Deadeye21’s Def Leppard Deep Dive

[bl5150]

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.

[TAC]

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.

[HOF]

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.

[HOF]

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.

[Zoom E]

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.

[Deadeye21]

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

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.

[bosk1]

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.    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... 

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.    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! 

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...

[Deadeye21]

Great write up, Reaper! I look forward to seeing your write up for Hysteria.

[TAC]

Great write up, Reaper! I look forward to seeing your write up for Hysteria.

 

Did I miss something?

[Deadeye21]

Me writing this at like 6am. Still asleep.

Bosk, I apologise.

[bosk1]

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. 

[bosk1]

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.

[TAC]

Saw this at the University Of Texas football stadium's pro shop...

[bosk1]

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.

[Deadeye21]

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

[bosk1]

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. 

[Deadeye21]

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

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.

[Deadeye21]

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

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!

[TAC]

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!!

[bosk1]

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. 

[Deadeye21]

Well, the Last Action Hero soundtrack did give us Angry Again from Megadeth, so… not all bad

[TAC]

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.

[ZirconBlue]

I always think of "Two Steps Behind" as "The Stalker Song", and mentally add ". . . with an axe" at the end of the chorus.

[Deadeye21]

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

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

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!

[Stadler]

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.

[bosk1]

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...

[bosk1]

...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.

[Deadeye21]

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

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?

[bosk1]

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.

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.

[bosk1]

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.

[bosk1]

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.]

[Deadeye21]

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://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.

[Zoom E]

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.

[Lepprador]

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 ?

[TAC]

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.