eight is the ultimate version of Ride Into the Sun. This is a slight update from the Hysteria B-Side. This has an added Honky Tonk piano intro by Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople and David Bowie fame. Other than that, we have a better snare sound added in June of 93. I don’t really have much I can say about this song, because the write up from the Hysteria B-Sides thread was pretty much all that needs to be said.

Track nine is an oddity known only as From The Inside. According to the liner notes, this song was originally written by Joe when he was asked to perform with the Hothouse Flowers for a late night TV Show. The two bands loved the song, and it appeared as a B-Side to Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad. This is a really intriguing song, written about addiction from the point of view of the drugs. It’s an odd one to be sure, but a really welcome one. I don’t think Leppard has another song that sounds like this, for better or for worse, but the song itself is actually really good. This showed up a fair few times on the Adrenalize tour and then showed up for some acoustic performances in 95, 96 and 2004. Statistically speaking, this is the most played song on Retro Active apart from Two Steps Behind.

Track ten and eleven both also emerge from the Hysteria sessions, Ring of Fire and I Wanna Be Your Hero. Ring of Fire has a way better intro for the Retro Active version, and I feel like the clean guitar swells within the second verse are a lot more crisp. This is a really great song, which saw a few live performances as a concert opener on the X tour. The liner notes say that this song was “inspired by… ahh, you don’t want to know”. If I don’t want to know writes songs this good, then keep doing whatever it is we don’t get to know about!
I Wanna Be Your Hero was originally written under the name Love Bites, but the title was stolen and used for a much different song (which for me is kinda inferior). This version has a bit of a different intro, which brings the little lead guitar fills in a little earlier. This song is still a banger and should’ve been on Hysteria for my money. The drums for both of these songs have been re-recorded and both songs were enhanced with more guitars (like that banging intro riff for Ring of Fire!) and chorus vocals in 1993. The issue I had with Hero on the B-Side version is removed and we get a proper fade out this time. Love it!

Track twelve is the original electric version of Miss You In A Heartbeat. The opening guitar swells are a thing of total beauty and this version of the song is actually the one I think I would tend to gravitate towards for an actual album, as it just has a great vibe. Joe’s delivery on this is actually even a bit cleaner to me than that of the main version. The solo here is your run of the mill Phil, but that’s kinda what this version called for. I just really like this.

The closing track is a full band take on Joe’s original demo of Two Steps Behind, and I actually love the fact that this is the closing track for no other reason than we actually get a Vivian Campbell guitar solo! This version of Two Steps Behind actually fundamentally changes the song, removing the main chord progression outside of the chorus. Rick’s drumming feels a little too drum machine like, but he chucks in a few cool fills here and there. Joe’s vocals on this version are nowhere near as good as they are on the main version of the song, but you get that. The whole song builds to that guitar solo, and even if it’s a little short, it’s a great intro to Vivian in the band and kinda reassures us that the band is in safe hands with him. One could almost view this whole album as a concept about Def Leppard learning to become a band again without Steve and looking into the future by letting go of these old songs once and for all. In doing so, I think it’s an amazing release.

Now, see, after the closing track, there’s a hidden bonus track of just Joe’s piano and vocal for Miss You In A Heartbeat. It’s kinda same old same old after you’ve heard the main version. However, I’m instead going to touch on another song that was released only on the greatest hits collection in 1995, since it doesn’t really have another chance to come into play. That song is called When Love and Hate Collide, from Vault. Why include it here? Well, it was said in an interview with Joe in 1995 that putting this song and the compilation as a whole out was to completely close the door on the Steve Clark before they put out Slang. When Love and Hate Collide is a very pretty sounding ballad which still makes its way out from time to time, mostly recently being played as part of the encore to the Hysteria 2018 tour. It’s your standard power ballad affair for Leppard, and this is actually one of their biggest songs in the UK. This one never did anything much for me, but I can see why it still gets attention.

So, Retro Active. It actually feels unfair to rate this album as it is a collection of leftovers, much as I couldn’t rate leftover spaghetti bolognaise as a new meal. We have, in fact, already discussed three of these tracks during this deep dive already. But in looking at it now, and not being a live album, I kinda have to give it a rating. One would think that being a bunch of leftover songs would tend to mean that it shouldn’t deserve to be ranked higher than any proper album, but I think it genuinely is. I also realised that I didn’t give Adrenalize a rating, so I’m giving that a 3.75. Retro Active, I think I’m gonna give it a 4.5. This really holds up, flows well as an album and serves as a critical milestone in the band’s career.

And with the changing of the guard taken care of, we get to start the Vivian Campbell era. Join me on Monday for a discussion of the oft-maligned Slang!
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 14, 2022, 11:35:35 AM

Track nine is an oddity known only as From The Inside. According to the liner notes, this song was originally written by Joe when he was asked to perform with the Hothouse Flowers for a late night TV Show.

Are the "Accoustic Hippies From Hell" actually the Hothouse Flowers? Who is credited instrumentally?

BTW, the Hothouse Flowers are fucking awesome!
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: WilliamMunny on May 14, 2022, 11:58:05 AM
Retro Active - 1993
Vault - 1995

Tracklisting - 1. Desert Song. 2. Fractured Love. 3. Action. 4. Two Steps Behind5. She’s Too Tough. 6. Miss You In A Heartbeat. 7. Only After Dark. 8. Ride Into The Sun. 9. From the Inside. 10. Ring of Fire. 11. I Wanna Be Your Hero12. Miss You In A Heartbeat (Electric Version). 13. Two Steps Behind (Electric Version) 14. Miss You In A Jeartbeat (Acoustic Version).
1. When Love and Hate Collide.

 https://open.spotify.com/album/51JMDhly9GKYXgFrOekyIR?si=d2ZeeQNORJmsMcTm1vg8-w (https://open.spotify.com/album/51JMDhly9GKYXgFrOekyIR?si=d2ZeeQNORJmsMcTm1vg8-w) and  https://open.spotify.com/album/2eb76s2S0cEzqqyEeGJ8Xk?si=HBFT6hw5TpufyNg5qnufnA (https://open.spotify.com/album/2eb76s2S0cEzqqyEeGJ8Xk?si=HBFT6hw5TpufyNg5qnufnA)

12 years in  and there have been only five full length albums in the Def Leppard discography. In a time where the band’s sound was evidently changing and evolving, it was clear that an era was now over in Leppard history that deserved cataloguing one more time. To close the door on the Steve Clark era, Def Leppard released Retro Active, a collection of B-Sides and unfinished tracks.

To quote the sticker from the front of my Dad’s CD copy from 1993. “This is not a new Def Leppard album, nor is it an old Def Leppard record. It is Retro Active - a collection of songs which have appeared in various hard to find places or in certain cases never made it out of the studio until now.” I’ll be referring to the liner notes for the album and telling you their original release history as we go along here. The first thing to note here is that this is the very first release featuring performances from Vivian Campbell and sadly the last to feature any from Steve Clark.

Desert Song kicks us off and this is my favourite Def Leppard song. Did you expect me to say that? I bet you didn’t. This thing just has a crushingly heavy riff for Def Leppard and it’s HUGE! According to the liner notes, the  instrumental idea was written and completed during the Hysteria sessions but left unrecorded due to remaining lyricless. In 1993, Joe penned the lyrics on a “day off” in Portugal during the Adrenalize tour, and the track was recorded shortly after that. My question follows along the lines of that used on many Adrenalize songs. Why was this not used in a proper album and why the hell have they not played this live? The second solo is from Steve Clark and is probably my favourite of his work, the clean bridge is the perfect relief (in which Sav’s bass fills are impeccable) and the difference between Joe’s lower verse vocals and the higher choruses really sells me on the intensity. This song harkens back to Def Leppard’s metal roots and absolutely smokes it. This song is immense, and if you aren’t headbanging while this song is on, you’ve got it very wrong indeed.

As Desert Song fades out, we get the sound of almost tribal percussion fading us into the nest song. Here we have Fractured Love, another leftover from the early Hysteria sessions.  Before Mutt Lange threw the idea of making “Pyromania 2” out the window in favour of making the Hysteria album, this was one of the strongest tracks they wrote. However, the intro was incomplete and the song was shelved. You can really hear the new work from 1993 compared to the original work from 1984, as once we kick into the full song the vocals change kinda drastically. This song is a banger, and I’m left wondering what the follow up to Pyromania could have been without Lange’s push to make Hysteria what it became.

“We wanted to do a few cover tunes for the Adrenalize B-Sides, we chose this one because we are all big Sweet fans. ‘Nuff said”.
Track three is the B-Side from the Make Love Like A Man single, Action. This song sees it’s way in and out of the setlist fairly regularly, having seen it’s way as a bonus track on Mirror Ball and one of the two encore openers on the 2019 Vegas residency setlists. This cover is one of those that improve upon the originals and the Leppard version just oozes charisma. The group vocal is on point, the guitars are huge and there’s just a lot of great stuff here. This is the first performance credited to Vivian Campbell, here credited only for backing vocals.

Track four is easily the most successful song on Retro Active, Two Steps Behind. “Inspired by Joe’s original demo” (we will get to that in roughly nine more songs) “and done for fun acoustically, this song eventually surfaced as an extra track for a CD single release. Strings were added a year later when it was chosen for the “Last Action Hero” movie soundtrack.” This song is still played frequently in Def Leppard concerts and it was a huge hit. This song was released as a band only version on the Make Love Like A Man single before strings were added by Michael Kamen (composer behind a lot of great film scores including Licence to Kill and Die Hard, as well as being the orchestral composer for The Wall and Metallica’s original S&M). This is Vivian’s first appearance on guitar for the band too. Not much needs to be said about this one, it’s a huge track and we all know it.
Personal story I can add is that this was actually played at my Mum and Dad’s wedding!

Track five is She’s Too Tough, a song written back in the Hysteria sessions by Joe but for a Canadian band named Helix. In 1992, Phil laid down new guitars and then the two Ricks came in and did their parts while Joe had a day off. This song uses Joe’s original demo vocals from somewhere between 84 and 87 and this actually sounds really uncomfortable for Joe. This is a whole tone higher than Stagefright, so it’s barely in Joe’s range. Nonetheless, I like this song. Nice and shirt and would’ve made for a great B-Side to Heaven Is, Tonight AND Stand Up (Kick Love Into Motion).

Track six, Miss You Like A Heartbeat,  is a similar story. This song was written Phil for a band called The Law in 1992. This version came about when Phil heard Joe messing around with the song on a piano, and was originally intended to just be a demo recording for just guitar, piano and vocal, but the song just kept growing as it often does in Leppard land. A demo version of this, the way that Phil originally wrote it was also on the Make Love single. This is actually a really moving ballad, and is another song that could’ve fit really nicely onto Adrenalize. As it is, this song was released as a single and it did pretty well for itself. Phil plays an almost Spanish inspired guitar solo here on the acoustic, and the whole sing just has a really good mood to it.

Track seven is easily my least favourite song on Retro Active, Only After Dark. This is a cover of a Mick Ronson song that was “updated and given the profile we felt it always deserved”. This song is a decent jam, but it just doesn’t do very much for me ultimately. This was released as a B-Side for the Let’s Get Rocked single, so I guess that whole single was a little disappointing ultimately. This is a cool enough song, but even at just under 4 minutes I feel like it goes on too long for the limited ideas presented. Rest In Peace Mick Ronson.

Track eight is the ultimate version of Ride Into the Sun. This is a slight update from the Hysteria B-Side. This has an added Honky Tonk piano intro by Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople and David Bowie fame. Other than that, we have a better snare sound added in June of 93. I don’t really have much I can say about this song, because the write up from the Hysteria B-Sides thread was pretty much all that needs to be said.

Track nine is an oddity known only as From The Inside. According to the liner notes, this song was originally written by Joe when he was asked to perform with the Hothouse Flowers for a late night TV Show. The two bands loved the song, and it appeared as a B-Side to Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad. This is a really intriguing song, written about addiction from the point of view of the drugs. It’s an odd one to be sure, but a really welcome one. I don’t think Leppard has another song that sounds like this, for better or for worse, but the song itself is actually really good. This showed up a fair few times on the Adrenalize tour and then showed up for some acoustic performances in 95, 96 and 2004. Statistically speaking, this is the most played song on Retro Active apart from Two Steps Behind.

Track ten and eleven both also emerge from the Hysteria sessions, Ring of Fire and I Wanna Be Your Hero. Ring of Fire has a way better intro for the Retro Active version, and I feel like the clean guitar swells within the second verse are a lot more crisp. This is a really great song, which saw a few live performances as a concert opener on the X tour. The liner notes say that this song was “inspired by… ahh, you don’t want to know”. If I don’t want to know writes songs this good, then keep doing whatever it is we don’t get to know about!
I Wanna Be Your Hero was originally written under the name Love Bites, but the title was stolen and used for a much different song (which for me is kinda inferior). This version has a bit of a different intro, which brings the little lead guitar fills in a little earlier. This song is still a banger and should’ve been on Hysteria for my money. The drums for both of these songs have been re-recorded and both songs were enhanced with more guitars (like that banging intro riff for Ring of Fire!) and chorus vocals in 1993. The issue I had with Hero on the B-Side version is removed and we get a proper fade out this time. Love it!

Track twelve is the original electric version of Miss You In A Heartbeat. The opening guitar swells are a thing of total beauty and this version of the song is actually the one I think I would tend to gravitate towards for an actual album, as it just has a great vibe. Joe’s delivery on this is actually even a bit cleaner to me than that of the main version. The solo here is your run of the mill Phil, but that’s kinda what this version called for. I just really like this.

The closing track is a full band take on Joe’s original demo of Two Steps Behind, and I actually love the fact that this is the closing track for no other reason than we actually get a Vivian Campbell guitar solo! This version of Two Steps Behind actually fundamentally changes the song, removing the main chord progression outside of the chorus. Rick’s drumming feels a little too drum machine like, but he chucks in a few cool fills here and there. Joe’s vocals on this version are nowhere near as good as they are on the main version of the song, but you get that. The whole song builds to that guitar solo, and even if it’s a little short, it’s a great intro to Vivian in the band and kinda reassures us that the band is in safe hands with him. One could almost view this whole album as a concept about Def Leppard learning to become a band again without Steve and looking into the future by letting go of these old songs once and for all. In doing so, I think it’s an amazing release.

Now, see, after the closing track, there’s a hidden bonus track of just Joe’s piano and vocal for Miss You In A Heartbeat. It’s kinda same old same old after you’ve heard the main version. However, I’m instead going to touch on another song that was released only on the greatest hits collection in 1995, since it doesn’t really have another chance to come into play. That song is called When Love and Hate Collide, from Vault. Why include it here? Well, it was said in an interview with Joe in 1995 that putting this song and the compilation as a whole out was to completely close the door on the Steve Clark before they put out Slang. When Love and Hate Collide is a very pretty sounding ballad which still makes its way out from time to time, mostly recently being played as part of the encore to the Hysteria 2018 tour. It’s your standard power ballad affair for Leppard, and this is actually one of their biggest songs in the UK. This one never did anything much for me, but I can see why it still gets attention.

So, Retro Active. It actually feels unfair to rate this album as it is a collection of leftovers, much as I couldn’t rate leftover spaghetti bolognaise as a new meal. We have, in fact, already discussed three of these tracks during this deep dive already. But in looking at it now, and not being a live album, I kinda have to give it a rating. One would think that being a bunch of leftover songs would tend to mean that it shouldn’t deserve to be ranked higher than any proper album, but I think it genuinely is. I also realised that I didn’t give Adrenalize a rating, so I’m giving that a 3.75. Retro Active, I think I’m gonna give it a 4.5. This really holds up, flows well as an album and serves as a critical milestone in the band’s career.

And with the changing of the guard taken care of, we get to start the Vivian Campbell era. Join me on Monday for a discussion of the oft-maligned Slang!

This is so spot on!

Count me in as a huge fan of "Desert Song," and I can't wait to hear your thoughts on "Slang" (an album I quite enjoy)
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: HOF on May 14, 2022, 01:19:06 PM
I’ve only heard Slang once, but I thought there was some cool stuff on it. Will have to check it out again.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 14, 2022, 04:05:14 PM

Retro Active - 1993
Vault - 1995

Tracklisting - 1. Desert Song. 2. Fractured Love. 3. Action. 4. Two Steps Behind5. She’s Too Tough. 6. Miss You In A Heartbeat. 7. Only After Dark. 8. Ride Into The Sun. 9. From the Inside. 10. Ring of Fire. 11. I Wanna Be Your Hero12. Miss You In A Heartbeat (Electric Version). 13. Two Steps Behind (Electric Version) 14. Miss You In A Jeartbeat (Acoustic Version).
1. When Love and Hate Collide.


First off, Retroactive has a great cover!

I never bothered with it. Hysteria B-sides, movie soundtrack tunes and odds and ends.
I had the Hysteria B-sides, and I wasn't buying them again. I also had the Last Action Hero soundtrack.

The riff in Desert Song reminds me of China White. Considering what Def Leppard had become at this point, yeah, anyone would have to be happy with this.

I'd never heard She's Too Tough before. Joe's 80's vocal is awesome. This is a cool tune.

And yeah, From The Inside is really interesting.


Oh, and I love Action. I'm a huge Sweet fan as well. Love Phil's solo in this.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 14, 2022, 06:06:03 PM

Are the "Accoustic Hippies From Hell" actually the Hothouse Flowers? Who is credited instrumentally?

BTW, the Hothouse Flowers are fucking awesome!

More or less, yeah. I think that’s the combination of Leppard and Hothouse Flowers, who also did You Can’t Always Get What You Want and Little Wing for the Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad single. Credited in the liner notes are Vivian, Phil, Sav and Joe with Fiachna O Braonain on tin whistle, Liam O Maonlai on grand piano and Peter O’Toole on mandolin.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 16, 2022, 08:09:11 AM
Slang - 1996

Tracklisting - 1. Truth?. 2. Turn to Dust. 3. Slang. 4. All I Want Is Everything. 5. Work It Out. 6. Breathe a Sigh. 7. Deliver Me. 8. Gift of Flesh. 9. Blood Runs Cold. 10. Where Does Love Go When It Dies. 11. Pearl of Euphoria.

Album:
 https://open.spotify.com/album/1P6GUw6ld7D5YvKDL0vmTU?si=lyBZ3QzvQ8CErY46Z7Fv4w (https://open.spotify.com/album/1P6GUw6ld7D5YvKDL0vmTU?si=lyBZ3QzvQ8CErY46Z7Fv4w)
Commentary:
 https://open.spotify.com/album/5pygPiFFauRR4cklfOLEav?si=thkr4K7yRhC4kUEQ71uSxQ (https://open.spotify.com/album/5pygPiFFauRR4cklfOLEav?si=thkr4K7yRhC4kUEQ71uSxQ)

After Adrenalize, the world of rock really started to change. Grunge bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots were starting to take prominence and totally change the sound of the 90s. Having now closed the door on the Steve Clark era, it was time for Def Leppard to do something really different for their first album with Vivian Campbell.

If you want a mixed bag, my friends, allow me to introduce you to Slang.

The change in sound is very evident from the first song, Truth?. While kicking off with a beautiful clean intro, this is a rocker with a very different vibe. This is a lot more open and vast, letting the drums and vocals take the focus. We get a good tension in the chorus and a really good release in the bridge after a short solo. All of this done in 3 minutes too. But you can already tell this is going to be something very different, instead of your usual Let It Go, Let’s Get Rocked type type of opener.

The experimental sound gets really drawn to light with the second track, Turn to Dust. This song draws heavily from Middle Eastern influences, using much different instrumentation to your typical guitars, bass and drums. The chorus brings out a bit more of the typical Leppard group vocal. This is a song that I have to be in just the right mood for, but if I am, this really hits a spot. I feel like it’s a little overlong in some of the instrumental passages though.

Slang is the title track and easily the most popular off of the album. This song is on many of the greatest hits compilations and has made it to multiple live releases. It’s an iconic track for Leppard post Hysteria. Really catchy, almost rapped vocals and a big singalong chorus. I’m sure most of you know this song if you’ve heard much post-80s Leppard.

All I Want Is Everything is one of the biggest contenders for best song on the album. This is a ballad, but with a slight edge to it thanks to the guitar tone (I actually really love this tone). The big Leppard chorus is here and the lyrics are so deep and personal. The demo of this song on the iTunes Exclusive track shows that this song used to be a fairly standard Leppard affair, with the standard guitar hooks you’ve come to expect. Ultimately I’m so glad it didn’t become that, because this song is just so at home on the Slang album.

Work It Out is Vivian Campbell’s very first composition for Def Leppard. While the song evolved from the ballad form it was in when the song was originally penned, this is a real groover of a song. Joe gets to do something really different with his vocals, the chorus is great and we get one of my favourite moments of this entire album on this song with Sav’s Wah drenched bass solo. This one kinda finds it groove and stays there for most of the song, but this makes for a good song.

Breathe a Sigh is 4 minutes of a rock band playing R&B. It’s really not my favourite, but believe it or not it somehow works. This chorus really sticks in my head and the key change is really well implemented. Joe’s vocal sits in a real sweet spot, and the whole track just sounds really great. Not my favourite, as I’ve never been an R&B fan, but the Leppard group vocal is so smooth and I just have to love it. The evolution of the guitar work throughout the track also really elevates this. Not my least favourite, but not up the top. 

Deliver Me is a band saying “enough is enough”. The instrumental to the track sounds really grunge driven, and the lyrics paint a picture of just being done with people’s crap. “Excuse me, but I don’t remember, where were you when I needed you most”. The writing for Slang came at a dark time for the band as people, going through divorces and family deaths, so it’s interesting to see the band finally just snap. The whole track has a huge tense vibe, which has a really nice release when the solo section kicks in. Not your typical Leppard track, but a pretty quintessential look into the sound of 1996 in my opinion.

Gift of Flesh is the point where we get back to familiar territory for Def Leppard. This is balls to the wall rocking the whole way through. Kicking off with a tight paced ascending scale and then going into the main riff which rhythmically reminds me of Rock! Rock!, this is just a great song. According to Joe’s commentary (which you can find at the second link above), this song was written about the oil crisis at the time. Any way you cut this, it’s a huge song for Def Leppard. This features some absolutely awesome soloing and the tension riff just before that reminds me of Time and Motion by Rush, which was released the same year. In revisiting this album for this deep dive, I’ve rediscovered this song and I think this is one that will stay pretty high up for me if we do a ranking at the end of this (though admittedly we’d need more people to play along for that and I don’t know if you’d all be keen anyway). This song is pretty much my favourite for the album.

Blood Runs Cold is, to my ear, a sequel to White Lightning from Adrenalize.   This song deals with the other side of addiction, where White Lightning dealt with the individual with their addictions, Blood Runs Cold is a song that speaks from the point of view of friends and family watching an addict struggle. Joe’s vocal really sells the emotion of the song, especially in the chorus and bridge. The whole band is in great form for this one, with a huge ambient vibe to the guitars. In the commentary track, Joe reveals that while Phil wrote the opening verse, this got him so emotional that he turned it over to Joe to complete. You can see the change of lyric style between the two verses, but the song stays consistent.

Where Does Love Go When It Dies is the second to last song for the album. It’s another ballad, but it’s really pretty. The lyrics here are the focal point, asking questions if anything could ever be enough when it comes to love. I feel like this could also be written from the same emotions as Blood Runs Cold, asking where love goes when someone passes on. I wish the song could have given us the answers, because I can really relate. The acoustic guitars sound beautiful here, and the final piece of electric guitar feedback leads us straight into the closing song. This one never got played in full live, which is a bummer, but we do get a bit of it in the Acoustic Medley from 2012.

Pearl of Euphoria is an abstract closer, but an effective one. There’s a definite vibe to this song, with lead guitar swells showing up here and there. The whole song is a build up to the ending, but it all really works for me. There are great moments of almost clashing guitar leads instead of a traditional guitar solo, leading to some great guitar harmonics and then the whole thing up just ends with about 2 and a half minutes of the title line fading out into oblivion, which is about a minute too long for me now. This is obscure, but for some reason this was my absolute favourite song from the album when I first head it in 2014. I was a weird kid. Sorry if this is a revelation.

So, that’s Slang. A solid ride from start to end, and one I tend to enjoy more and more each time I listen to it. I’ll give it a solid 4, as even though this isn’t classic Def Leppard back at it again in 1996, this is something I can really sink my teeth into and take something new out of every time. If you haven’t heard it either in a while or at all, give this one a listen. I kinda dreaded coming back to this one, but it’s really really good when you come at it with a different perspective. This is probably the album like Metallica’s Load or Dream Theater’s The Astonishing where, if it had been someone else, this album would be an absolute highlight in their career but it suffers in comparison because it is a big band for completely different music.

Join me tomorrow for a look at some of the deluxe edition content. Wednesday will be Euphoria and Friday will be X. Hopefully that gives us enough time to get all the way through before Diamond Star Halos, but if not it just means the new album writeup won’t be a  first listen review. 
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 16, 2022, 02:37:02 PM
Slang - 1996

Tracklisting - 1. Truth?. 2. Turn to Dust. 3. Slang. 4. All I Want Is Everything. 5. Work It Out. 6. Breathe a Sigh. 7. Deliver Me. 8. Gift of Flesh. 9. Blood Runs Cold. 10. Where Does Love Go When It Dies. 11. Pearl of Euphoria.


I gave this a listen the other day have never heard it before.

The first three songs might be the worst three song run in their catalog up to this point.


All I Want Is Everything has a cool vibe and feel to it, even though it's mellow.

Deliver Me is actually really cool and Gift Of Flesh (what an awful title) actually rocks pretty good. Probably my fave on the album.

This isn't a great album by any stretch, but I'm just glad it's not the overproduced shlock of Hysteria and Adrenalize.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 17, 2022, 07:25:59 AM
Slang Deluxe Edition Content - Recorded 1995-1996 / Released 2014

Tracklisting - 1. Move With Me Slowly. 2. Truth? (Original Version). 3. Burn Out.4. Worlds Collide. 5. Can’t Keep Away From the Flame. 6. All On Your Touch. 7. Move On Up.

In 2012, rumours were a buzz from Def Leppard that a reissue of Slang was in the works, since the rights to the album were set to revert to the band for the first time since 1996. Joe Elliott was even playing the song Burn Out on radio stations, claiming that it would soon see the light of day on the new re-release. A year or so passed until January 2014 when it was officially announced that the album would be officially reissued in February that year. The physical issue featured 2 CDs, the first containing five songs that has been previously released along with the official album and the second containing rough mixes and early drafts.

In this writeup, I’m going to look at 7 of these tracks, which are the five main  B-Sides and two oddities from the second disc that are worth looking into.

Starting off, we have Move With Me Slowly. This song was an exclusive bonus track on the original Japanese release of Slang. This is actually a pretty good song with a few extended jams. This one starts with a slow melodic rock groove in the first verse and chorus, then kicks up a bit for the remainder of the song. This actually would have been a great closer to the album if Pearl of Euphoria didn’t make the official release. There’s a cool back and forth in the choruses that sounds like Phil starts it off before Joe finishes it off. From about the 4:10 mark onwards, this song becomes an extended jam with a lot of great guitar leads filling up the remaining time. This whole thing takes up about 6 odd minutes, and if you’re not into jamming, I can see that this would get a bit long for some, but I really appreciate hearing the band like this.

Next song is Truth?, or more so the original version. This opens with an extended version of the clean intro from the album version, but from there on, this really hasn’t got much in common. The vocals are a lot more immediately in your face and the guitars take up a much more dominant position in the song as a whole. There are a lot of great fills here too. The tension in the pre-chorus is huge, and the bridge on this one is almost prog metal. The solos are great, and I love that the bridge breaks right down to the raw vocal over the bass and drums with the intro kicking back in underneath. If there’s one complaint to be had in this version, it’s that the vocal isn’t super well mixed and is often buried underneath the wall of guitars. The riff itself almost reminds me of You Not Me by Dream Theater somehow. This one was released as a B-Side to the Work It Out single and I think I prefer this version to the official one.

Next up is Burn Out. This has a great vibe to it. To an extent, I could see this as almost a Let’s Get Rocked ‘96.  The guitar scratches between the verse and pre-chorus are really good, and the riffing here is really great in general. The pre-chorus is a little hard to make out the lyrics to, but still gets stuck in my head from time to time. The solo section has a great main solo, but the usual rhythm guitar is almost a lead track in itself and then there are wah scratches starting underneath as the solo gets to an end. I think if this was on the album after Gift of Flesh, I really wouldn’t have hated that. This whole song is just fun and I think that’s kinda what was missing from a lot of Slang songs overall. Weirdly enough, this song was released much later as a B-Side to Goodbye from Euphoria.

The same can be said for Worlds Collide, which was released as a B-Side to Promises. The riff here doesn’t take my interest anywhere near as much as Burn Out’s did, but for me the chorus is something I always wanted to hear from a band with as many multi-vocal parts as Def Leppard, where the lead lines are followed by harmonised responses. The bridge is also really nice. There’s a lot of flanger sounding effects in the chorus and bridge guitars which is a bit overly noticeable in spots, but it makes this song kinda distinct. I actually really like this song for the chorus alone.

Next up is Can’t Keep Away From The Flame, which was released as the Japanese bonus track for Vault in 1995. This is a little acoustic ditty and it’s quite a nice sounding track. This doesn’t really have a whole lot of substance to it, but I do really like the little lead runs from the guitars, especially the main one after the second chorus. The vocal harmonies in the second and third choruses are really prominent as you’d hope from an acoustic track. This is probably my least favourite of the officially released tracks, but it’s a nice way to kill two and a half minutes.

On to some standout oddities from the second disc. All On Your Touch is a ballad written by Vivian Campbell that never made it to an official release until this deluxe edition, which is a shame. This is actually a really great sounding ballad with a really pretty guitar tone. The chorus brings in a bit more distortion, but has a nice release back into the cleans for the rest of the track. The nice open soul to the guitar solo is almost reminiscent of Love Bites, the vocals  are really nice with really well written melodies. This song easily could have been on the album right between Gift of Flesh and Blood Runs Cold. It’s another shorter track but it’s really good and, if it had been given time to be realised fully, I reckon this could’ve been a classic.

The last track I want to look at is called Move On Up. This is really rough, the lyrics are clearly not finished all the way yet, probably not even fully recorded as a band, but it’s just a really cool little oddity to have. This is another Vivian Campbell song, but this actually features Viv’s vocal. The guitars feature a lot of slide, which is really unique. I din’t know, but I feel like this could have been really cool if it had been properly worked on. Give it a spin, even if it’s just for the novelty of hearing something a bit different for the first time.


Well, with Burn Out and Worlds Collide having been B-Sides for Euphoria singles, it’s time to look into that next. Join me tomorrow for a look the band’s last release for the millennium.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 18, 2022, 07:38:42 AM
Euphoria - 1999
Tracklisting - 1. Demolition Man. 2. Promises. 3. Back In Your Face. 4. Goodbye. 5. All Night. 6. Paper Sun. 7. It’s Only Love. 8. 21st Century Sha La La La Girl. 9. To Be Alive. 10. Disintegrate. 11. Guilty. 12. Day After Day. 13. Kings of Oblivion.

 https://open.spotify.com/album/7EAgGLOZoYNm5P5rF5IjV2?si=X4AlA-XxT_iyQLmVnRnXpA (https://open.spotify.com/album/7EAgGLOZoYNm5P5rF5IjV2?si=X4AlA-XxT_iyQLmVnRnXpA)

Write, record, tour and then maybe a little time off. That’s the way it was finally starting to go for Def Leppard, the way that it always has for many bands. When the Slang tour officially ended in April of 1997  they took a little time off, coming back for just one show in Mumbai in 1998. In April of that same year, the band found themselves trying to decide what direction to go in. Slang hadn’t been all that they had hoped for, but they decide that 8 years was long enough to have left their signature sound behind. Mutt Lange came back for a few days and helped to co-write a few of the songs from the album, but did not return to the producer’s chair.

So, is this album a return to form or will it be another oddity? Let’s dive in head first to Def Leppard’s final release for the 20th Century, Euphoria!

We start off with Demolition Man. And while the opening sounds are a bit different, this is actually a really solid opener. “Let me loose, I just got back” is the opening lyric, and it does feel like they’re actually back. This is a really upbeat rocker that brings me back to the feeling of Adrenalize, but being a much better song while it does. The ending solo is performed by Formula One champion Damon Hill which is a pretty cool tidbit about this song. It feels like we really have a Def Leppard album on our hands, unlike Truth? did the album prior. The group vocal is back in the chorus, the guitar work is all there and I’m settled in for a good time!

Second song in, and we have one of my favourites post-Hysteria called Promises. This song actually feels like Photograph for a new era in my opinion. Unsurprisingly, this is one of Mutt’s contributions to the album. I love the riff, I love the blend between the band vocal and Joe’s lead,. I love the production of the track! This is just a really good song. This was the first single released for the album, and if I had been into Leppard back in the day, I reckon this would have had me buzzing for the new album straight off the bat. The huge high note that Joe hits towards the end of the song is fantastic and I think that sums this song up. A fantastic high note.

It’s kind of a shame that almost immediately go too far in the opposite direction. Back In Your Face is just devoid of good musical ideas and the lyrics are pretty poor. There’s not even a solo to really lift this song into second gear. It’s almost a point of arrogance. I guess I like the guitar tone if I’m really pushing to give this song a good point, but this song is entirely skippable for me. The end of the song tries to recapture some of the magic of Rocket by name dropping Sheer Heart Attack and Jumpin’ Jack Flash, but their use here is entirely unearned and out of place. Just. Meh.

Goodbye goes back to a bit of a Slang ballad vibe for me, and I actually really appreciate it. Joe’s vocal really leads the song along and it sounds really good. The group vocal on this one is more prominent than it was on Slang, but it’s great to see they didn’t fully abandon that sound when they chose to go back to their signature sound from the older albums. The chorus is a huge hook and it hits really well. This is Rick Savage’s very first solo writing credit and I have to say, if this is how he operates on his own, give me some more!

All Night is weird, ok?  This is sounding like it wants to be Excitable 2, almost the kind of song you’d hear in an adult film. It just doesn’t fully come together for me and the verses feel awful. The chorus is pretty good though, the one part of this song that isn’t terrible. The less said about this song the better, I’m sorry to say.

Following that is Paper Sun, my second favourite Def Leppard song of all time. This could actually be a spiritual successor to Billy’s Got a Gun, except I think it’s better. The intro is cinematic as anything and the ebb and flow between the subdued verses and bombastic chorus makes this song flow so well. The song was written about the Omagh bobbing in Northern Ireland in 1998 and the song really captures the vibe well. The last lick to Phil’s solo at the end of the song is one of my all time favourite guitar licks, the chorus is huge and this song is my number one on songs I want to see live for myself. This was recorded live on Hits Vegas and I’m so glad it was, because this one doesn’t show up all that often, which I think is pretty criminal.

It’s Only Love takes us back into the ballady pop rock territory that Leppard are no strangers to. While the opening “na na” stuff is a bit meh, I think the chorus is actually really awesome. There is a really deep vibe to this song, almost a cross between Hysteria and Slang. I really like the guitar tones in this one too, a bit of bite and a bit of shimmer as well. Good groove and a well written lyric. Deep cut from an oft-overlooked album, which is a shame, but this is really good.

21st Century Sha La La La Girl wins the award for most needlessly long title. This has a strong guitar hook and a good use of group vocal in the chorus. Big rocker vibe with more of that quick paced vocal from Slang. Not bad, but maybe a little forgettable. The pre-chorus is pretty catchy too, but the main thing for me on this one is the guitar work. This solo is super trippy due to what’s behind it. I like this one, but it’s not super high on the list for Euphoria tracks so far. This is kinda the point where it becomes obvious that so many of these songs are really short for me too. Out of 8 songs, only 4 of them have even hit the 4 minute mark so far, and there’s plenty more short tracks to come.

To Be Alive walks the line between a cover and an original track, as this was written by Vivian Campbell in his side band called Clock. This has an extremely 80s vibe. The intro reminds me of a Time After Time vibe, where the chorus has that typical 80s film soundtrack sound. I wouldn’t call this a bad song at all, but it’s not really what I listen to Def Leppard for. Cool little track to check out though. The production on the bass and drums in the verses sound kinda like hold music which makes me have a little smirk.

Disintegrate is Def Leppard’s second ever instrumental, this one being Phil Collen’s writing in comparison to Steve Clark’s Switch 625 on High ‘n’ Dry. For me, this feels like a bit of an action movie training montage before the hero goes into action. This has been used from time to time as an intro to Def Leppard concerts, but never played live outside of Collen’s solo sets on the G3 tour in 2018 (with Petrucci and Satriani). I like this though, really cool vibe and it’s been in my own playlists for many years.

Guilty is up next and I don’t know what to make of this one. The intro riff is pretty cool, and the chorus is really good, but the verses are very non-distinct. I almost get a Pink Floyd Run Like Hell vibe from the verse guitar patterns, but I wouldn’t know how else to describe it. It’s a really nice song, but it’s hard to say much about it, if that makes any sense. Check it out for yourself, I really didn’t hate this.

Day After Day starts with a really interesting twin guitar thing, and then builds up into something very different. Weirdly, the heavier verse and chorus riff  reminds me of Mirror Mirror, while the pre-chorus reminds me of one of the riffs from Too Late For Love. This feels like the point where older style riffs are met with the more modern style vocals and I actually really like the union. At 2:27, roughly the halfway point, we’re met with a killer guitar hook into an even cooler solo. I wish that version of the riff had gotten to stick around a lot longer as it really caught my ear almost immediately. The last minute of soloing is intense and a real great ending to the song. I’m going to listen to this one a lot more, as it’s a proper banger.

Kings of Oblivion is the closing track and I actually really really like this song. The little lead riff that’s buried is awesome, and I love the almost hybrid vocal that Joe utilises here, going into the old school screech before dropping back into the modern mid-range vocal. This is a baller of a song, really well paced and structured. This is another one really heightened by the guitar work, especially the harmonised guitar leads that lead into the closing verse. I feel like there’s almost a sense that this could have been the last album from the bridge talking about watching the sun going down for the last time. This is a great song to close the album out on and might be one of the best closers overall for Leppard.

So that’s Euphoria. I said for Slang that it was a mixed bag, but man this album makes that sound like an absolute lie. There are a few absolutely stellar songs here, and then there are some real clunkers, but between those are songs I don’t even know how to feel about. For two of my favourites and two of my absolute bottom tracks to come from the same album feels very weird to me, so I don’t even know how to rank it.  Slang took a 4, and this album is definitely not as good, but anything lower feels like a disservice to the best songs on this album. I think this deserves a 3.5 overall.

Up next is the 8th album, X. Catch ya Friday. 
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: HOF on May 18, 2022, 08:08:03 AM
I don’t think I’ve ever actually listened through to Euphoria, but at the time I loved the radio tracks (Promises, Goodbye, and Paper Sun). I thought it was really cool to hear them go back to that sound at a time when hair metal and anything 80s was still kind of frowned upon. In the coming years I think a lot of those bands saw a bit of a revival, and I remember there being a general sense of “hey, remember Def Leppard?” that followed this release. I remember Bon Jovi also had a bit of a comeback album the following year with Crush, but I thought that album was pretty awful. What I’ve heard from Euphoria was much stronger by comparison.

Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 18, 2022, 08:18:11 AM
I recommend Kings of Oblivion, man. Really worth a go!
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: WilliamMunny on May 18, 2022, 10:02:54 AM
Man, I've been slammed at work, so I haven't had time to chime in...but seriously, I am thoroughly enjoying these write-ups!

Slang — I was a first-day buyer, and to this day, I think there are 6 fantastatic tracks, and 5 I really never need to hear again.

Euphoria — The same, 6 amazing songs, and 6 I'm really not into.

From this era, I consider "Paper Sun," "Trust," "Promises," and "Work It Out" all-time classics.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 18, 2022, 12:58:30 PM
Euphoria was pimped pretty hard to me. I promised Samsara I'd give it a listen years ago, and well...it didn't do it for me. I'll give it a shot either tonight or tomorrow and report back.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Zoom E on May 18, 2022, 06:45:26 PM
Adrenalize and Slang were so uninspired, and downright dreadful at times, that I pretty much gave up on Leppard after Slang. I will give Euphoria a listen tomorrow as I have never checked it out before.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bl5150 on May 18, 2022, 06:57:35 PM
Adrenalize and Slang were so uninspired, and downright dreadful at times, that I pretty much gave up on Leppard after Slang. I will give Euphoria a listen tomorrow as I have never checked it out before.


My memory of this period with Leppard is hazy but yeah...........I think I was pretty much the same.  By far my favourite tracks from this sort of era are the demos/B sides.

Demos of Tonight, Tear It Down , all the Retroactive songs and actually Burn Out is the only song related to Slang/Euphoria that I listened to regularly.  I don't believe I got through a whole listen of Slang - just kept skipping tracks after the first minute of each song I think.

One or two songs here and there off X/Sparkle Lounge but from here they are a band (like Ozzy after No More Tears/Ozzmosis , Bon Jovi after New Jersey) where I just accept the fact that I would just rather ignore what came after their classic era.   Def Leppard have done a much more respectable job of at least trying to remain fresh than the other bands I mentioned but the writing magic left with Steve Clark in my view.  I'll still go see them live though - last show I saw a few years back was great and that's also more than I can say for many other bands of their vintage.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 18, 2022, 07:54:36 PM
Ok, just gave this a run through.

On the whole, this isn't a very good album at all. That said, I do like Demolition Man, Promises (minus the overproduced backing vocals), and Kings Of Oblivion.


Day After Day ...At 2:27, roughly the halfway point, we’re met with a killer guitar hook into an even cooler solo....

Wow, you ain't kidding. This is so missing from Def Leppard's music. this song blows up until this point.





Looking at the Bonus Tracks, I Am Your Child is kind of weird.

And obviously, I'm all over Under My Wheels. This is a great rendition. Rick Savage stands out here, but it's really Rick Allen's intro that blows me away. The guy is amazing.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: HOF on May 18, 2022, 10:06:18 PM
Going back to Slang, just listened to it again for maybe the second time ever. It starts off pretty well. I think Truth and Turn to Dust have some interesting ideas and were a cool new direction for the band. The title track is a decent DL pop tune in the vein of something like Armageddon It updated for the 90s. All I Want Is Everything is ok as sappy ballads go. Work It Out is probably the highlight of the album. Lots of great playing on that track by the whole band. Rick is really strong here.

After that it’s like the album just fell off a cliff. Like they ran out of ideas. I will say this is one of the best sounding DL albums. It’s refreshing to hear a less produced version of the band with a natural drum sound.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: HOF on May 18, 2022, 10:42:15 PM
Now onto Euphoria. I remember Demolition Man now. An OK rocker but the lyric seems forced.

Promises is as good as I remember but I kind of laughed when I heard the very auto-tuned high note Joe hits a couple times near the end. Wouldn’t have picked up on something like that back in the day.

Back In Your Face has to be a joke gone wrong. What an awful song!

Goodbye is still good. Maybe better than I remember. The solo is too short though (that always bugged me).

Welp, All Night might be worse than Back In Your Face. Yikes! It’s so bad.

And then they whip out a totally awesome song like Paper Sun. Such a weird juxtaposition. This is proggy Def Leppard. They should have focused more on this type of stuff throughout their career. It was there in most albums, but could have been a bigger focus.

It’s Only Love is kind of bland Beatles-ish thing. Inoffensive I guess.

21st Century Sha La La Girl seems to be on the same level as Demolition Man. Kind of reminds me of Slang too. I love the bridge though, and the solo is really good. This one is good fun. Dumb lyrics maybe, but that’s ok.

To Be Alive is pretty cool. Lots of interesting layers of guitar. Nice harmonies.

Disintegrate - was not expecting an instrumental track from Def Leppard. Not an especially interesting one but points for trying I guess.

Guilty - off the bat sounds like something from Hysteria or Adrenalize. I like it.

Day After Day is another one that I must have heard on the radio at some point (think I might have taped it off the air actually). It’s a pretty cool track. A bit like Paper Sun. Really great solo(s) on this one.

Kings of Oblivion is a very cool song too. It’s kind of proggy as well. Strong album closer for sure.

Well, I’d say this is a pretty strong album. Maybe as good as anything they did since Hysteria. You could easily make it a great album by dropping Back In Your Face, All Night, and It’s Only Love. That would give you 10 solid to great tracks.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Zoom E on May 19, 2022, 06:57:29 PM
I just gave Euphoria a listen. I actually kind of liked All Night. Even though it has a definite cringe factor, the song is a bit different, almost funky.

Paper Sun was decent too, but nothing else made an impact on me.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 20, 2022, 08:14:51 AM
X - 2002
Tracklisting - 1. Now. 2. Unbelievable. 3. You’re So Beautiful. 4. Everyday. 5. Long Long Way To Go. 6. Four Letter Word. 7. Torn To Shreds. 8. Love Don’t Lie. 9. Gravity. 10. Cry. 11. Girl Like You. 12. Let Me Be The One. 13. Scar. 14. Kiss The Day. 15. Long Long Way To Go (Acoustic)

 https://open.spotify.com/album/3if8cfZD6MuAc5UmwBd6By?si=oGYCXzEERPa1eYrB-dVYpA (https://open.spotify.com/album/3if8cfZD6MuAc5UmwBd6By?si=oGYCXzEERPa1eYrB-dVYpA)

The Euphoria tour stretched in between June of 1999 and September of 2000, accumulating 153 dates before the tour ended. The album has made it’s mark as a solid hard rocking outing for the band which, of course, meant it was time for another change in sound. But while Slang had begun as a reaction to the Grunge music of the time, their eighth album would be much more pop-oriented.

So, despite it being officially pronounced as “Ten”, this is actually Leppard’s eighth album as Retro Active and Vault count as compilations, not new albums.

Anyway, I try not to let my response to the album as a whole go in the opening paragraphs, but this is an album that I have not spent a whole lot of time with. I tend to remember this not being a very good album, but I don’t remember any other song but Now which I really like, so let’s see if that reputation is earned or not.

So, the album opens with some electronic whirring into the sound of an acoustic guitar. This is the  lead single, Now. Rick’s beat is super strong, and for as minimalist as the riffs are in this song, I really like it. There’s a huge tension from the chord progression and then the leads of the chorus are nice and punchy. The other thing to really compliment this song for guitar wise is the way the solo is an extension of a lick heard throughout the song. I feel that it’s a bit distracting when the song forces that lick between two quieter lines after the solo, but all up it’s pretty cool. The vocal is nice and prominent, sharing between the guitars for lead position really nicely throughout the song. I like it.

Unbelievable is up next. The intro has me intrigued, thinking we could be in for a big riff laden song, and then we get a ballad out of it. This has a really nice sound, but it’s a step down from what preceded it already. The vocals have a really beautiful harmony to them and Joe adds a lot of good hooks to his lead line during the verses. The key changes in the bridge and final chorus give me some nice changes to sink my teeth into. I’d have liked a bit of a solo or something before the end, but this is pretty good for what it is.

You’re So Beautiful is the definition of a pop rocker. The guitar riff that opens this reminds me of something from Hysteria, and we’ve got the synth bass back. The chorus is a little bit much in a lot of ways. This song finally features a guitar solo here and it’s pretty great. I don’t really know what else to say about this song. This is just a lot to process here. I don’t hate it, but I’m not sure how much I really like it. The ending of the song with the backing vocals only chorus would actually have worked for me as the pre-chorus, and I kinda wish we’d have had the chance to hear the lead vocal without the backing. Could’ve maybe been a better song that way?

Everyday has another acoustic and ambient guitar intro, and it’s the point where I start to realise that this album is pretty much going to be defined by that sound. This is actually a really decent track, enough so that I feel like this would’ve been a standout on any  other album. The chorus is really grooving, using the group vocal really well. The closing bridge is really powerful and I wish it could’ve been more like this. The solo is really tasteful, and the whole thing sounds really upbeat. Pretty decent song.

Long Long Way To Go is the second single from the album. This song has a really somber mood and really lets the vocal shine throughout, especially in the opening verse. The chorus group vocal is really effective too. The song is really well structured and well paced. I think the electronic percussion that clangs around in the verse is a little distracting though. This is really in the vein of Love Bites but on X, and it’s really well executed. While this song is missing a proper solo, I think the intro lead on the nylon string acoustic helps to make up for that quite nicely. This actually might be too short.

Four Letter Word is immediately attention grabbing, with a really catchy riff. This song uses the same gimmick as Rush’s Anagram, where certain words are being highlighted and then being directly spelled. The chorus guitars remind me a little of the Photograph chorus from almost 20 years prior. The harmonised solo is pretty cool and the chorus kicks off nicely. This is nice and punchy, but I appreciate that it doesn’t try to stick around too long. Once you know the game, it’s in and out.

Torn to Shreds has a really intriguing clean riff that kicks into the distorted tone really nicely. The vocal melody isn’t too bad either. The guitar work actually reminds me of a Foo Fighters song from the Godzilla soundtrack called A380. This is nice and funky from the bass and drums, the guitar tone has that early 2000s charm and then the chorus works really well for me. The bridge reminds me of the opening riff from Guilty on Euphoria too, which is good because I felt that was a little under-utilised. This song is done in less than 3 minutes, but I almost needed this one to be longer as the final chorus cuts out a little jarringly.

Love Don’t Lie feels so familiar and yet not as a Def Leppard song. The chorus is nice and big and builds  from the verses nicely. This just feels like a song that feels like a pastiche of what most of that era’s radio sounded like. I almost wouldn’t be surprised to hear this either side of Sk8er Boi on the radio. Not bad, but it’s been done better. Cool lead parts though. This went on way too long though.

Gravity is the point where I’m getting bored of this album, not gonna lie. This is the other side of the pastiche thing I was saying for the last song. This has got a really rapped chorus over big power chords but other than that it just doesn’t have much going for it. Thankfully another nice short song.

Cry is a song that could’ve been a  B-Side a few albums ago. This has parts that remind of maybe something off of Adrenalize, but it also takes on a life of its own. The verses are really strong, but the chorus needed a lot of work. The bridge is kinda cool. This one just has a decent riff that I wish could’ve been used for a completely different song. As proven by Let It Go, Rock! Rock! and Desert Song, sometimes songs can be held back for the better in the Leppard world. This maybe needed to be as well.

Girl Like You starts and I’m done trying to think this album is going to get better. It’s not. You know how it seems like big artists seem to get to a point where they don’t get told “no” anymore? X proves that there was a point somewhere between 96 and 2000 where they stopped being monitored and just got let loose. At the 2:00 mark we get a heavier version of the song, and I feel like we’re finally getting somewhere, but we aren’t. We just go right back into the same chorus that made up way too much of this song already but throwing in a different key.

Let Me Be The One is one I at least recognise that I at least  like a live version of the song. And as the first chorus kicks in and I feel like we actually could be listening to something that was held back from Adrenalize. I actually like the way this song builds to the chorus and then the chorus was actually something worth building to. The bridge is decent as well. This song at least feels like post-Hysteria Def Leppard, which is something I feel like I haven’t been able to say for over half of the album at this stage. I’m thankful for this song, because it means this listen through hasn’t been completely in vain, since we’ve actually got a really decent song here.

Scar starts up, and I still feel like we’re listening to proper Def Leppard. The verse makes it’s way through and we get to the chorus and I’m still really into this song. The chorus kicks in and I’m left with one question. WHY WASN’T THE REST OF THE ALBUM LIKE THIS! This song is everything that I liked about Euphoria. There’s an epic feeling on this one, the riff that comes in at 2:24 almost reminds me of the descending riff I loved from Die Hard the Hunter. The solos kick in and it’s beautiful. This is far and away the best song on this album, and I really hate the fact we weren’t given more of this kind of sound. We get a solo trade off that feels great, the vocal takes almost a Slang tone. The way the multiple parts in the chorus go reminds me of what I loved so much in Worlds Collide from the Slang B-Sides. After all of the boring mess that this album had on offer, the last song is actually really up there for me? Who would have guessed.

And then we get a B-Side, Kiss The Day. The intro reminds me of She’s Too Tough before going into more of a soft vibe. Shame the verse lets the chorus down, because that chorus is really punchy and could have made for a second Scar if written around better. This isn’t a bad song though, just not quite what I wanted. The vibe of this one is something I can get into in isolation, but listening to it as a part of X makes me feel a bit let down. Both solos in this are really cool, I really like the way it speeds up into the finale, which could really be described as all of Phil’s pent up soloing prowess that was far from used well.

The other bonus track is a stripped back version of Long Long Way to Go with more emphasis on the guitars instead of the electronics and I like it much better.

This album gets a 2.5. It sucks. I was bored listening to it, I was wondering if I could skip this one entirely. But I’m kinda glad I didn’t ultimately. There are some really good ideas that aren’t used well here, there are some proper gems like Let Me Be the One and Scar. But the way this album is makes the best parts seem like mistakes.   On this tour, Def Leppard leaned deep into the rarities, opening several shows with either Ring of Fire or the entire first side of High ‘n’ Dry, which I believe was an effort to get the fans back on their side. But this album as a whole is utter garbage. Let’s hope their cover album is a bit better, hey?

Guys, I’m not gonna ask you for your opinion on this album, but I will recommend checking out Now and Scar. Other than that, I kinda want to cry into my knees in the shower after this album. That’s how this has made me feel.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 20, 2022, 11:21:43 AM
Deadeye, thanks so much for doing this thread.  I've said this before, but Def Leppard was my first "favorite band," and I was just head over heels for everything they put out for the longest time.  Even though they have fallen from "untouchable" status for me, and there have been long period where I have all but forgotten them, there have been many times when I have gotten reacquainted with them again, and it has always been a great experience.  Thanks for giving me another one of those.

I have been kinda slammed, and gotten way behind on this thread as a result, so I'll have to take my time and Retroactively post my thoughts until I am caught up.

Pryomania was pure magic for me.  The only two real hard rock albums I owned up until this point were Van Halen I and Blizzard of Oz, as I recall, both of which I had gotten only very shortly before this.  But I was learning that I liked the heavy guitars and that overall sound.  Both of these albums were also somewhat "late" in that both bands were farther along in their careers than these two albums.  I was about to do the old tape your penny to the Columbia House order form and get your 13 albums.  I had a friend who was into harder stuff than the oldies and pop my parents were listening to.  Based on his Sabbath collection, and the writup I had read somewhere about Ozzy, I wanted to get Blizzard.  But I was a bit concerned about how my parents would react if they found out I owned an Ozzy Osbourne album.  I figured Van Halen would be a "safer" choice.  :lol  They were in the Diver Down album cycle, but my friend recommended I start with I.  Great choice.  I got the Ozzy album not long after that and really dug it.  I was really getting into this overall sound.  But with only two albums, I don't think I would have really considered myself a "hard rock fan" at this stage.  That said, the stage was definitely set.

I remember toward the end of my 8th grade year, I started seeing writups in my monthly Columbia House catalog about Def Leppard and their new Pyromania album.  I thought "what a stupid name and obvious Led Zepplin ripoff."  I figured they must be some sort of parody band, and didn't really give them much thought.  Photograph was starting to get a bit of traction though, and even though I hadn't heard it, the first reference to it that I recall was it being one of the pop culture references in a crossword puzzle one of the kids put in our "senior" magazine.  Hmm.  Such an obscure reference might not have grabbed my attention if not for the fact that I knew the girl that submitted the crossword puzzle, and she was cute, so...  :eyebrows:

Shortly after, Photograph was scheduled to come up in the rotation on MTV's Friday Night Video fights.  Cool.  Somehow, I still hadn't seen or heard it, but I was going to get my chance soon.  There was another event right around the same time, however, that changed EVERYTHING in my musical development (I may be a bit off on the chronology of this; I tried Google to find specific dates, but couldn't manage to find specifics):  the release of Michael Jackson's groundbreaking video for Thriller.  Why would this matter in the context of a Def Leppard discussion?  Well, here's why:  This was one of only a handful of times my mom and dad were sitting down and watching MTV with me, as we were waiting for the Thriller video.  MTV used to tell you before the commercial breaks what bands were coming up next, and I remember them having Def Leppard on the list.  Great!  I was finally going to get to hear this Photograph song everyone was talking about.  A short time later, the video starts.  It isn't Photograph.  It's Rock of Ages.  And it is glorious.  I sit there in awe for the entire video, my jaw on the floor.  This is the coolest thing I have ever heard in my life.  I absolutely MUST hear more of this band!

I finally do get to hear/see Photograph when it goes up against Every Breath You Take on Friday Night video fights.  By now, the deal is sealed and I MUST get this album. 

I kinda felt locked into buying my albums from Columbia House at the time because cash was limited, and I had to satisfy my obligation to buy however many albums I still had to get at "regular" (inflated) price from my "13 albums for a penny" deal.  And it was going to be a few weeks before I got my next catalog and order card.  What to do?!  Thankfully, my friend Richard was signing up for Columbia House as well, but was a little short on ideas.  So I persuaded him to put Pyromania in as one of his choices and give it to me, great friend that he was.  :biggrin:  I remember bugging him incessantly about whether he had gotten his shipment until it finally arrived.  Oh, happy day!

I wore out several copies of that cassette.  The first Columbia House one was one of their in-house reprints that had the white spine with two pink lines and band/album name in plain black font.  If you were a Columbia House member during that era, you know what I mean.  Somehow, it didn't feel "official" enough.  But at least I had the album and could listen to the tunes.  Not long after, I remember trading my copy of Metal Health to a kid around the corner for his "official" Mercury version of Pyromania with the tan cassette case.  NOW I was an official fan!  :lol

This album really became the soundtrack for the next few years of my life.  I link it to a lot of really fun times, a lot of hard times, and a lot of times associated with just being a high school kid and growing up in the '80s.  There was the So. Cal. road trip with my family in a rented RV where they had a "rock shop" at Magic Mountain, and I bought a Pyromania painter's cap that I wore around everywhere, and I thought I was being really daring by wearing a purple bandana around my neck, Joe Elliot style, with my Joe Montana football jersey at Disneyland.  Or how when I met Richard's cousin on a trip with him, and saw her wearing a Pyromania shirt, it was in instant crush, and we stayed up late into the night holding hands and talking about Def Leppard (and other stuff).  And on and on.

As for the album itself, it is just about perfect to my ears.  The hits are all fantastic.  But even the deep cuts almost all feel top notch and don't really give that "filler" vibe at all.  It is an album I listened to from start to finish, over and over, without wanting to skip anything.  Maybe High N Dry might be "better" in some respects, but I will always give Pyromania the top spot.  Maybe I'm biased because that was my first exposure to the band, so it will always feel "special."  But say what you will about them going a bit more mainstream, I just think it is an incredibly solid effort and, from start to finish, has a consistency to it that few bands ever achieve.  This album is a true classic.  And within its genre, if not in music as a whole, it is a landmark album and one of the best out there. 

Anyhow, I know this is long.  But for those that read the entire post, I hope you enjoyed this stroll down memory lane.  I'll get to Hysteria shortly...
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 20, 2022, 05:20:42 PM
Great write up, Reaper! I look forward to seeing your write up for Hysteria.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 20, 2022, 05:30:08 PM
Great write up, Reaper! I look forward to seeing your write up for Hysteria.

 :huh:

Did I miss something?
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 20, 2022, 07:52:44 PM
Me writing this at like 6am. Still asleep.

Bosk, I apologise.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 20, 2022, 08:19:37 PM
No worries.  Slight correction on my chronology above as well:  I think the rock video I saw at the time the Thriller video debuted was actually Bark at the Moon.  That better fits the timeline of when the Thriller video dropped, as well as the fact that I remember having recorded both Bark and Thriller on VHS.  The time I saw the Rock of Ages video must have been several months earlier, probably late Spring or early Summer. 
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 20, 2022, 08:32:28 PM
By the time Hysteria came out, Def Lep was my undisputed favorite band on the strength of Pyromania and then my discovery of On Through the Night and High N Dry. 

For some reason, I guess I didn't know the release date (which was much more common back then without the benefit of the Internet).  Saw it in the music store at the mall (can't remember which one) and didn't have enough cash on me, so my friend Dave came through with spotting me the cash.  Couldn't wait to get home and read through the liner notes and pop it in the cassette player.

The album was not what I was expecting.  Women was a cool opener.  Rockin', but mid-tempo.  I set me up nicely for the blistering onslaught of guitar-driven hard rockin' fun as only Lep can deliver.  ...and I was a bit confused when that onslaught never really materialized.  Initially, I was slightly disappointed.  But I adjusted my expectations and took the time to appreciate the songs and understand what they were doing.  It was different.  But the music was outstanding.  Years later when I heard that the approach was to write essentially a hard rock version of Thriller with an endless string of hit singles and just about every track being strong enough to be a single if they wanted, it made sense.  The album worked that way.  The album was definitely more commercial, had less of an edge overall than their previous work, but was so solid it quickly became a close favorite that was only a hair behind Pyromania. 

I was thankful to be able to see the In the Round show at the Oakland Colosseum that tour.  Tesla opened on their debut album tour, and they were a fantastic opener.  But Lep owned the show.  I was thrilled to later be able to relive that tour over and over again with the home video release.  I still have that VHS, and it is worn down to the nub. 

This album represented some great times through high school and was a constant presence in my walkman during my stint in the Marine Corps the following 4 years.  I tried collecting the 45 singles to get all the B-sides and the album cover "puzzle," but only ended up getting a couple of them.  When I was stationed in Okinawa, they had a couple of them available on the jukebox at the club on base, so me and a couple of guys would play them frequently there. 

This is one of my favorite albums of all time, and it further cemented Lep as my favorite band (...at least, for a little while longer).  Can't say enough about its influence on me.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 21, 2022, 06:06:46 PM
Saw this at the University Of Texas football stadium's pro shop...

(https://i.imgur.com/8NNiFGB.jpg)
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 22, 2022, 12:27:22 AM
Some more loose ends on Hysteria:

I mentioned the B-sides earlier.  As far as getting those specific B-sides and more, the deluxe edition of Hysteria released in 2006 is a great collection.  After the album proper, you get all the live and studio B-sides--all 9 of them--plus remixes of Animal, Pour Some Sugar, Armageddon It, Excitable, and Rocket.  Really great 2-disk set.  The only slight downside is that you get the first 4 B-sides at the end of disk 1 at the end of the regular album.  That isn't a huge deal, but I always liked the way the album ends, and this kind of takes me out of the moment.  Love and Affection isn't the big bombastic ending, or the epic ending, but it's like a relaxed, satisfied sigh, and I've always enjoyed that.  I kinda wish they would have divided up this set a little differently, even if it meant adding a third disk.

In the Round/In Your Face:  Again, I know I mentioned it in my post, but just wanted to give it more props.  That was such a fun tour, and this show captures it perfectly.  And while Joe's vocals clearly struggled later in the set, they still sounded great overall and looked like they were having a great time.  And I thought it was cool that they took the clip of Steve's solo spot before Gods of War and played that in that same spot in the set years later for Viva! Hysteria.  Classy tribute. 

Historia:  I didn't watch this nearly as much, but it was really cool getting a collection of their music videos.  I still have my original VHS of this as well.  I remember they released a re-issue some years back with this one and In the Round along with some bonus content.  I really should pick that up.

Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 22, 2022, 08:12:02 AM
Sorry everyone, my brief look at Yeah! is going to take a little while. Tonight was busy at work and I’m expecting a work call in the morning. If nothing comes in, this could be done during the day tomorrow. If not, I’ll post tomorrow night. Either way, Sparkle Lounge should be on Tuesday, along with the three studio tracks from MirrorBall. From thee, I believe the rest of this deep dive may come slowly, which I apologise for. When we started this, I didn’t fully expect to be working before this ended. I will still be releasing my first reactions to the new album when I hear it, but that will just have to be later than originally expected
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 22, 2022, 04:59:59 PM
Adrenalize is...it's  not a bad album.  But it's just...it's kinda like eating a McRib sandwich.  It's tasty, and it's kinda fun when you're consuming it.  But in the end, it's kinda empty, and you know you're just eating fast food that is just emulating something that is meaty and delicious.  Yeah, it's a lot like that, actually.  These guys are good songwriters.  In their genre, probably very good songwriters.  And they had a signature sound, even if it had morphed over the years.  And they had a template for success with Hysteria that took advantage of both.  Adrenalize sounds like they knew that, weren't in a headspace to do something original after losing Steve, and applied that template to arrive at something that sounds just like "Hysteria-era Def Leppard," but not as deep, not as original, and ultimately just not as good on many levels. 

There are some good songs on here though.  I have always really liked Let's Get Rocked.  Muscially, it shares a lot with Women.  But it has a higher tempo and is less dark sounding, and that ultimately results in a song that is just a fun little bop.  There's not much to it, but I don't care because, to this day, I can blast it in the car with the windows rolled down and a big grin on my face, and just have fun.  And at the end of the day, that's a fun listening experience.  Tonight is probably a top 3 ballad, behind Bringin' on the Heartbreak and Hysteria.  And White Lightning--what can I say?  This song is almost universally loved, and for good reason.  Although Lep is perhaps best known for being one of the poster children for radio-friendly hair metal, they had a knack for writing these darker "epic" songs, like Die Hard, Billy, Gods of War, White Lightning, Desert Song, and Paper Sun.  Every one of those songs is awesome in my book. 

Let's Get Rocked, Tonight, and White Lightning round out the small number of songs that I consider really good that I might actively seek out, maybe including Tear It Down on a good day.  Lots of others are okay, and are a fun listen every now and then.  In fact, overall, I think "fun" is a good description of the album.  But I also just find it lacking.  Still, I spun this album quite a bit after it came out.  It frequented the CD player in my barracks room at night and in the armory I was in charge of during the work day. 

I remember them performing Let's Get Rocked at the MTV Video Music Awards, and there was some dude in the crowd that turned around and flipped off the camera and had a look on his face like, "what is this tripe?"  And I get it.  In many ways, Def Lep had fully jumped the shark by this point.  But I was still onboard (although they had fallen from "favorite band" status because I had since discovered Operation: Mindcrime and Empire, and was fully onboard the Queensryche train at this point).  I don't think I was ready to admit to myself that this album was a step down until I saw them live on this tour.  Don't get me wrong--it was a really good show.  Vivian tore it up, and the band sounded and performed great.  They used the in the round stage again.  Which was cool.  But it was also sort of a symptom of what was going on and made me realize that the album and tour were ultimately a retread of the Hysteria album and tour that tried to capture that magic, but just weren't as focused or as good. 
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 22, 2022, 08:38:21 PM
Yeah! - 2006

Tracklisting - 1. 20th Century Boy. 2. Rock On. 3. Hanging on the Telephone. 4. Waterloo Sunset. 5. Hell Raiser. 6. 10538 Overture. 7. Street Life. 8. Drive-In Saturday. 9. Little Bit of Love. 10. The Golden Age of Rock n Roll. 11. No Matter What. 12. He’s Gonna Step On You Again. 13. Don’t Believe a Word. 14. Stay With Me.

 https://open.spotify.com/album/2XWi9UGkoa4bnObVeMGn8K?si=2THviGKwQ9KSX3UbJS3CRg (https://open.spotify.com/album/2XWi9UGkoa4bnObVeMGn8K?si=2THviGKwQ9KSX3UbJS3CRg)

Following the tour cycle for X, which ended in November of 2003, Def Leppard took a hiatus through most of 2004. In 2005, they went back out on tour for the Rock n Roll Double Header tour, co-headlining with Bryan Adams. At the time, they were touring behind their biggest greatest hits collection to date, Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection. This collection featured 35 songs, including one brand new recording of their cover of Badfinger’s No Matter What.

With No Matter What being released as the single from Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection and doing well, the new game plan was soon revealed. Yeah!, an album full of covers from the 1970s that may have been forgotten. As Phil Collen said in an interview for the release “You would have kind of have had been there in the room in 1972 or something. So that was an interesting thing because the motivation wasn't about trying to further our career or that we should do this or that thing. It was totally for us."

So, does it do the songs justice? Do the songs sound great as Leppard tunes? Let’s take a bit of a dive into this.

We open on a bit of T-Rex with the song 20th Century Boy. This song is rich with backing vocals and very front and centre guitars. There’s another voice singing with Joe on this one, but I have no idea who that is as it doesn’t sound like any of the other Leppard members. This is a great way to open the open the covers album, as it sets the very rocking mood that one would hope for from covers for this era. Everything sounds really good and while I can’t comment on the songwriting because of them all being covers, this is a track full of great hooks.

Rock On is a track that’s stuck around a lot since Leppard released on Yeah!. The original track was released by David Essex, but I think it’s become much more known through this release. This is very bass-led, with a great bass tone. There’s some really nice moments with guitar harmonies and Joe’s vocals really shine throughout. When the band finally kicks in all together for the ending of the song, it’s really effective, but it kinda makes me wish the rest of the song sounded like this.

Up next is Hanging on the Telephone by The Nerves. This song is now more commonly known for the Blondie cover in 2014, but I like this version a lot better. Joe has a great bite to his vocal on this one, but I think Vivian and Phil really make this song what it is. It sounds like they’re bouncing who has the lead during the verses and then the solo sounds great. The problem with this song is that while it’s fairly repetitive, I feel like it’s barely getting started by the time it ends two minutes later. Good song though, my favourite so far.

The Kinks’ classic Waterloo Sunset is up next. This song is exactly what I wanted. This feels like what I would have wanted from an X song, and it takes on a lot of that kind of tone. The guitar harmonics behind the verses add such a beautiful layer, the bass is nice and punchy, Joe sounds great. This is just a really good cover!

Hell Raiser, originally by Sweet, opens with a sound like the Joe of High ‘n’ Dry. We know that Def Leppard can absolutely nail Sweet, thanks to Action on Retro Active so it’s no surprise that this one sounds great. This song is basically the sound of early metal to me. The riff is thick under the Leppard tone, Joe’s on absolute point throughout this track. This is an absolute banger. The explosion sound effects at the end sound like they could have quite easily kicked off Rocket live, but a quick look through the setlists of the time show that the band didn’t agree with me on that one.               

10538 Overture by Electric Light Overture is a lot to take in, but all of it is really enjoyable. Opening with an acoustic guitar and then blending it with the electrics and the orchestral strings just makes this song sound epic. I almost feel like this song would be a bit more in the prog rock vein than anything else here. The whole thing culminates into a great melodic solo. Rick’s drumming here is fantastic. I want more of this.

And we follow that up with Street Life by Roxy Music. The riffing and vocals on this one a re a bit more basic, but I’m absolutely loving the work from the two Ricks underneath. This album is actually really great for the rhythm section all up. The chorus is a bit underwhelming, but there’s a bit of a hidden guitar solo underneath it, which is pretty cool. This is one that I’m not familiar enough with the original to really understand. It’s not up to par with the rest of the album so far, from my opinion at least.

Drive-In Saturday is our David Bowie song. This is really out of left field on this album. It’s quite subdued for Leppard themselves, though it brings in a whole horns section. This song is pretty much a Joe highlight all up. It’s a good cover of the song all up, but there are so many other Bowie songs I’d have loved to hear Leppard cover instead, like John, I’m Only Dancing or Suffragette City (which was played by Leppard at a benefit during the recording of this album) maybe? For the song it is, this is great. For being on this album, I don’t think it was the best choice.

Little Bit of Love by Free kicks it back into the more rock n roll territory. The minimalist bass on this song makes the whole song sound a bit thin to me, but the vibe we get from Vivian and Phil is still pretty rocking. The vocals sound great, and we get two solos in this song. What’s not to like? It’s a little odd, but it sounds really good. 
 
The Golden Age of Rock n Roll by Mott the Hoople starts off with one of the original members playing on it. Ian Hunter, who has long been a friend of the band (having played the opening piano for the Retro Active version of Ride Into the Sun) makes a return to the piano and spoken intro to this one. As the song kicks into the main riff, we’ve got a real rocker on our hands. Guitars nice and strong in front, Joe giving it his best. The chorus stabs sound huge, the horn section from Drive-In Saturday is back, and the first solo is one of the best on the album, even if it is real short. This is another one where I could’ve happily had a bit more of this.

And then we get the song that started it all. No Matter What by Badfinger. It’s a rocker, plain and simple. This is one that I feel sets the stage for the sound of a few songs on Songs from the Sparkle Lounge two years later,. It just feels like Def Leppard, not Def Leppard playing a cover song, which to me is the ultimate sign of a great cover version.

He’s Gonna Step On You Again by John Kongos has a cool riff and a drum sample that reminds me of something like Slang. This sounds nice and big, with pretty much all the vocals being done in that great Def Leppard group style. It’s a little forgettable as a song, but it’s a great time when you’re listening. Drop tuning in a Def Leppard song isn’t all that common, but it’s used to great effect here. The title line is sung beneath everything, to an extent that unless you’re listening out for it, it’s pretty hidden, but it’s a little jarring and I don’t really care for the delivery on that line. I love the bass groove that closes this thing out too, nice little fun jam.

Don’t Believe a Word is a classic Thin Lizzy song and Leppard do it major justice! If anyone was ever going to do the twin guitar of Thin Lizzy well, it’s Phil and Vivian. Joe is in his finest form on this song,  which makes up for the lack of group vocal on this one in particular. I’m pretty sure this is Vivian’s solo, and it sounds great. This is sadly the shortest song on the album though. I had to listen to this song twice to actually have time to write this up, it’s that short. Great song though, I just wish we had more of it.

And the album ends up with Stay With Me by The Faces. This is old school rock n roll at it’s finest, and the riffs on this are just super fun. In an interesting move for Def Leppard, Joe’s voice is not found on this recording, but it’s not an instrumental. For this one, we have lead vocals covered by Phil Collen. These sound great and really fit the song. This is the closing song, but it leaves me off with a good mood. Joe plays some electric piano on his one, and the whole thing sounds like just a big jam session.

And there you have it, Yeah! by Def Leppard. I feel like this is a far better Def Leppard release than X, that’s for damn sure. There are no songs on here that I really don’t like, even if I can single out some moments that don’t hit me the way I wanted them too. Everything sounds really well produced, the band themselves are in fine form and the whole thing just lets me walk away feeling good. If anything though, I am a little surprised that there wasn’t a definitive version of Travellin’ Band released on this album, as it’s from the era and would have been quite a cool little tip of the hat to a song that had been so much of a part of the Pyromania and Hysteria tours. But I digress, what’s here is here and I’m thankful for it. This doesn’t get a rating due to being a cover album so that seems unfair to stack up against the original material, but this is exactly what Leppard needed to cleanse the palette after X.

Def Leppard toured behind Yeah! from June 3rd to November 19th 2006. This was followed by a tour with Styx and Foreigner between June 27th and October 2nd 2007.
What happened behind the scenes of these shows would become the basis for tomorrow’s post.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 24, 2022, 06:32:57 AM
Songs from the Sparkle Lounge - 2008

Tracklisting - 1. Go. 2. Nine Lives. 3. C’mon C’mon. 4. Love. 5. Tomorrow. 6. Cruise Control. 7. Hallucinate. 8. Only the Good Die Young. 9. Bad Actress. 10. Come Undone. 11. Gotta Let It Go.

 https://open.spotify.com/album/1Nr06drKteANW0vMGMoptP?si=WBfyZmXHQAu7QZGZgT_gAQ (https://open.spotify.com/album/1Nr06drKteANW0vMGMoptP?si=WBfyZmXHQAu7QZGZgT_gAQ)

Def Leppard toured behind Yeah! from June 3rd to November 19th 2006. This was followed by a tour with Styx and Foreigner between June 27th and October 2nd 2007. However, what was happening behind the scenes of these shows would prove even more interesting than what was happening onstage. Backstage, Def Leppard had a “tuning room” set up where they could rehearse together before each show. As the tour was progressing, the band found themselves having more impromptu jams and finding some new material was starting to emerge. When their 2007 album came to a close, the ideas that had come out of that jam room were recorded and produced and would become the 11 songs from the band’s ninth original studio album (tenth if you count Yeah!), Songs From The Sparkle Lounge.

Members of the band describe the album as being written in the style of Hysteria with production like High ‘n’ Dry. Reviews herald this album as an instant hook with big choruses and great production. Will the 39 minutes and 20 seconds of this album satisfy the need for a good old fashioned rocking Leppard album? Let’s dive in!

The album starts on the song Go and it takes mere seconds before I’m really into this album. This is indeed an instant grab, with thick layers of heavy rhythm guitars supporting a great lead riff and killer vocals. This doesn’t feel like Def Leppard retreading old ground, though very much feels like rediscovering their roots. The solo trade off section is awesome, the chorus is infectious and this is exactly the right song to start up a new original album after X.

Def Leppard delve into almost a bit of a modern country feel with their next song, Nine Lives. This features a few lines of vocals from Tim McGraw, whose vocals fit Leppard really well. This song actually somehow reminds me of Armageddon It and fits into the discography really easily. The lead riff is great, the chorus is fun, this is worth having a listen to. This was the first single released for Sparkle Lounge and it’s a great first taste for the album.

Up next, C’mon C’mon. This song is defined by its attitude, it’s right in your face with a really explosive energy. This is another really instantly recognisable as Def Leppard, but this is pretty much all I can say about it. It’s pretty much a stereotypical Leppard song which could have been a line between classic Hysteria and the band’s post Slang sound.

It’s no secret that Def Leppard are massive Queen fans, but in case you didn’t hear it in their sound, just check out this next song called Love. Joe’s vocals on this are haunting, the nylon acoustic behind it reminds me of Love Of My Life and then you get those fantastic backing vocals supporting the main lines. And then when you think you’ve got this song all worked out, it kicks into high gear with the instrumental section. Opening with a string ensemble and then ripping into one of the most fantastic guitar solos Phil has ever let rip with a tone that sounds exactly like Brian May. This is actually one of my favourite all time Def Leppard ballads due to its absolutely epic scope. However, the one thing that I never thought I’d say with any Def Leppard song comes out here. I kinda like the version they did with Taylor Swift a little more. I honestly am not a fan of Swift’s work, but she really takes this one up a few pegs.

Tomorrow has an explosive intro into a nice dialled back drum, bass and vocal verse. This is a bit more generic, but I really like that chorus melody and the solo is really nice. The structure of this one is really great, leading to a great time, even if a not overly memorable one.

Cruise Control is something fairly different though, the bass line is super present on this one with a really intriguing vocal pattern. This feels really outside the usual Def Leppard fare and I really like it. The chorus is pretty bulk standard, but the bridge with the group vocal beneath really lifts it. This one is fairly short, not even cracking the 3 minute mark, but everything here is intriguing, the solos are punchy and just the fact that it’s really different lets it stand out.

Hallucinate is a solid rocker that was not played anywhere near enough live. Much like C’mon C’mon, this is a fairly stereotypical Leppard track, but the vocals are great and the riff is super catchy. The pre-chorus and chorus are really fun, the lead lick in the chorus leads this to being my favourite chorus on the album. The solo is probably the second best for the album for my money, since nothing really hits the brilliance of Love, but this is everything I love about Leppard in a little over 3 minutes. If we did a ranking, I think this one would go pretty high.

Only the Good Die Young opens with piano and vocal, building to the band reveal in the chorus. This is another really beautiful vocal melody for the album, but the song kinda sticks out in an odd way. This isn’t an old sound revisited as so much of this album is, it’s actually something very different overall. This has a nice long fade-out, almost comparable to Pearl of Euphoria and it’s somewhat of a mix between ballad and banger. I like it.

Bad Actress gives me old school AC/DC vibes! This is a short, fast banger and it just rocks! Great riffing, great bit of trade off soloing, lots of group vocals and all said and done in 3 minutes. Not much to say, just hats off to this song for bottling some 70s nostalgia and unleashing it perfectly.

Come Undone centres itself around a cool rhythmic based riff. The verse is a little forgettable, but the chorus shoots to the top of the list for this album. The bridge gives a really nice release from the energy of the main song and culminates into a really good solo. Short and sharp, like many of it’s counterparts and I feel like this could’ve been a great closer for the album as a while.

But, instead, we wrap it up with Gotta Let It Go. It’s the one song on the album that grabs me with it’s chorus but fails to hold me which is a real shame. I don’t know how to describe this song for the most part. It’s very bass driven leading into an absolute slapper of a chorus. It’s actually a bit of a bummer that this isn’t built more around the feel from the chorus as that really grabs me. However, this song is ultimately a mixed bag that I don’t fall for completely. Still, every album has to have a weak point, right?

 And that’s Songs from the Sparkle Lounge. A perfect album? Not by any means, but a great way to pass the time. This does have its low points, as every album must, but what’s here is a really fun time. Yeah! definitely showed them what they were missing with X, and this is the delivery of pretty much all the balls that were missing from that album. If stereotypical is the word that comes to mind to describe this, I think it’s a really good thing at this point. We’ve just had three albums full of different and then a collection of covers, so coming back to the quintessential Def Leppard sound is beyond refreshing. I give this a 4, easily.

Recommend checking this one out and having a good time with it!
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 24, 2022, 08:01:36 PM
I'm travelling, so I owe listens to X and Sparkle Lounge, and also Yeah!

But I wanted to touch on the Yeah tracks I'm familiar with..

Up next is Hanging on the Telephone by The Nerves. This song is now more commonly known for the Blondie cover in 2014, but I like this version a lot better. Joe has a great bite to his vocal on this one, but I think Vivian and Phil really make this song what it is. It sounds like they’re bouncing who has the lead during the verses and then the solo sounds great. The problem with this song is that while it’s fairly repetitive, I feel like it’s barely getting started by the time it ends two minutes later. Good song though, my favourite so far.

Hell Raiser, originally by Sweet, opens with a sound like the Joe of High ‘n’ Dry. We know that Def Leppard can absolutely nail Sweet, thanks to Action on Retro Active so it’s no surprise that this one sounds great. This song is basically the sound of early metal to me. The riff is thick under the Leppard tone, Joe’s on absolute point throughout this track. This is an absolute banger. The explosion sound effects at the end sound like they could have quite easily kicked off Rocket live, but a quick look through the setlists of the time show that the band didn’t agree with me on that one.               



Don’t Believe a Word is a classic Thin Lizzy song and Leppard do it major justice! If anyone was ever going to do the twin guitar of Thin Lizzy well, it’s Phil and Vivian. Joe is in his finest form on this song,  which makes up for the lack of group vocal on this one in particular. I’m pretty sure this is Vivian’s solo, and it sounds great. This is sadly the shortest song on the album though. I had to listen to this song twice to actually have time to write this up, it’s that short. Great song though, I just wish we had more of it.

And the album ends up with Stay With Me by The Faces. This is old school rock n roll at it’s finest, and the riffs on this are just super fun. In an interesting move for Def Leppard, Joe’s voice is not found on this recording, but it’s not an instrumental. For this one, we have lead vocals covered by Phil Collen. These sound great and really fit the song. This is the closing song, but it leaves me off with a good mood. Joe plays some electric piano on his one, and the whole thing sounds like just a big jam session.


Deadeye, Blondie's cover of Hangin' On The Telephone appeared on 1978's Parallel Lines. Not in 2014.
I checked the Verves version, but honestly, I only know it as a Blondie song. Blondie had a great drummer, Clem Burke, who really drove a lot of their songs. Rick Allen captures Clem perfectly and is the real star of this track. The drum sound is incredible, and I have no idea how gracefully Rick handled that amazing snare sound along with the driving ride cymbal. This is a great version.



As far as Hellraiser, the best musician in the band was drummer Mick Tucker. But Rick again steals the show, doing his best to replicate Mick's drumming. Mick had a great snare attack, and Rick totally shines again.


Don't Believe A Word comes from Thin Lizzy's extremely underrated 1976 release, Johnny The Fox. Their other 1976 release, Jailbreak, is the one that garners most of the attention. Vivian was a huge Thin Lizzy/Gary Moore fan. His band Sweet Savage would open for Thin Lizzy in Ireland circa 1980-81.
This is a great rendition of one of my favorite Lizzy tracks.


Stay With Me is tremendous. Wow!  I know the song, but have never heard this version before. Phil Collen knocks it out!!!! Awesome job!!
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 25, 2022, 12:26:29 AM
Retroactive is a fantastic album, and I could just say that and nothing else.  Hardly controversial, but I would put it at #4 behind Pyromania, Hysteria, and High N Dry, with a note that my top 4 are very close.  The band clearly weren't over losing Steve.  But while Adrenalize tried to sound fun, this album captured a perfect blend of dark and fun. 

To me, the weakest two tracks are the ballads.  But I was surprised when I went back and listened at how good they are.  As I was doing my listen through, I was prepared to listen for the first 30 seconds or so of Two Steps Behind and Miss You in a Heartbeat just to make sure I remembered the gist of it, and then skip ahead.  But in both cases, I couldn't turn them off.  They stand up well with the rest.  And, let's face it, by this time, power ballads were the band's bread and butter.  By this time, of course they were going to have a couple on an album.

Action and Only After Dark also feel kind of frivolous, and I didn't remember loving them.  But even those two are great within the context of the album.  It's kind of like:  Hardly anyone plans a Disney trip with the goal of riding the teacups and Dumbo.  You plan for those "E-ticket" rides.  Or maybe Phantasmic or the electric parade.  But yet, when you get on those teacups and Dumbo, you enjoy it, you smile from ear to ear, and while you may feel kinda sick to your stomach for a little while afterward, it's part of the overall experience that makes the day magical.  You usually don't just stick to Space Mountain, the Matterhorn, and Thunder Mountain all day, and just keep repeating those three because they are the best.  You mix it up, and it makes the overall experience better.  This album is kinda like that, and the songs I just mentioned are those B attractions that don't get billing on the marquee, but you are glad they are there.

I like I Wanna Be Your Hero as the closer.  It ends the album nicely.  The two alternate versions of the ballads are surplussage that kill the mood a little bit.  But on the flipside, it's cool that the band included them as extra content to make the fans feel like we were really getting our money's worth on this album, which a shorter album may not have given in light of the fact that a lot of these songs had been lying around in the bin for awhile. 

Final little note on Two Steps Behind:  My first exposure was the Last Action Hero soundtrack, and I was underwhelmed.  Actually, I was underwhelmed by that entire soundtrack.  Given the names that were on it, it should have been a lot better.  Even the Queensryche song threw me for a loop.  But at least with that one, after giving it some time, it sank in what they were doing and I could appreciate it more. 

Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 25, 2022, 04:49:53 AM
Well, the Last Action Hero soundtrack did give us Angry Again from Megadeth, so… not all bad
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 25, 2022, 07:38:26 AM
Well, the Last Action Hero soundtrack did give us Angry Again from Megadeth, so… not all bad

And Poison My Eyes from Anthrax, one of their best Bush era tracks.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: ZirconBlue on May 25, 2022, 07:48:33 AM
I always think of "Two Steps Behind" as "The Stalker Song", and mentally add ". . . with an axe" at the end of the chorus.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 25, 2022, 08:48:30 AM
Mirror Ball - recorded throughout 2008-2011 / released in June 2011
Discussing tracks 22. Undefeated, 23. Kings of the World and 24. It’s All About Believin’.
 https://open.spotify.com/album/2trujDkejkRkNnM1CZOkRv?si=TB5n8OZQQEiPT4luECXpEA (https://open.spotify.com/album/2trujDkejkRkNnM1CZOkRv?si=TB5n8OZQQEiPT4luECXpEA)

Viva! Hysteria - Recorded 29th and 30th of March 2013 / released in October 2013
Discussing tracks  1 - 15 of Disc 2. (1:25:27 and onwards)
 https://youtu.be/Llpv_oZyTTc (https://youtu.be/Llpv_oZyTTc)

In the mid-2000s, bootlegs of concerts became easier than ever to share with torrenting becoming more and more popular. While in 2002, Metallica (or more specifically, Lars) had made massive waves with a massive backlash against websites like Napster, it soon became a go-to way to get music forever changing the landscape of the industry. Live shows we’re becoming more and more essential, so it became a popular idea to put out live albums to attract people to see the shows for themselves.

Throughout the touring for Songs From The Sparkle Lounge, Def Leppard recorded multiple shows all across the world. Out of those recordings came a really great set of songs that would soon become Mirror Ball. The setlist for the live portion of the album is amazing, including two songs from High ‘n’ Dry, five from Pyromania, six from Hysteria, two from Adrenalize, two from Retro Active (including a really great version of Action from the bonus live tracks), one from Yeah! and three songs from the latest album, Songs From the Sparkle Lounge (Bad Actress being found as a bonus track with the other two in the main set). All of these performances are really great, the whole band is in very fine form and the tone of the era is very well dialled in. While I’m not going to get two far into the live section of the album (because I’m already running out of time to hear everything with work starting to come in), I want to specifically point out the version of Bringin’ on the Heartbreak on this album. This is my definitive favourite version of the song. The acoustic guitars add so much depth to the verses and first choruses of the song, letting the crowd sing the chorus sounds amazing and the whole thing blends into Switch 625 amazingly well.

What will be taking the spotlight from this album though are the three new songs found only on this release. Opening this new material is Undefeated. This is a really great rocker in a drop tuning. This doesn’t follow on from the Sparkle Lounge sound as much as it sounds like a natural progression from it. These lyrics sound like they’re talking about the whole history of Def Leppard, all the hardships that they’d been through and yet they were still standing tall. This is easily one of my favourite songs post-Hysteria as it just puts out such a great energy. There is a little bit of studio trickery here with a great echoing from the harmonised lead and a tribal drum beat somewhat reminiscent of Rocket.

Kings of the World is another very Queen song, opening with an interesting phased vocal harmonies before opening into a nice piano ballad. This kinda feels like the Def Leppard answer to We Are the Champions, though it doesn’t really hit the same heights as the original. However, the solos sound amazing and this is dominated by a group vocal. They haven’t played this song live, but you’ll hear at many of their concerts over the PA as the band walk off stage after the encore ends. This has another nice long fade out too.

It’s All About Believin’ is a pretty great way to end this off though, opening with a nice guitar harmony which then becomes a riff of it’s own. This is just a nice upbeat song and a great way to close off this album. Great choruses, great guitar work, great performance from the full band. What’s really interesting is that the first solo is the least energetic part of this whole song. The second solo though is jus great and it all fades out on the intro harmonies again making for a really nice cycle between the song.

This album as a whole is definitely one you can take or leave. I find the setlist here to be pretty much a best of but live kind of thing here and the original songs, outside of Undefeated, can be taken or left at your own pleasure. This is too short in the original section to give it a rating though.

After the release of Mirror Ball, Def Leppard toured behind what was predominantly a live album. From June to December of 2011, the Mirror Ball tour visited the US, UK and Australasia. Following that, Def Leppard played another tour through America for 2012. But it was in 2013 that something extra exciting happened.

For eleven shows, Def Leppard took up a residency at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas for a very special event. Hysteria, live in full. These shows were an amazing spectacle for any Def Leppard fan who was able to find themselves at one of these shows, but something even more exciting was in store than the main advertised event.

Def Leppard did not officially announce an opening act for this tour, but the posters all read Viva Hysteria and more. On the opening night of the residency, a Union Jack stood tall above the stage and as the lights faded out the familiar sounds of The Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again started up. For support, Leppard had hired Ded Flatbird, “the best Def Leppard tribute band in the world”. The façade didn’t last long though. As the intro to Won’t Get Fooled Again played out, the lights came up and revealed that Flatbird were none other than Def Leppard in costumes. Yay! And as Leppard started their first song of the night, it became abundantly clear that this wasn’t going to be any regular set for the band, but rather a set rich in rarities. 

So, because it seems like I’ve referenced a bunch of songs being in this set during our time together, I’m going to go into the two Ded Flatbird shows that were released with the Viva! Hysteria DVD. It’s worth noting that the full performance of Hysteria that we have here is pretty solid, but now that we have the 2018 performance from the O2 Arena, I feel like that is a better presentation of the full album, which is now as big and bombastic and the album always deserved.

So, after a sustained note from the end of Won’t Get Fooled Again, we kick into one of the biggest rarities of all. Good Morning Freedom, released as a B-Side to Hello America back in the On Through the Night days, which hasn’t seen a live performance since 1980. What’s interesting to think about in this song is that three of them hadn’t played the song in 30 years but the other two had never played the song live at all. This song kicks off the show well, a solid 3 minute rocker to really set up the mood of the show. Phil’s solo here is a bit much of the same thing he’s always done and it kinda doesn’t fit the song as well as it could, but it’s a small nitpick over a really solid performance of a super deep cut.

Wasted is another track from the On Through the Night album. This is actually a really good indicator of just how much Joe’s voice has changed over the years, doubled down on since this is also on the Hysteria at the O2 encore. This is a great performance, absolutely rocking. Vivian takes the solo and nails it with his own style added in for good measure. The only thing that doesn’t quite sound right on this one is the bridge, which is usually a bit higher pitched and had a bit of call and response originally.

Stagefright comes up next and this is a real stretch for Joe. Delivered almost entirely in a falsetto register, the group vocals add the lower frequencies in the chorus for a change. This is a real treat though, as this is one of the ones they don’t play all too often from Pyromania. You can tell that Joe’s maybe not that comfortable staying in his falsetto register and it’s easy to see why this doesn’t make the setlists all that often, but it’s still a really strong performance that this song deserves. Everyone is firing on all cylinders for this one.

One of my absolute favourites from High ‘n’ Dry is up next, with a roaring rendition of Mirror Mirror (Look Into My Eyes). Joe has a bit of banter with the audience, saying that “we are the best Def Leppard cover band in the whole world. No s***.” And inviting everyone to expose any body parts they see fit to a camera if it comes by them “you may not make the DVD, but you will make the dressing room for sure!”. This version of the song is awesome, it really benefits from being that semi tone lower, the bass punch is nice and thick throughout the verses and Vivian gets to play one of my favourite Leppard leads, which he does very well. I think the vocals might be a little better on the Hits Vegas version, but we’ll cross that bridge soon enough.

We get a fairly decent version of Action from Retro Active after that. This one is nothing particularly special, but it’s always cool to hear live. This is one of the least rare songs in the collection, but it’s just a fun song. The audience love it, Leppard play it well, I just tend to think that the studio version of this one is much better.

Rock Brigade is up next, and this is just great! It’s rare to see any of the On Through the Night album live post Pyromania, and when you do, it’s usually Wasted. To have Rock Brigade is a real treat. Joe sings this one really well, the thick group vocal in the chorus tells you exactly what was missing from the original release and in my opinion, it really benefits from the live guitar tone. Vivian and Phil have a trade-off solo here and it’s in this release that I’m starting to realise that Vivian may be my favourite of the Leppard guitarists.

To have the first song from the first album followed up by the most recent track of the time is a really cool idea to me and we get that here. Undefeated is the second to last song from the first Ded Flatbird set. The crowd is a little deader for this one, but the band sound in fine form. I really liked this song on it’s studio release on Mirror Ball, but this isn’t quite as good for me. The opening drum loop is a great hook, and I love the little phase and echo at the end of the studio solo, where as here, both of those are missing. Little bit of a shame, but the overall performance of the song is great. Vivian rocks an Explorer on this song which actually really suits his look.

The night one closer is not really the best choice for a closing song, in my personal opinion. We get a great performance of Promises from Euphoria here, and everyone is really on point throughout this entire song. It’s super upbeat, Vivian shreds a brand new solo at the end of this track that isn’t found in the album, Phil plays his really faithfully to the album version. It’s actually a great performance. I just don’t really like this as a closer and I think Undefeated could have been better in this position.

For night two, we open with a song that had not been played live for 32 years meaning that much like Good Morning Freedom, it hadn’t been played by either of the guitarists. Ladies and gentlemen, from the second side of High ‘n’ Dry, On Through the Night! This has a great energy from the band and the chorus sounds great, but Joe sounds like he might be struggling a bit with this one vocally. This is sung almost entirely in his falsetto range and you can feel the tension in his voice shift and release when he comes back to his more natural mid-range during parts of the chorus and especially the bridge. Vivian has a great solo here and that post-solo riff has never sounded better.

Second song here is Slang. Knowing how this sounds on the Hits Vegas release makes this sound really underpowered here. The bass has a good presence though and I really like the trading vocal parts during the verses. However, there are better live versions of this one, as I previously eluded to. The energy from the crowd seems a little dead in the mix from the DVD so that’s a bit of a bummer.

With a brief introduction to Def Leppard’s alternate personas for the evening, no further time is wasted before we get something really cool. “As a special treat, we’re going to play you side one of High ‘n’ Dry!”
And of course, they do. Let It Go feels a little slower than usual here and this suffers a lot from the same problems as Slang, only more so since there’s another great version of this on a live album we aren’t covering called And There Will Be A Next Time, released in 2017. Really cool moments are the higher pitched vocal bridge between Sav and Joe and the soloing trade off between Viv and Phil.

Another Hit and Run has always been a standout song in my book and this is my highlight of the second night. While Joe is back in the falsetto register, he’s hitting this one a little better than On Through the Night. This is one of the greatest moments of that glorious group vocal as well. Those “HIT AND RUN”s are huge here and it’s so great to hear it. The soloing trade off is awesome, the really subdued bridge is handled masterfully and Joe’s last big high note is carried out wonderfully.

“You know why it’s a ‘hands up’ kind of gig? Because it’s Saturday Night, High ‘n’ Dry!”
Up next is the title track and I have to admit, for a song that’s far from my favourite on the album, this is a really good performance and I really got into it. This is a song like those from On Through the Night in the previous set that still sit in that prime range for Joe to hit with his current range. The soloing duty falls directly on Vivian here and he pulls off something really great here. This is a top performance overall for night two.

And it all comes to a head with the always great combo of Heartbeak and Switch 625. To say that this version of Heartbreak comes close to the top for me wouldn’t be accurate, but there are so many to choose from. While I love hearing the full band hitting that chorus vocal, there’s just something so much more magical about the partially acoustic version on Mirror Ball that I can’t help but find this a little lacking.  However, Switch 625 gets one of it’s best renditions to date here. The guitar tone is great, the fade into this from Heartbreak is spot on and I find myself watching this in the DVD more than any other track just because I love the choreography of Phil and Vivian walking down the catwalk together during the main riff to reach the lead guitar motifs just really cool, and then smiling about it like friends as they walk back for the conclusion of the song. Rick Allen gets a brief drum solo to cap it off and we’re all done with Ded Flatbird. 

When paired with Hysteria, Rock of Ages and Photograph on the first disc, I feel like this second disc is a live album aimed directly to the more devoted fans. There are so many great deep cuts here, all live and all performed well. It seems obvious to me that a lot of my reservations on Joe’s vocals are because he was conserving energy for the main event later in those evenings. It does show me that Joe’s vocal range is much better catered to his mid-range these days. Vivian and Phil play their parts really well, Sav and Rick hold down the fort with thunderous precision, this is a band just having a bit of fun at the end of the day and it feels great. While the rarities are great to have, I think that Hits Vegas is still my favourite live album, which we will get to after the self-titled album tomorrow. We’re almost there people!
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Stadler on May 25, 2022, 11:33:29 AM
This was the release that kind of gave me a new appreciation for Joe Elliott.  He's decent on this release - I don't know how much work went into that - but I think he's got balls and a fair amount of respect for his audience to put out a live product with that varied a setlist.  I also think the Dead Flatbird schtick is cool.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 25, 2022, 10:39:37 PM
Well, I'm still behind, but catching up.  Again, I am thankful for this thread causing me to go back and listen to a lot of this stuff that I otherwise wouldn't.  I can't even remember the last time I listened to Slang before this.

I was pretty excited for this album, since it would be the first time they were writing all new material with Vivian in the fold.  I remember being so stoked when I found out he was in the band.  Those monster riffs I was familiar with from Holy Diver and Last in Line were surely going to take Def Lep back in a more hard rocking direction, right?  Right?  :(

This album was disappointing.  There is some good material.  But overall, this is not where I wanted the band to go, and I was not alone.  To me, the songwriting just isn't there.  And the eastern influence, the lyrical content, etc. just left me cold.  This just wasn't the same band anymore.  Coupled with Promised Land a few years earlier from Queensryche, it seemed like this was the era of "when heroes fall."  Both albums were dark, musically and lyrically, and there was an edge and a bitterness tinged by loss and tragedy in the personal lives of the bandmembers and the changes in the music industry that were leaving both bands feeling like perhaps they were being left behind.  The difference for me was that Promised Land channeled that into something brilliant and relatable, whereas Slang channeled it into something I just wasn't interested in.

That said, there are some decent moments.  The first two tracks pique my interest, All I Want Is Everything is an okay ballad, and Deliver Me is probably the best track on the album.  And that's about it.  I respect them for soldiering on despite all the challenges at this time.  And I respect that they wanted to try something different.  It just isn't a product I am ultimately interested in, save the odd listen every once in a very great while. 

The band's reaction to this album is interesting to me.  The few times I have heard them talk about it, they have always sounded like they are really proud of it and wish people would have "gotten" it.  But at the same time, they understand that the fanbase doesn't like it much, so it rarely gets any play outside the title track.  The sad thing for me personally is that I was starting to feel that maybe I was done with this band...
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 25, 2022, 10:46:03 PM
...and then they released Euphoria!  What a HUGE return to form!  This is the follow-up to Hysteria that I had been waiting for.  I don't really have a good sense of how the fanbase as a whole felt about this album, but I loved it.  This is my #5 just behind Retroactive.  Because of how I felt about this band from the time I discovered them, and the fact that their music still feels like an old, treasured friend, I will typically buy what they put out (although I still somehow haven't picked up the last album).  But I have thought a few times that they might be one of those bands where I don't bother trying to be a completist and just keep the albums I really like.  If I were to do that, I could narrow it down to six:  the first four, Retroactive, and this one. 

I love this album pretty much from start to finish (although I struggle to remember how a couple of the "side two" songs go if not listening to the album).  But this album was a huge win for me and sat in the CD player pretty frequently on those long road trips between Southern California and the Bay Area during law school.  SO happy they put this one out.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 26, 2022, 07:06:55 AM
Def Leppard - 2015

Tracklisting - 1. Let’s Go. 2. Dangerous. 3. Man Enough. 4. We Belong. 5. Invincible. 6. Sea Of Love. 7. Energized. 8. All Time High. 9. Battle of My Own. 10. Broke ‘n’ Brokenhearted. 11. Forever Young. 12. Last Dance. 13. Wings of An Angel. 14. Blind Faith.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwZsj2KL7VDUOx2azByxS99lK3akoRlmv (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwZsj2KL7VDUOx2azByxS99lK3akoRlmv)

And the train just kept on rolling for Def Leppard. Following the Viva! Hysteria residency, they went out and played a few more dates in 2013, including two more performances of the full Hysteria album. 2014 was no slouch either, with 49 more shows being played across the year. 2015 looked like it would be much of the same, or at least it did until August when Def Leppard announced a new 14 track album. This album would be titled Def Leppard, as, in the words of Joe Elliott, “It's just called Def Leppard because that's what it sounds like. It doesn't sound like any one specific era of Def Leppard. It's got everything. Every single aspect of anything we've ever wanted to put out — acoustic, heavy, soft, slow, fast — it's there. That's why we call it Def Leppard because, just like Queen were, we're capable of coming up with vastly different kinds of songs."

In October 30th, 2015, the tenth original studio album was released. But would it hold up to everything that Joe said about it? Was this album worthy of being Classic Rock’s album of the year in 2016? Let’s take a dive into the final full release we have available to us for the moment, the self-titled Def Leppard.

The album opens with a simple question, “do you really, really want to do this now?”, before blasting into thick layers of rocking guitars. This is Let’s Go, one of the coolest openers to a Def Leppard album. This was released as the first single from the album in September of 2015 and it’s no surprise why. This song feels like it’s very much cut from the same cloth as Pour Some Sugar On Me almost 30 years before. It’s hard to call this song anything shy of anthemic. The band is in absolute top form, featuring a huge singalong chorus, massive guitars and lead moments for almost everyone in the band, just missing a drum solo. If an opening track is there to make a statement about everything to come, this is one ride that I’m very much looking forward to.

Dangerous is a mix of the Euphoria and Sparkle Lounge sounds for my ear, with the intro reminding me a lot of Promises before diving into a great hook of a main riff. Joe’s voice on this track is perfect and the whole band is absolutely rocking out. This is a song that really stands out as one that would be great to hear live and I hope that if they bring back one Def Leppard song for the upcoming tour cycle, it’s this one. This has the bombastic energy that your really want in a Leppard song, it’s explosive and it’s right in your face!

Man Enough is another Leppard emulates Queen moment and I don’t really have to tell you which song this is gunning for. This is just a good, bass heavy, funky tune that feels like it would have made a great live track. I feel like the lack of audience participation is probably the main drawback to this song as the somewhat empty ambience behind the bass grooves is a little jarring. It’s almost surprising to me that this wasn’t a writing credit for Rick Savage, given how absolutely bass driven this one is. It’s a bit different for Leppard as a whole, but it’s quite fun.

We Belong is a fascinating song for the band, holding the distinction of being the song where every member of Def Leppard takes a line of lead vocal! The first verse is taken by Joe, Phil, Sav and Vivian, with Rick taking the opening line of verse 2. This is one of the most beautiful ballads in Leppard’s arsenal and deserves a lot more attention than it has had. The guitar work is very fitting to the song, really sticking out for the solo section and the bass and drums hold their own without overstepping at all. If you’re only going to listen to one song from the album, as much as I recommend everything before this as well, this has got to be the one.

Invincible opens with a bass and drum build into a mid-tempo rocker. Joe’s vocal stays a little understated here, staying almost solely in his lower range for the chorus, which lets the rest of the band’s vocals really stick out here (which is used to great effect after We Belong, I must admit). This one doesn’t really have too much to hook onto, unlike everything before it. The outro is the moment where the song really steps up, but it’s a little too short for my liking.

Sea of Love opens strongly, with a riff that somehow always makes me think of Ruby by the Kaiser Chiefs. Joe’s vocals are back to being nice and rocking for the verses and the chorus group vocals give it a really nice ambience. This is a really fun song with a nice flow between all it’s parts. This one was written by Rick and Joe and doesn’t t get mentioned too often, making it a bit of an underrated gem for the album. Great energy all around, with a really unique sounding bridge.

Energized is a really different song, reminding me of more of an X feel. The drums here are very electronic sounding, which gives the song a bit of an interesting tone. This is a really interesting track, with a solid chorus. The little guitar leads that open the song and reoccur after the second chorus are pretty cool and there’s a pretty different sounding vocal bridge after that. This kinda sticks out against the rest of the album, but maybe not in the best ways. Still, solid song.

All Time High is into that upbeat rocker territory. The way the vocal is phrased between the guitar riff in the verses reminds me of Bad Actress from Sparkle Lounge. Joe is starting to push his vocal a bit further on this song and it sounds really good. Despite the previous track’s name, I think this holds a lot of great energy to it. This feels like a band having a lot of fun and that is more or less exactly what I want from a Leppard song. The kick off into the bridge is one of the best moments in the song, with the bridge changing the pace of the song really well. The solo here is pretty great too! Kind of a shame this one never saw a live airing as that chorus would have been prime for an audience singalong. As the final chorus fades out, Joe gets into his falsetto register just to change it up a bit and it sounds a bit odd but it’s a cool switch up for the song.

 Battle of My Own is an interesting concept of a song. This is ultimately a rocker, with a chorus phrasing that reminds me of Led Zepplin’s Whole Lotta Love, a really cool riff and yet performed on acoustic guitars! The drums kick in after the second chorus and the added energy from that point on make me wonder what a proper electric version of this song would have sounded like. This is actually a really good song, I just want to hear an alternate version of it.

Broke ‘n’ Brokenhearted takes me back to that Sparkle Lounge feel again, much like Dangerous. This is a great mid-tempo rocker with a chorus I can really get behind! The riffing on this one is a little basic, but the whole song has a great attitude to it. This is another one that needed a live airing as it manages to stick out as one of my absolute favourites in the album! Singalong chorus goodness and in your face energy, what’s not to love!

Forever Young opens with a really cool riff. There’s actually a bit of tension in the sound of this whole track, with the chorus releasing just enough to let it stand out. It’s powerful, but far too short.  Barely over 2 minutes into the song and it’s fading out. I wish they’d have added a lot more parts to this one, as the pace, riff and overall energy to this song are really strong, there’s just far from enough of it!

Last Dance goes back to the acoustic ballad territory, with Joe’s vocal standing tall on top of everything. This song paints the picture of nostalgia and growing older through it’s lyrics. The chorus is really nice, capped off with a nice melodic solo. This is really nicely structured and I love hearing that acoustic guitar twang all throughout. It’s a very pretty, short song and while it doesn’t get a chance to stand out, it’s well worth a listen.

Wings of an Angel has an intriguing intro, starting big before dialling it back into a really cool, bluesy twanged riff. This song gets larger and larger as it goes, turning into a powerful chorus before dialling it back to that verse riff again. While the riffing is great, what’s super cool is Rick’s approach to the drums here. While it’s still kept fairly simple, Rick plays through many different moods with the changing sections and it’s really well crafted. The soloing on this is great as are the riffs. This is one that requires more than one listen, it’s just so good and has a lot going on in its 4 and a half minute runtime.

Blind Faith is the closing track for this album, and the last new song we get to cover before Diamond Star Halos (holy crap, we did it!). Opening with a riff that, for some reason, reminds me of Soundgarden before Joe’s vocals start up, I’m already quite intrigued to see where this goes. Shortly into the song, we’re already given the first solo which nice and bluesy. The song feels like it’s leading up to something big the whole time, with Joe’s vocals getting higher and more intense as the song gets further in. 2 and a half minutes in, we start getting some drums and bass in the track. When we reach the 3:14 mark, the guitars reach for the distortion underneath the orchestral leads, but drops back to an acoustic guitar shortly after. This song feels like it’s constantly building to something and, finally, at the 4:20 mark, we get the payoff!  We get a great lead riff and a nice falsetto vocal, sounding it’s strongest since Love and Affection. However, this section is too short lived for what feels like a song defined by feeling like it’s foreboding and building to this point. All the same, this is a pretty solid track.

This album is pretty damn solid, I’m not gonna lie. There are a lot of different moods from a lot of different eras at play on this album. We get a taste of where every road they’ve taken has brought us, all culminating into a great 53 minute album. While I feel that Songs from the Sparkle Lounge was perhaps a little more instantly hooky, this album has a lot of songs that delve a little deeper. Giving us a small epic in the form of Wings of an Angel, an epic opener with Let’s Go and solid rockers with Dangerous, All Time High and Broke ‘n’ Brokenhearted, this is a Def Leppard album that gives you just a little bit of everything. It’s a really enjoyable listen, and I’ll happily give it the 4.25 here. If this had been the final album, I think this would have been a great culmination of everything in one neat package while still being new material. Thankfully, there is more to come. While there has been a long break between albums (almost seven years, October 2015 to May 2022), it’s almost at an end now, not too long to wait at all. 

And with that, guys, we’re there! I will drop the Hits Vegas review in roughly 12 hours, and that will be the full deep dive leading to the release of Diamond Star Halos completed with only a few live albums not covered. This has been a really really enjoyable experience for me. I’d love opinions on who to deep dive into next, maybe Metallica or Iron Maiden, that is if you guys are keen on going through another deep dive with me?
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 26, 2022, 09:09:49 AM
X - 2002

...

This album gets a 2.5. It sucks. I was bored listening to it, I was wondering if I could skip this one entirely. But I’m kinda glad I didn’t ultimately. There are some really good ideas that aren’t used well here, there are some proper gems like Let Me Be the One and Scar. But the way this album is makes the best parts seem like mistakes.   On this tour, Def Leppard leaned deep into the rarities, opening several shows with either Ring of Fire or the entire first side of High ‘n’ Dry, which I believe was an effort to get the fans back on their side. But this album as a whole is utter garbage. Let’s hope their cover album is a bit better, hey?

Guys, I’m not gonna ask you for your opinion on this album, but I will recommend checking out Now and Scar. Other than that, I kinda want to cry into my knees in the shower after this album. That’s how this has made me feel.

:lol

This is where my responses are going to start getting a lot shorter. 

X sounds polished and slick, and I can give a certain amount of respect for any band that can even get to a tenth album with a fanbase anywhere near the size of Def Lep's.  This album sounds like a band that has been at it awhile and is a group of musicians that can write a slick, polished song in their sleep.  ...and that they did just that.  Picking the album off the shelf and looking at the track listing, I couldn't remember a single song off of it.  I don't think I have listened to it more than three times, if that.  There's just nothing to grab my attention.  On this listen, Now, Cry, and Scar were somewhat interesting.  But nothing much else grabbed me.  I agree with the sentiment that there are a lot of good ideas that I hear on this one, but they ultimately don't go anywhere that sounds interesting to me.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 26, 2022, 09:54:48 AM
Yeah! - 2006

I don't generally listen to covers albums all that much, but I have discovered some great older songs due to covers.  All the older bands do a covers album eventually, so ten albums in, I was not shocked that Def Leppard did one. 

Bands that do covers albums typically pay homage to those bands that were an influence on them.  Sometimes, I can just look at a track listing on something like Stryper's The Covering and know I am probably going to like it when I see songs by Maiden, Ozzy, Sabbath, Scorpions, and Van Halen.  Sometimes, I may see a few that are familiar and see a bunch I don't really know, but find that they are done so well that I can't help but love it, like Tesla's Reel To Real.  In Lep's case, I didn't know most of these.  And at the end of the day, this isn't an album I ever really feel a need to come back to.  Don't get me wrong--they do a decent job with these songs.  And I actually like it when there is material I am less familiar with for me to sink my teeth into.  It's just not an album that does much for me.  But I can respect what they were doing, and they do a good job with it.  It sounds like they are having a blast on these songs.  And when I do listen, I enjoy it well enough.  On top of all of that, hearing the band pay homage to their influences, a lot of their musical evolution suddenly makes a lot more sense. 

Favorites are the first two, He's Gonna Step on You Again, Don't Believe a Word, and Stay With Me (Phil sounds AMAZING!). 

I saw them on this tour.  It was quite the spectacle, and I mean that in a good way.  They only played two songs from this album (20th Century Boy and Rock On), and it was a somewhat short set, but they were touring with Journey, so they were giving time to the "opener" (I think it was officially billed as a co-headlining tour, if I recall correctly).  Good show, even if it was short and was almost entirely a "hits" show.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 26, 2022, 10:52:30 AM
Songs from the Sparkle Lounge - 2008

...

A perfect album? Not by any means, but a great way to pass the time. This does have its low points, as every album must, but what’s here is a really fun time.

That about sums it up.  I disagree that this is a return to the "quintessential Def Leppard sound."  While that "flavor" is present, this to me is a departure from a lot of what their earlier "core sound" was, and it simultaneously shows a lot of creativity and a lot of going back to their real roots and influences.  I feel like this is where we were logically headed with albums like Adrenalize, Euphoria, and X, but just has better songs than the last two, shows the influence and glam-ness of Yeah!, and just has "fun" written all over it.  I view this album and Yeah! as companions in that they really do draw heavily from those influences and are a combined "lightbulb" moment that makes me go, "Oh, okay.  While I don't necessarily like the more poppy, glammier moments in their later music, it all makes so much sense now."  Still not an album I come back to, but I listened to this one a lot more than X or Yeah!  And I just enjoy it, even if it does sound like a different band than the one I got into in the '80s. 



[Wow!  3 album postings in one day.  And it may get to 4 or 5 if I can do Mirror Ball and maybe Viva! Hysteria.]
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 26, 2022, 07:01:55 PM
Setlist - 1. Die Hard the Hunter. 2. Animal. 3. Excitable. 4. Foolin’. 5. Too Late For Love. 6. Billy’s Got A Gun. 7. Slang. 8. Promises. 9. Paper Sun. 10. Let It Go. 11. Mirror Mirror (Look Into My Eyes). 12. Bringin’ on the Heartbreak. 13. Switch 625. 14. Let Me Be The One. 15. We Belong. 16. Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad. 17. Two Steps Behind. 18. Now. 19. Rocket. 20. Let’s Get Rocked. 21. Hysteria. 22. Love Bites. 23. Armageddon It. 24. Pour Some Sugar On Me. 25. Let’s Go. 26. Action. 27. Rock of Ages. 28. Photograph.

 https://open.spotify.com/album/0HNTthYcoe49a2AGGgxyrX?si=Q_FhixS6SU6w32AS0xazBA (https://open.spotify.com/album/0HNTthYcoe49a2AGGgxyrX?si=Q_FhixS6SU6w32AS0xazBA)
 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCXV74e3a77iWH7BEVgE9CpnbZH9M9kVV (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCXV74e3a77iWH7BEVgE9CpnbZH9M9kVV)

The tour behind the self titled album kicked off in October of 2015 and did not end until October of 2017. The album sold well, peaked in the top ten in numerous countries and was hailed as an album where the band had rediscovered their sense of purpose. Following on from that success, Def Leppard went out on tour again, co-headlining with Journey across North America between May and October, which had been preceded by a headline benefit show at the Royal Albert Hall for the Teenage Cancer Trust. But the real fun was yet to begin. On October 19th, Def Leppard played a show in Honolulu for the first time since 1983. During that concert, they played the entire Hysteria album again. This was the start of a tour that saw the full album played in Japan, Australia and the UK. One of these shows was officially released as Hysteria at the O2 , which would be released officially in May of 2020 as part of a double live DVD/Blu-Day package. 

2019 was no slouch for Def Leppard either. Starting with their induction into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, they then went off on a European tour for a month before heading across the pond for 11 shows across Canada. But it was only the tip of the iceberg. Def Leppard were now in for one of the biggest productions they had ever put on. 12 shows in one venue, the Zappos Theater in Las Vegas. Multiple rare tracks, a few rotating song choices, and one of the biggest stage productions the band has ever put together. It’s time to delve deep into Hits Vegas .

Because this is such an intense production, I have put in the YouTube link as well as the Spotify link. You honestly should watch it because the lighting is cool and the set looks amazing. I’ll be talking about that more within each song if I think there’s something really worth bringing up.

So, the show begins with the sounds of air raid sirens, helicopters, gunfire and explosions, leading into acoustic guitars and vocals. For the first time since Vivian Campbell’s very first show with the band in 1992, we have  Die Hard the Hunter! This is a great opening track, and the staging for the intro looks amazing. Vivian takes the first solo of the show. The lighting during the main instrumental section is fantastic, really highlighting each guitarist especially well during that descending riff. This is just a very attention-grabbing intro to the show and I love it.

This leads straight into Animal. The video screen at the top of the rear of the stage changes to a view of all sorts of signs that are very synonymous with Las Vegas. There isn’t much to report on this song, it’s a fairly great performance of Animal, but it’s a song that we all know well at this point. Phil shows a lot of passion during the solo section especially, but the whole band seem to be having a really great time at this point.

Third up we have Excitable, and this version in particular helps me with proving a point I made back in my Hysteria review. This song is not a bad track by any means, but it really takes on a bigger life of its own when played live. The shots of the crowds in this one really help sell it and I love the way the lights are put onto the crowd full blast during the title line in the chorus. This is exactly what I think of with this song. Phil adds a solo to this that isn’t found on the album version, the actual riff they play to bring this out properly is super tight. This is a great version of the song.

Vivian takes the spotlight to open the next song, which is Foolin’. You’ve got lights set up to the cowbell in the chorus and a great atmosphere set up to the mood changes of the song all up. Phil takes centre stage for the solo on this one and it’s a great moment. This is a really tight performance of the song, maybe my favourite live rendition of this song overall. We stay with the Pyromania singles a little longer here, with Too Late For Love starting shortly after. Vivian takes a spotlight opening the riff, looking really cool with his Les Paul and leather jacket. Joe’s performance here is pretty great, especially given that his higher register isn’t what it used to be. My favourite riff of the song is met with a pretty great matching light show, and then Vivian absolutely smokes each of the solos in this song. The sea of clapping hands going into the third verse is such a great visual, as is Rick Allen having a really thick smile across his face during the chorus. It’s so great to see that this is still a band that love what they do!

Want a big rarity now? Ok, have Billy’s Got A Gun for the first time since 2002! As much as I loved the performance of this one on the LA Forum gig, I think the modern guitar tone just builds this song up so much more. Joe’s giving this song everything he has and it just sounds fantastic. The group vocal bridge is really a standout on this performance. The strobe light set to Rick’s snare fill is a great touch. The trade off between Vivian’s solo and Phil’s solo is well done and this whole track is great. Joe shouts the final “bang bang” straight into Phil’s pickups, which is almost a moment of humour for a song that doesn’t need it, but the result is great.

Let’s now take a moment to step out of the 80’s and give some post Hysteria songs a chance, hey? As mentioned by Joe in his track by track commentary for Slang “we often see great big banners that say “please play Slang, so obviously, occasionally, we do”. And here it is. This song is pretty much just a short couple of minutes for the boys to have some fun. The chorus has a cool trade, where Sav and Phil sing the first line and Viv and Joe finish it off. It’s a really fun song to hear live, probably a lot better than the album version for many. For me, having a larger audience presence on this one, coupled with Joe not holding back as much and just having fun with it, makes this version way better than what was on Viva! Hysteria.

Up next, Promises. As soon as Phil starts that riff, the place goes mental. It’s an AWESOME moment in the show and the whole song is just great here. Not much to say here, but Viv’s outro solo is pretty special.

Paper Sun is one of my favourite Def Leppard songs of all, so having it here is a thing of sheer beauty. The lighting for the pre-chorus and chorus is officially one of my favourite things from the production standpoint so far, with Joe being faded out to highlight the band during their vocal parts and then putting the focus back on Joe for his lines. This song live is on a whole other level to the album version and if Phil hadn’t changed the final lick of his solo, this would be my favourite performance of anything Def Leppard had ever done.

But our favourite album hasn’t been covered yet, I hear some if you saying. Here’s 4 songs just for you High ‘n’ Dry fans! First up, Let It Go. This song just sounds huge here. Hearing the wall of voices during the chorus is awesome, Vivian’s take on the solos here is perfect and the high pitched  bridge with just Joe and Sav sounds just right. This song is a real highlight from High ‘n’ Dry and it is here too. Phil’s ending solo gives the outro a nice little extra push. Once again, miles above the 2013 version.
Up next is Mirror Mirror, which is another huge favourite of mine when it comes to this album. It’s at this point of the show where I realise how much I’ve been understating Vivian’s role in the band. He’s pretty much the MVP of this show so far, and he even nails my favourite lead from the album version 100% dead on. Onto the song, this one really suits Joe’s current vocal and this performance is huge. I wish they’d have boosted Sav’s bass presence a little more on the verses of this one, as it really needs him, but other than that, solid work!
We end our look into High ‘n’ Dry with the 1-2 punch of Bringin’ on the Heartbreak and Switch 625. I’ve mentioned before that my favourite version of Heartbreak is the one found on Mirror Ball, with the acoustic into the full band at the climax, but this performance is very faithful to the album version. The clean tones are pretty much perfect in the verses, and when that chorus kicks in, the group vocal has never sounded better. Vivian’s soloing is very faithful to the way Steve played this song and it’s just a fantastic performance. The way that the lighting drops out to just a spotlight on Sav to start up Switch 625 is awesome and we start getting a little bit of laser action here. Vivian and Phil both climb to the higher level to start the lead guitar action and it looks awesome. They climb down again once we get back to the main riff, and we hold onto that last note. The lights disappear and we get treated to a Rick Allen drum solo. The shots of his footwork during this really makes you understand how much Rick puts into performing with Leppard and while the drum solo sounds like nothing much, watching it really gives me so much perspective of how great he really is.

It’s been a pretty rocking setlist so far, but I almost feel like I need something a bit different now. That’s when I see Joe with an acoustic guitar walk away the way down the catwalk to a smaller stage at the end of the catwalk with a few stools. This is the point where Joe introduces the band, one by one, as they make their way down the catwalk. This is a great moment and Joe announces that the next few songs had never been played live or had been completely forgotten. Rick walks out in a crown and cape, ala Freddie Mercury and it’s a great moment.

First song in this acoustic setlist is from X, Let Me Be The One. This really highlights the vocal power of Def Leppard as a band with the chorus. While I kinda liked the album version, I’d much rather listen to this. This is acoustic, live and raw and it just sounds great! But if this demonstrates the vocal power of the group, it’s this next song that shows off something a little bit special. Off of the self-titled album, We Belong is the magical song sung by every single member of the band. Live, this sounds a little more raw and honest, but you get a really good feeling for what everyone sounds like when the next group vocal kicks in. Extra special is the fact that Rick Allen gets a line of vocal.
Up next is Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad from Adrenalize. This is another one that benefits from the acoustic treatment, but I will say I miss the higher harmonies to the pre-chorus here. The ending of the bridge into the acapella line of the final chorus is a really effective moment here, and I love it.
Two Steps Behind from Retro Active closes out the acoustic set. This song gives Rick Allen a bit of a break, which is good because we’ve still got a fair ways to go with this concert. This is a decent performance of the song, but I have to admit that there’s something missing without the orchestra here. This one is probably my least favourite out of the acoustic set this time around, just because the other three were such special tracks.

Now is the perfect song to cap off with after the acoustic set. Joe holds down the acoustic guitar here with Viv and Phil holding down the ambient guitar harmonies. This then kicks into high gear through the chorus and into the rest of the song. This is a really great live song, absolutely blowing away the studio version from X. Vivian’s outro leads really fit the track, Phil nails his solo and I think this is just a really great performance.

Then we get into the staples dump portion of the show. After all, it is a Def Leppard concert and the staples are staples for a reason. We kick into a hybrid version of Rocket, taking the opening drum loop from the album version and then kicking into the single version’s “Guitar! Drums!” punchy intro. The energy in this song is beyond massive and we’re back to Leppard just having a great time on stage together. The way the lights break down into the album version’s middle section is really cool. This feels like Leppard’s answer to what Queen used to do with Bohemian Rhapsody’s middle operatic section. Leaving the band submerged in darkness makes their return with the solo so much bigger! I must admit, I get a little tired of seeing this on every setlist, but watching it through on this release makes me realise why it is such a good live song.

Up next is the lead single from Adrenalize, Let’s Get Rocked. This is really added to by the live ambience. It’s a little faster, the crowd singing along to the chorus is great. Phil’s fast legato run making up for the violins on the original record is super fun, and I’m just having a really good time with this song. The energy in this part of the set is really cracking, maybe more so tham the start of the show.

Hysteria is up next and the background on this one is amazing. There are newspaper headlines on the first two tiers, and up above is the album cover and clips from In The Round, In Your Face. The solo section is extra special, seeing Vivian and Phil playing the full solo together in the middle of the catwalk. This is such a special song, meaning so much in terms of the full discography. Phil lets rip to close out the song and the whole thing just feels really good.

We then take a moment to slow the set down a little with a beautiful version of Love Bites. The light show alone is worth watching this song for, we’ve got all sorts of laser work and a nice starry background behind it all. Vivian takes up a lot of the lead role on this song and absolutely nails the fragile, somber tone that this song goes for. This time around, I really enjoyed the song, but I think this could’ve been better utilised before Rocket, as it really brings down the mood after Let’s Get Rocked and Hysteria. I feel like this song probably needed to be done to a metronome, as it feels like the tempo fluctuates a lot more than it’s meant to on this one. I like the performance of this song a lot more on Mirror Ball, where Vivian gets a great extended solo.

The next song opens with Vivian walking straight down the catwalk, riffing. Armageddon It has always been a favourite live and this performance of the song is pretty much perfect. Joe isn’t holding back at all, the guitars are going gangbusters, the group vocal sounds awesome. This is just a real highlight of the whole show, well worth everything that led us here.

The main set closes off with Pour Some Sugar On Me, almost a little predictably. The vocal presence in this one sounds a little weak, but after how hard Joe has just gone on Armageddon It, it makes sense he might be holding a bit back. After all, this is the 24th track of this DVD (the 21st on the actual night). This is, as you’d expect, a huge highlight for the audience and it closes off everything we’ve seen so far really nicely.

So, being that this release combines every song played over the multiple nights into one release, this is where the flow gets a little bit odd. We have two encore openers, both with their own extended intros. First up is Let’s Go, from the self-titled. I feel like this one is a little odd as an encore opener, as it is so well suited to being the very first song of the night. Nonetheless, this is a great performance of a super upbeat song. After hearing it in such close proximity with Sugar, this really doubles down what I felt with the song in it’s album version. This feels like a modern take on Sugar. Sav’s bass leads in the bridge cut through so nicely and the solo is a real highlight with Phil starting it and passing it over to Vivian through the harmonised lick.

However, what does open the encore really well is Action! We get some nice purple spotlights and then Phil just opens with a killer lead line. The opening line “so you think you’ll take another piece of me” really fits the vibe of an encore to me. This version is exactly what you expect it to be. It sounds great and absolutely pumps up the audience. Phil plays an Explorer on this one, which is really different. This song is just a really great way to kick off to get into the last two songs of the show.

Up next, Def Leppard have something to say. It’s better to burn out, than to fade away. Rock of Ages gets a killer performance here as we all know it should. It’s such a feel good song, you can see the audience clapping along to each snare hit in parts, Phil’s solo is so good and this is just the Def Leppard we’ve come to love doing what they do best. If this was your first experience with Def Leppard, this is exactly where this song deserves to go. You’ve almost earned it, in a way.

And to cap it all off, Photograph takes the final spot on our setlist for this evening. Phil and Vivian stand at the foot of the catwalk to start the riff together, Joe gives this his best and the crowd goes wild one last time. The backdrop fills with photos of the band growing up. This feels like the best way to close the show. Phil’s solo is perfect to send us out, we get to see people dancing in the audience and it just feels awesome. The mood from the band is so good. After Joe hits the end of his speech, you can hear Kings of the World start up and it fades out as the credits end.

I have to give this top marks. This is a setlist that brings together songs from nearly every album (we’re only missing On Through the Night, Sparkle Lounge and Mirror Ball here, at least live in the case of Mirror Ball), the performance is so good, and every song just proves that Def Leppard are still in the top of their game live, even if their albums aren’t what they used to be. If this had been their final release, I still think it would have been perfect. This is Def Leppard. This is who they are and what they do live for nearly 2 and a half hours!

And that’s actually where we leave the band for now. After this residency, Def Leppard played two more shows and then took off at the start of November. A new tour was announced for 2020, but we all know how that particular story goes. COVID outbreaks canned the tour until June 16th 2022 and the band were unable to come together to do much more than that. But, there will be a next time, as Joe always said. That’s the story that we are all about to react to. The new album, Diamond Star Halos has released here in Australia, it will unlock across the rest of the world soon, I’m excited that we have made it here, covering the whole discography within this last month.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Zoom E on May 26, 2022, 07:10:01 PM
I listened to Songs From the Sparkle Lounge for the first time today. I definitely like it better than Euphoria. The first song, Go, was pretty good, and there were a number of other decent tunes.

I bought the self-titled Def Leppard album about 4 years ago. It was in one of those bins at WalMart where all the CDs are $5.00. I’ll have to give it a listen again tomorrow as I can’t remember any of the songs, but I do recall that it is not a bad effort.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Lepprador on May 27, 2022, 06:28:28 PM
Hi DTF, I'm doin' another hit and run.

Thanks Defeye. You're doing important work here.

I bloody love the new album. While the self titled from 2015 was a collection of strong songs, the new one has a much higher consistency. The flow of the album is marvelous.
The vocal additon of Alison Krauss is nothing to fear. I primarily bought the deluxe edition because of the Joe only track, but those 2 song are not duets.
The very sweet and beautiful voice of hers is just another vocal layer enriching the already rich sound. It still manages to find a place in the mix.
It's really almost too low, but in that more effective as being more prominent.
Diamand Star Halos is the dirty, sleazy and less successful brother of Hysteria.

And did Tim finally accept his surpressed real sexuality ?



Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 27, 2022, 09:06:47 PM
I'm halfway through the new album. I'm already pissed off by the new Schenker, so I'm already in a foul mood.

I think the thing that aggravates me about Def Leppard is that they have TWO guys who can absolutely slay on guitar, and frankly, you would never know it. Just seems like such a waste.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: HOF on May 27, 2022, 11:07:38 PM
Hi DTF, I'm doin' another hit and run.

Thanks Defeye. You're doing important work here.

I bloody love the new album. While the self titled from 2015 was a collection of strong songs, the new one has a much higher consistency. The flow of the album is marvelous.
The vocal additon of Alison Krauss is nothing to fear. I primarily bought the deluxe edition because of the Joe only track, but those 2 song are not duets.
The very sweet and beautiful voice of hers is just another vocal layer enriching the already rich sound. It still manages to find a place in the mix.
It's really almost too low, but in that more effective as being more prominent.
Diamand Star Halos is the dirty, sleazy and less successful brother of Hysteria.

And did Tim finally accepted his surpressed real sexuality ?

Alison Krauss is on the new album? Might have to check it out for that sole reason. She’s amazing.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Lepprador on May 28, 2022, 08:45:03 AM
I think the thing that aggravates me about Def Leppard is that they have TWO guys who can absolutely slay on guitar, and frankly, you would never know it. Just seems like such a waste.

Song is king.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: HOF on May 28, 2022, 09:00:20 AM
So the two songs with Krauss are ok. This Guitar is exceedingly country and corny lyrically, but I kind of dig it. Lifeless was a bit bland but had some nice moments. I don’t really have enough interest to sit through the rest of the album though.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 28, 2022, 09:02:41 AM
I think the thing that aggravates me about Def Leppard is that they have TWO guys who can absolutely slay on guitar, and frankly, you would never know it. Just seems like such a waste.

Song is king.

Er.. which song?
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 28, 2022, 09:15:26 AM
No, I think Lepprador was saying that utilising both guitars at all times isn’t as important as doing something that serves the song. The song is key, not the members playing it.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 28, 2022, 09:18:51 AM
No, I think Lepprador was saying that utilising both guitars at all times isn’t as important as doing something that serves the song. The song is key, not the members playing it.

But these songs blow. Er..sorry. There's just not much to these songs I guess. They don't use the guitars at any times.

I'm going to try and finish this album later today. I was already pissed off by the new Schenker and this just got me more aggravated. I did kind of like the three advanced tunes so I was looking forward to at least kind of digging this.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 28, 2022, 11:16:28 AM
Best song I heard on the new album is easily From Here To Eternity. That is an all time keeper. Might literally be the best song they've done since Pyromania, not counting the Hysteria b-sides.

Again...Rick Allen  :hefdaddy
He has really developed his technique.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Lepprador on May 28, 2022, 11:39:26 AM
No, I think Lepprador was saying that utilising both guitars at all times isn’t as important as doing something that serves the song. The song is key, not the members playing it.

A concept not every Dream Theater fan is automatically familiar with.

And yes, Rick's drumming is fantastic throughout.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 28, 2022, 01:44:29 PM
No, I think Lepprador was saying that utilising both guitars at all times isn’t as important as doing something that serves the song. The song is key, not the members playing it.

But these songs blow. Er..sorry. There's just not much to these songs I guess. They don't use the guitars at any times.

I'm going to try and finish this album later today. I was already pissed off by the new Schenker and this just got me more aggravated. I did kind of like the three advanced tunes so I was looking forward to at least kind of digging this.
I get what you are saying, TAC.  I haven't heard the new album, but from my posts so far in the thread on the albums through Sparkle, that has kind of been my complaint.  They can write a slick, polished sounding song.  But that doesn't mean it's a good song.  Couple that with the fact that this is a band that came up as part of the BWOHM and had a reputation for guitar-driven hard rock, and, yes, the feeling that Phil's and Vivian's guitar chops being underutilized should not be hard to understand.

No, I think Lepprador was saying that utilising both guitars at all times isn’t as important as doing something that serves the song. The song is key, not the members playing it.

A concept not every Dream Theater fan is automatically familiar with.

And comments like these so completely miss the point as to be completely useless.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Lepprador on May 28, 2022, 06:13:03 PM
Am I treading dangerous ground ? Where overcompensation is the indication for deficiency ?
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: WilliamMunny on May 28, 2022, 06:20:44 PM
Okay, now that I've had a couple of days with the new album, I think I'm ready to share my thoughts:

My initial thoughts? I wanted to like this record so much, but during my first run-through, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was listening to an obvious 'pandemic' record, one featuring half-baked songs cobbled together from various time-zones.

But, my opinion has softened with subsequent listens. This isn't the 2015 self-titled disc (an album that I instantly loved and still think is their strongest post-Hysteria effort), but it's also not as bad as X.

My track-by-track thoughts:

1. Take What You Want - A solid opener that I liked the second it was released, and when measured against the rest of the album, is one of this record's strongest tracks. Joe's vocals are a bit buried though.

2. Kick - I think I said in a previous post that 'this' version of the band (the T-Rex-meets-Sweet incarnation) is just not my thing. This is a fine song that will probably go over great live. Still, I have no desire to listen to it again.

3. Fire It Up - Pretty much the same thoughts here as with "Kick"

4. This Guitar [feat. Alison Krauss] - I wanted to hate this song, but in and of itself, it's not half bad. Still, it's a far cry from what I want in a Def Leppard ballad. I can't help but wonder if this record would've been better as a 10-song album with an 'odds & sods' E.P.. That way, they could indulge moments like this without having them sap the momentum of an already bloated album.

5. SOS Emergency - Considering the tracks that came before, this is a breath of fresh air. I dig this song a lot (even if it borrows heavily from "Promises")

6. Liquid Dust -  A cool mid-tempo romp. Not the best lyric here, but I appreciate the effort.

7. U Rok Mi - The silly title notwithstanding, this song is great.

8. Goodbye For Good This Time - The second proper ballad, and unlike "This Guitar," this is EXACTLY what I want to hear from Joe and the boys. Great, great, great lyric.

9. All We Need -  Another mid-tempo rocker. A bit generic, but the chorus is incredibly strong.

10. Open Your Eyes - Man, this is another breath of fresh air. That bass line is just amazing, and the whole thing feels like new ground for the band. Super strong track.

11. Gimme A Kiss - Meh. I appreciate the energy, but this lyric does nothing for me. Oh, and that kiss sound-effect at the end... ???

12. Angels (Can’t Help You Now) - Another amazing ballad. This feels of a piece with "Paper Sun" in that the subject matter feels a bit more serious than the typical Leppard fare.

13. Lifeless [feat. Alison Krauss] - Not unlike "This Guitar," "Lifeless" is a fine song that simply feels out of place.

14. Unbreakable - A cool, upbeat rocker that helps anchor this admittedly plodding third act.

15. From Here To Eternity - An epic in the vein of "White Lightening" and "Gods of War," albeit, with more of a Beatles-tinge. This song was another left-field surprise. Hats off to Def Leppard for still managing to surprise.

So, by my count, there's an amazing 10-song album floating around in this 15-song LP. Highlights include "Take What You Want," "Open Your Eyes," and "From Here To Eternity." For anyone who hasn't given this a spin, do yourself a favor and at least check out those three tracks.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, there's always something for someone on a Def Leppard album. In fact, it's that accessibility that ultimately betrays so much of their post-Pyromania output. In an effort to be 'all things to everyone,' the band struggles to deliver an album that will truly please anyone from top to bottom. In my opinion, the 2015 album comes close, but there's still a song or two that I could lose on that one.

That all said, I'm super impressed with any band that manages to release new music forty years on. And judging by the clips I've seen, the boys are 'still' sounding great live. Diamond Star Halos might not be a top-5 Def Leppard album, but it's definitely going to get its fair share of spins this summer!

Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 28, 2022, 06:25:59 PM
Thanks for the writeup WMunn. I have to hit the previous three or four albums I missed last week.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 28, 2022, 07:23:54 PM
X - 2002
Tracklisting - 1. Now. 2. Unbelievable. 3. You’re So Beautiful. 4. Everyday. 5. Long Long Way To Go. 6. Four Letter Word. 7. Torn To Shreds. 8. Love Don’t Lie. 9. Gravity. 10. Cry. 11. Girl Like You. 12. Let Me Be The One. 13. Scar. 14. Kiss The Day. 15. Long Long Way To Go (Acoustic)

   On this tour, Def Leppard leaned deep into the rarities, opening several shows with either Ring of Fire or the entire first side of High ‘n’ Dry, which I believe was an effort to get the fans back on their side. But this album as a whole is utter garbage. Let’s hope their cover album is a bit better, hey?



OK, I finally had a chance to run through this. I think if I try and accept this for what it is instead of what it is not, I feel like this a fairly decent soft rock background music kind of thing...like going to the dentist. For the most part, it's fairly harmless.

Scar is a great tune though. But Gravity can fuck right off. And this is way too long.



Regarding the Bolded, It'd be great if they would do even a one off hard rock album. Their albums are basically a whole lot of nothing. They seem directionless.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 29, 2022, 06:37:30 AM
Diamond Star Halos - 2022

Tracklisting - 1. Take What You Want. 2. Kick. 3. Fire It Up. 4. This Guitar. 5. SOS Emergency. 6. Liquid Dust. 7. U Rok Mi. 8. Goodbye For Good This Time. 9. All We Need. 10. Open Your Eyes. 11. Gimme A Kiss. 12. Angels (Can’t Help You Now). 13. Lifeless. 14. Unbreakable. 15. From Here To Eternity.

 https://open.spotify.com/album/5arLkguGPIDSGzCT8Cjt6K?si=A08Rc7AXQiOf0YnSSUVhZg (https://open.spotify.com/album/5arLkguGPIDSGzCT8Cjt6K?si=A08Rc7AXQiOf0YnSSUVhZg)

2020 struck the world hard, but to me, it seems like the music industry was affected the most. As March came, live shows went from being a regular part of everyone’s lives to becoming a scarce commodity and as time went on, it became a question of if live shows would come back again at all.
For the musicians, this almost turned into a source of inspiration. While rehearsals and gigs went out the window, the ability to write became stronger than ever. Over the last few years, there have been a lot of great albums released that were very much a product of this new landscape. Demos we’re sent between band members and elaborated on from the comfort of homes and livestreams were becoming very commonplace.

For Def Leppard, this was a very new approach to recording an album. Everyone recorded their own parts from home and sent their respective parts to their producer, marking the first time they hadn’t all been together in the studio at any point during the recording process. What came out of it were 15 songs, making up the brand new album Diamond Star Halos. So, does this new album tick all the boxes? Will we have another release as solid as the self-titled from 2015, or will this be closer to the bottom of the list? Let’s fire it up!

For the most part, I’m going into this album blind. I have only heard the first two of the three singles and I don’t remember much about Kick, so this is pretty much my first impression on the album as a whole. I’m excited!

Our album opens with a huge buildup, which almost immediately brings to mind Rock! Rock!’s intro. This is Take What You Want, the second single released from the album. The main riff, as soon as we kick into it, is nice and big, setting a great pace. The pre-chorus and chorus feature that signature Def Leppard group vocal, Joe’s vocals are nice and punchy and sounding pretty fresh. The bridge brings back the clean riff from the intro, which is a really nice call back. The solo in this one is, much like Let’s Go before it, a trade off between Vivian and Phil. This whole song has a great pace to it, helped very much by the hook of it’s main riff. This stands really tall over the album, much like Let’s Go did for me. It’s got me hyped up to see what the rest of this album is going to be like and I’m sure this will be a great show opener when the tour kicks off next week.

Kick feels like a 1970s rocker and Slang at the same time for me, it’s an odd one to me. After recently listening to Yeah! again, this song makes a lot more sense to me in the Leppard catalogue. This really is a throwback to old school rockers by bands like Slade and the hook of the chorus grows on me with repetition. The change in the main riff just before the solo is a really cool moment, as is the acapella half of the final chorus. I like this a lot more than when I heard this the first time, I know for sure. As little as I remember of it, I know I wasn’t a fan of it on it’s initial release back in March, but this is actually quite a fun song.

Now we get into blind territory for the first time in this review series. Fire It Up was released as it’s own single barely a week before the album’s drop but in listening to everything else the band had to offer, I missed this one. 20 seconds in and it’s getting on my nerves a little. The verses sound like they”re trying to be Pour Some Sugar on Me with the shabby guitar underneath the vocal lines, and instrumentally it works. However, Joe’s delivery here actually really puts me off of this song. The melody is something I can’t get behind. Then there’s a really high droning guitar during the whole chorus that is a little much for way too long. What I will give credit to is the solo, which is a really fun moment. The post-chorus riff is pretty solid too. As a whole though, I do not care for this song at all.

This Guitar is Leppard going proper country and not in a fun Nine Lives space between country and rock kind of way. This is Joe and Alison Krauss singing over a proper old-school country backing. Again, the solo is a really standout moment, but this is not anything I really wanted to hear from Def Leppard. Taking it for what it is, it’s actually a really nice song. The chorus is really nice. They’ve apparently been sitting on this song for almost 17 years before it finally found it’s way out on a Def Leppard album, but I have to wonder if it really fits? Alison and Joe sound amazing together though. I wouldn’t call it a duet as much as it is two people singing the song simultaneously, but it’s a really nice sound. I hope we get to hear something a bit more Leppard from them later in the album (as she will reappear, according to the Tracklisting).

SOS Emergency brings back the rock vibe. Phil’s notes on the album (available on the iTunes Store) describe this as a marriage between later day Police and Foo Fighters and I couldn’t find a better description. This is a really good hard rocker with a good balance between the rocking choruses and the lighter verses. The call and response between the group vocals and Joe’s lead is really present in this chorus, the solo is really good too. This actually feels a lot like Promises to me which isn’t too bad. I think this is a lesser song than Promises was though and it comes to a screeching halt for the police sirens just before the final chorus.

Liquid Dust is next. This one hooked me early on, with a really attractive opening riff. The verse vocal reminds me of basically a reverse Desert Song, with Joe doing the low octave and a prominent higher octave over it (where the high octave was the buried on Desert Song). The pre-chorus riff reminds me a lot of the harmonic instrumental tag from the middle of Undefeated. While on the note of Retro Active though, the chorus melody reminds me a little of Fractured Love in the way that it flows. The middle of the track and even more so the outro remind me of Turn to Dust from Slang in all the right ways. Oddly, as much as I like the big rockers from Leppard, this is potentially my favourite of the album so far. The ending of the song leads directly into the next song,

which is U Rok Mi. The opening is all on Ukelele, which allows for the bass to take an absolutely dominating presence during the verses. The chorus is nice and big. This song would have benefitted from maybe less of a goofy title, as everything here absolutely rocks. Reaching into the last minute of the song, the ukelele riff meets distorted guitars, culminating in a great trading solo and a really powerful final chorus! You have to hear this back to back with Liquid Dust for the full effect, as the former doesn’t reach a full ending and the latter doesn’t take it’s own intro. These are connected, the flow is great and I actually really like it as a double header.

Goodbye For Good This Time is a beautiful piano ballad, featuring Mike Garson who played piano for David Bowie from Aladdin Sane until Bowie’s passing. Joe’s vocal is amazing, adding a perfect soul to his voice that really elevates the track. This is very much a sequel to Love from Sparkle Lounge in my ears and I fully intend to try both back-to-back when this review is fully written. The chorus is suitably massive, the acoustic guitar solo is really nice too. I would love to see this song played live sometime, this feels like it will be a very impressive moment to witness if it ever comes to be. It’s a massive song, even without most of the usual Leppard guitars. I love it!

All We Need starts with me thinking I’m listening to a U2 song by mistake, before we kick into a proper Leppard riff. The lead guitar beneath the verse reminds me of Armageddon It. This feels like a bit more of a spacey rocker, if you know what I mean. Things feel kinda detached from each other, like there’s some space between the layers of tracks. The whole thing sounds really good! The chorus is really catchy and the verses feel really sparse, which I like here. The solo section feels a little tacked on here. This feels somewhat celebratory in nature, which is a really good feeling. The ending with the bass and vocal layers feels very different for Leppard and it’s my favourite moment of the song.

Open Your Eyes opens with a massive bass sound that turns into a great riff! This whole song feels really different and I can’t get enough of it by the time the first chorus ends. This is very different from the rest of the album, which helps it stand out a lot, but it’s amazing. The chorus is my favourite in the album to this stage and every single element in this song feels perfect for the kind of song it is. There is not one thing I can say against the song. This feels like a rocked out cousin to Pearl of Euphoria. The solo is perfect too. My one thing is that I wish we didn’t fade out right as the solo was starting to really kick it up a notch. If this song never sees the light of day live, I will consider that a massive failure of oversight. The chorus is custom built for a singalong and that solo section could go on forever. Perfect. Love this one!

Gimme a Kiss opens with a basic riff that puts me in a good mood from the word go. Joe’s vocal have reclaimed an energy that was missing from a few of the previous tracks and there’s a good sense of fun here. The lyrics are a bit goofy “give me a kiss that rocks, show me a thrill that shocks”, but to be fair Leppard were never the most masterful with their lyrics. I love the added lead guitar to the last chorus, kicking out of the solo really well. Joe’s control over the tempo of the last line acapella is pretty cool, and hearing that kiss right after the song ends reminds me of Beautiful Girls by Van Halen.

Angels (Can’t Help You Now) is another ballad, dealing about the run of the mill life when things aren’t going the way we want them to. “It’s slipping away but don’t let it break you down.” When we kick into the title line of the song, the songs starts picking up a bit. The solo here adds a great soulful release to the track as a whole, one of the best on the album so far. The vocals on this song are brilliant, as is the piano (still played by Mike Garson). Phil’s notes knt he album say that this song never felt like a Def Leppard song because of its focus on the piano, but they ultimately decided “why not?” It feels like this is a line between Def Leppard and Dark Side-era Pink Floyd. Not the strongest song, by a long shot, but I’ll take it. The ending keys are just a little too much weird though.

Lifeless is up next, described as “if U2 played a country song and then Leppard covered it, this would be the result”. The riff is plenty catchy here, with a nice gritty but clean tone to boot. I really like the structure of this one, the verses are nice and loose feeling but get way more driven  with Krauss’ voice making a return firing the first chorus in a neat counterpoint to Joe’s main melody, before she joins on for the rest of the song fully. The bridge has a nice flow to it before the solo takes this song to another level. I don’t like country much, but I do like this. Still a step below Nine Lives on the Leppard country scale, but pretty nice all up.

Unbreakable opens with a verse that reminds me of Mother by Danzig, but it won’t stay there for too long. The main verse is kind of a drag, which is a shame because the chorus is nice and rocking with the U2 lead and a good chugging pattern underneath. I like the quickfire -able words between Joe’s main lines. The solo cuts through with a good pace. For me, this is one of the most filler entries from the album, which isn’t too bad if it’s the second to last before I have to say that.

From Here To Eternity sets a huge vibe straight off the bat! The riff is dynamic and starts up with a huge wall of group vocal. This feels fairly bluesy in it’s pace but the vocal delivery gives it an emphasis much like that of Billy’s Got a Gun. There really is a lot to unpack here and I do believe it’s easily the biggest song on the album. The main chorus vocal is great! We kick out of the third chorus (since the intro is a chorus) into a great solo section with the backing vocal opening up behind it. This song is all about the vocals though, with lyrics taking on a much more serious tone than most of the rest of the album. This really closes the album in a big nite, though again it fades out in a juicy solo, which as you’ll remember from Open Your Eyes, annoys me to no end.

So, I’m a little undecided on the album as a whole. I feel like the chase has been way better than the catch here, with the self titled feeling like a much more solid album. This isn’t X levels of bad, but I feel like it hasn’t reached any of the same heights as the last two albums, outside of having Open Your Eyes which immediately stands out as the best Diamond Star Halos song. There are some very good songs in here, but there are a few that really don’t cut it for me and bring the whole album down as a result. I think for a first listen, I’m not as hyped as I’d like to be, but the journey hasn’t been one of rediscovery as others had been. A solid album, but maybe not a great one. 3.75 for a first listen, but I look forward to giving it further listens in the future.

Well, that’s it. We’ve done everything! I loved doing this with you all, the ride has been very fun. I would love to do another one of these discography deep dives soon though, so take your pick from the following of who you’d like to see me cover next. Or tell me to rack off if you don’t want to see me do another.

Dream Theater (this is the DT forum after all)
Iron Maiden
Judas Priest
Metallica
Megadeth
Rush
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Cruithne on May 29, 2022, 01:56:55 PM
Best song I heard on the new album is easily From Here To Eternity. That is an all time keeper. Might literally be the best song they've done since Pyromania, not counting the Hysteria b-sides.

Again...Rick Allen  :hefdaddy
He has really developed his technique.

Really developed his technique by not apparently having any involvement in the album :-\ Every song has a "Ronan McHugh: Drum programming" credit.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: WilliamMunny on May 29, 2022, 02:07:28 PM
I'd love to hear your thoughts on Metallica!

And thanks for all of the write-ups.....this has been required reading for the past few weeks!
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 29, 2022, 02:19:02 PM
Best song I heard on the new album is easily From Here To Eternity. That is an all time keeper. Might literally be the best song they've done since Pyromania, not counting the Hysteria b-sides.

Again...Rick Allen  :hefdaddy
He has really developed his technique.

Really developed his technique by not apparently having any involvement in the album :-\ Every song has a "Ronan McHugh: Drum programming" credit.

Oh are you fucking kidding me? Dammit. Well, it's not like he played on Pyromania either! :lol

Seriously, that blows.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 29, 2022, 06:30:29 PM
Best song I heard on the new album is easily From Here To Eternity. That is an all time keeper. Might literally be the best song they've done since Pyromania, not counting the Hysteria b-sides.

Again...Rick Allen  :hefdaddy
He has really developed his technique.

Really developed his technique by not apparently having any involvement in the album :-\ Every song has a "Ronan McHugh: Drum programming" credit.

Oh, for fuck sake…

Well, thank you for bringing it to my attention. Rick’s lack of performance MASSIVELY underhands the album and it now receives a 3.25. That performance was something I was really hooked into the whole time and it doesn’t actually exist.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Stadler on May 31, 2022, 06:01:20 AM
Best song I heard on the new album is easily From Here To Eternity. That is an all time keeper. Might literally be the best song they've done since Pyromania, not counting the Hysteria b-sides.

Again...Rick Allen  :hefdaddy
He has really developed his technique.

Really developed his technique by not apparently having any involvement in the album :-\ Every song has a "Ronan McHugh: Drum programming" credit.

Oh are you fucking kidding me? Dammit. Well, it's not like he played on Pyromania either! :lol

Seriously, that blows.

Wait a second, though.  That doesn't mean he didn't PLAY on it.  I always thought his angle was that he TRIGGERED all the sounds himself - he's really playing - but that sometimes (and for example) hitting the bass drum pedal didn't always strike the bass drum? If that's the case, I can certainly see someone helping him with the technology (doesn't Neal have someone helping him?)   I saw Allen live on the Kiss tour a couple years ago, and my daughter and I both marveled at how good he was.  It was definitely him playing, and it sounded really full and complete. 
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deadeye21 on May 31, 2022, 06:09:19 AM
Actually, thinking about this the other day. He plays electronic pads, drum programming could mean “Rick gave us the MIDI files of his exact performance and then we altered the tones and stuff on them”
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Cruithne on May 31, 2022, 06:43:58 AM
Wait a second, though.  That doesn't mean he didn't PLAY on it.  I always thought his angle was that he TRIGGERED all the sounds himself - he's really playing - but that sometimes (and for example) hitting the bass drum pedal didn't always strike the bass drum? If that's the case, I can certainly see someone helping him with the technology (doesn't Neal have someone helping him?)   I saw Allen live on the Kiss tour a couple years ago, and my daughter and I both marveled at how good he was.  It was definitely him playing, and it sounded really full and complete.

There's an interview with Rick where he discusses getting very hacked off with Mutt Lange when recording drums for Pyromania and eventually launching drum sticks at the console window, so whilst Pyromania clearly has (very, very dated...) drum samples on it it's quite likely the drumming is still essentially his playing.

Maybe I'm reading into it more than is fair and the producer programmed in what Rick told him to for Diamond Star Halos (one way or another) but I don't recognise the last 30 seconds, or so, of SOS Emergency as post-accident Rick Allen drumming.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 31, 2022, 08:53:16 AM
Yeah, I don't see anything indicating that Rick didn't play.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on May 31, 2022, 09:24:23 AM
Best song I heard on the new album is easily From Here To Eternity. That is an all time keeper. Might literally be the best song they've done since Pyromania, not counting the Hysteria b-sides.

Again...Rick Allen  :hefdaddy
He has really developed his technique.

Really developed his technique by not apparently having any involvement in the album :-\ Every song has a "Ronan McHugh: Drum programming" credit.

Oh are you fucking kidding me? Dammit. Well, it's not like he played on Pyromania either! :lol

Seriously, that blows.

Wait a second, though.  That doesn't mean he didn't PLAY on it.  I always thought his angle was that he TRIGGERED all the sounds himself - he's really playing - but that sometimes (and for example) hitting the bass drum pedal didn't always strike the bass drum? If that's the case, I can certainly see someone helping him with the technology (doesn't Neal have someone helping him?)   I saw Allen live on the Kiss tour a couple years ago, and my daughter and I both marveled at how good he was.  It was definitely him playing, and it sounded really full and complete.


Pryomania isn’t triggered. It’s programmed. The only thing Rick Allen got to do was hit the cymbals.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 31, 2022, 09:30:07 AM
I am always skeptical of talk show performances, but I'm pretty sure this performance on Kimmel is live, since Joe's mic obviously is:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty8Kn5rzaA0  They sound pretty good here, which has me more excited for the album.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Deathless on May 31, 2022, 10:07:34 AM
I am always skeptical of talk show performances, but I'm pretty sure this performance on Kimmel is live, since Joe's mic obviously is:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty8Kn5rzaA0  They sound pretty good here, which has me more excited for the album.

Yep, they also played Rock of Ages, Hysteria and Pour Some Sugar on Me live (off-air).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDTICRsVoYs
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: bosk1 on May 31, 2022, 11:51:11 AM
Oh, nice!  Thanks for posting that.  Wow, even 30+ years after In the Round/In Your Face, I listened to that thing so much back in the say that when I hear a live version of Hysteria, I still reflexively expect to hear Joe say "How 'bout you, Denver?"  :lol
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: KevShmev on June 03, 2023, 04:00:42 PM
I figured this was as good a thread as any to bump to state this, but I am firmly in the camp of the Hysteria dissenters now.

I was never that big a fan of it, but always figured it was about the same quality as the second and third albums.  Until recently.  I have mentioned it before, but a friend and I do weekly album reviews, and we get a few weeks ahead of our picks last month and I threw out Hysteria to do like two weeks down the road. I then gave it a cursory listen before it was technically up at the plate and was so turned off by it that I rescinded my pick and was like, "Let's go with something else. I really don't want to have to make myself listen to that again several times and write a review on it."  I still dig a couple songs from it, but the overall sound of it is just too slick and the harmonies sounded so overproduced that they sound unnatural.  It was a reminder of why even back in the 80s, I was never that big a fan of it despite always liking a couple of the hits and one deep cut.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: HOF on June 03, 2023, 04:31:57 PM
I still get a kick out of the Hysteria tracks when they pop up on shuffle most of the time. I like the sound of it, it’s the lyrics that annoy me more.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: TAC on June 03, 2023, 04:32:50 PM
Hysteria is the type of album that either makes you a fan or ends your fandom.
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Stadler on June 05, 2023, 06:52:14 AM
This is as good a place as any to ask:  How do you pronounce Robert John "Mutt" Lange's last name?  I've always pronounced it "Lang" rhymes with "wang".    I was listening through my old "Fish On Friday's" and Fish mentioned Lange's first wife, Stevie, who is a background singer and vocal coach, and Fish pronounced the name "Lang-eh" .
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: hefdaddy42 on June 05, 2023, 09:46:28 AM
This is as good a place as any to ask:  How do you pronounce Robert John "Mutt" Lange's last name?  I've always pronounced it "Lang" rhymes with "wang".    I was listening through my old "Fish On Friday's" and Fish mentioned Lange's first wife, Stevie, who is a background singer and vocal coach, and Fish pronounced the name "Lang-eh" .
I've always heard it pronounced "Lang".
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: HOF on June 05, 2023, 09:54:31 AM
This is as good a place as any to ask:  How do you pronounce Robert John "Mutt" Lange's last name?  I've always pronounced it "Lang" rhymes with "wang".    I was listening through my old "Fish On Friday's" and Fish mentioned Lange's first wife, Stevie, who is a background singer and vocal coach, and Fish pronounced the name "Lang-eh" .

I’m guessing there is the way a Scott might pronounce Lange and there is the way the rest of the English speaking world might pronounce it. :-)
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: Stadler on June 05, 2023, 02:08:17 PM
This is as good a place as any to ask:  How do you pronounce Robert John "Mutt" Lange's last name?  I've always pronounced it "Lang" rhymes with "wang".    I was listening through my old "Fish On Friday's" and Fish mentioned Lange's first wife, Stevie, who is a background singer and vocal coach, and Fish pronounced the name "Lang-eh" .

I’m guessing there is the way a Scott might pronounce Lange and there is the way the rest of the English speaking world might pronounce it. :-)

True, true.  I have also heard him pronounce David Bowie's name "Bow-ie" as in "Take a bow". 
Title: Re: Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive
Post by: hefdaddy42 on June 05, 2023, 02:27:49 PM
This is as good a place as any to ask:  How do you pronounce Robert John "Mutt" Lange's last name?  I've always pronounced it "Lang" rhymes with "wang".    I was listening through my old "Fish On Friday's" and Fish mentioned Lange's first wife, Stevie, who is a background singer and vocal coach, and Fish pronounced the name "Lang-eh" .

I’m guessing there is the way a Scott might pronounce Lange and there is the way the rest of the English speaking world might pronounce it. :-)

True, true.  I have also heard him pronounce David Bowie's name "Bow-ie" as in "Take a bow".
Well, maybe he just talks weird.