Def Leppard - Songs From The Sparkle Lounge Review

Posted by Mitch Michaels on 05.08.2008

80’s metal icons return with their first album of new material since the dreadful X…

My Story
What a difference two years makes. When I reviewed Def Leppard’s cover album Yeah! in 2006, I knew very little about the band and couldn’t name more than two of their songs. Impressed by that album, I’ve since become a moderate fan of the group, and I can really see the spark of coolness that sets them apart from the much maligned hair bands that came after them. Hell, I recently had a great business idea that centered completely around Def Leppard’s “Bringin’ On The Heartbreak”. Anyway, the band hasn’t slowed down since the release of Yeah! either, bringing us a brand new album of brand new Def Leppard originals just a couple of years later. Will Songs From The Sparkle Lounge also spur on fandom?

Their Story
The seeds of Def Leppard formed in the late 70’s in Sheffield, England, when teenager Pete Willis decided to find a friend with a bass that he could jam on guitar with. That friend was Rick Savage. After a few months of playing, the two added a vocalist, Joe Elliott, to the mix and soon the trio was going by the name Deaf Leopard. The band hit the English club scene and was pretty successful. By the next year, the group had added another guitarist, Steve Clark, and set out to record their first album. The resulting EP, Getcha Rocks Off, became a regional sensation and even managed to get the band – now going by Def Leppard - played on BBC Radio.

The EP’s success blew the band up pretty quick and, by the end of the 70’s, Def Leppard had brought in a full-time drummer (Rick Allen) and signed to Mercury Records. 1980 saw the release of the band’s full-length debut On Through The Night, a hard rocking entry into the current class of New Wave of British Heavy Metal releases that’s light and partying themes managed to set the band apart from contemporaries like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. The album was a big hit in the UK, and even managed to gain some valuable US press. Tours opening for bands like Priest and Ozzy Osbourne followed. The Def Leppard train was just beginning to roll.

1981 brought the band’s sophomore effort, High ‘n’ Dry, an album of big rock riffs and anthemic ballads that became Def Leppard’s first gold record, thanks in large part to the huge hit single and video “Bringin’ On The Heartbreak”, which became a staple for the fledgling MTV network. Following more relentless touring, the band returned to the studio in 1983 with uber-producer Mutt Lange to record their third effort, an album poised to make a huge impact given the success of H’n’D. Recording was hindered at first by Pete Willis’ alcoholism, which got to be such a huge problem that the founder was ousted from the band. Ex-Girl guitarist Phil Collen was brought in as a replacement. The new line-up soon wrapped up Pyromania, an album that became a MONSTER success and has sold over ten million copies to date. Pyromania spawned the hits “Foolin’”, “Photograph” and the humongous “Rock Of Ages”, the latter of which set the standard for metal and hard rock videos, specifically the writhing and chained virgin who could only be released by ROCK. Sounds stupid, but in 1983, it was a new and fucking awesome idea. With all of these factors, it’s nearly indisputable to say that Pyromania made Def Leppard the biggest rock act in the world in the mid-80’s.

Unfortunately, the recording a follow-up album was marred by set backs. The band was forced to take on a new producer due to Lange’s previous engagements, and after a couple of different tries, nothing seemed to be working out. Most unluckily, though, was Rick Allen’s car accident, which led to him having one of his arms amputated, a catastrophic loss for a drummer in a rock band. As a testament to Allen’s will, the drummer was not to be deterred and, after a few grueling months, Allen was back laying down beats for the band on a custom made electronic drum set. Now that’s perseverance.

Things started rolling again for the band in late 1985, as Mutt Lange signed back on to produce the long-in-the-works follow-up to Pyromania. The band reemerged in 1986 on the “Monsters Of Rock” summer tour, and Hysteria finally hit the shelves in early 1987, nearly four years after the world went mad for “Rock Of Ages”. The album didn’t move much at first, due in part to the long delay, but also because critics felt the album was laying the pop cheese on a little too thick, abandoning Def Leppard’s metal ancestry. The album really took off when its second single, “Animal”, hit the airwaves, though. The song managed to crack the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 (way better than the first single, “Women”’s #80), and began a string of six big charting singles from the album that lasted to the end of the 80’s, including the #1 hit “Love Bites” and the #2 “Pour Some Sugar On Me”. The record managed to be great for the entire “hair metal” genre, which had faltered a bit in favor of less pop-friendly fare like Guns N’ Roses. Hysteria hit #1. Def Leppard definitely still had it.

Recording of the band’s fifth album was once again marred by abuse problems within the group. Guitarist Steve Clark’s alcoholism had been so problematic during the recording of Hysteria, that his input was kept to an extreme minimum, while the band insisted he go into rehab. The stint didn’t stick, though, and, sadly, Clark died during the recording of Adrenalize. Def Leppard and Lange soldiered on with only Collen on guitar, and in 1992, Adrenalize hit retail, and it hit #1 not long later. The songs were as big as ever, but the band’s pop-metal just didn’t fit in on the rock landscape in 1992, which was beginning to be dominated by louder and “grungier” acts. Though Adrenalize managed to release some hit singles (like “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad”, which hit #12 on the Billboard Hot 100), Adrenalize’s triple platinum status was a far cry from the diamond certifications for their previous two albums.

The band added a new guitarist, ex-Whitesnake member Vivian Campbell, following the release of Adrenalize, but it would be four years before a new album would see the light of day. In the meantime, the band released both a greatest hits comp (Vault) and a rarities set (Retro Active), but sales were slow for the once mighty Def Leppard, and both albums topped out at around a million in sales. (Though Vault has since resurged and reached 4x platinum.)

1996 saw the release of Def Leppard’s sixth studio album, Slang. Slang found the band returning more to their metal sound, with Rick Allen behind a normal drum set instead of his electronic drums, and the band also took the production reins themselves for the first time. Though reviews were favorable, and Slang managed to spawn the moderate rock hit “Work It Out”, no one was listening anymore, and the album was the band’s worst selling in 15 years. A more metal Def Leppard was obviously not what the public wanted.

The band returned to the studio for 1999’s Euphoria, another “return” for the band, this time to the fertile fields of pop-metal. Euphoria managed to do a little better chart-wise than Slang, spawning a hit single in “Promises”, but, despite a ton of support from Mercury, the album didn’t better the lackluster sales of its predecessor. Euphoria would end the band’s near 20-year association with Mercury Records.

2001 saw the release of a VH1 movie called Hysteria – The Def Leppard Story, which covered the band’s early years. The project came to life after the success of the band’s popular episode of VH1 staple “Behind The Music”. Def Leppard was hoping the momentum of the movie would keep public interest high for their next album, but in reality, it only caused more people to believe that the band had been broken up for years.

2002 saw the release of X on Universal Records, Def Leppard’s eighth studio effort. Reeling from the bad sales from both their hard rock and pop-metal albums, the band took a dismal turn towards adult contemporary on X. In favor of big riffs and party tunes, the band instead focused on AC-radio ready ballads and melodic pop garbage. Fans weren’t onboard, though. The pop-buying public already had the Backstreet Boys, and the few people who DID like Def Leppard weren’t buying into this shit. X barely made a blip on the public radar and stands as the band’s worst selling album ever.

Four years after the failure of X, Def Leppard returned with an album of cover tunes called Yeah!. While Yeah! didn’t do much better commercially than X, it was reviewed much better and was also a #16 hit. The record also went platinum – well, in Canada, but that’s something, right?

Def Leppard was recognized in the inaugural VH1 Rock Honors event in 2006, after which they have toured regularly with bands like Journey. In late 2007, they began work on their follow-up album to Yeah!. They are currently gearing up for the second leg of a supporting tour with Whitesnake throughout Europe. In August, they’ll return to North America, touring with Billy Idol, Styx and REO Speedwagon.

The Album
On April 29, 2008, Bludgeon Riffola and Island Records released Songs From The Sparkle Lounge, the tenth studio album by Def Leppard and their follow-up to 2006’s Yeah!. The album is available as a standard CD and in a deluxe version, which features album commentary, a making of feature called “Behind The Curtain” and a video for the track “Nine Lives”. International and retail exclusive tracks include “Love (Piano Version” (iTunes, JAP, UK) and “Nine Lives (Def Leppard Version)” (JAP).



The Band: 7.0
Rick Savage: bass, vocals
Joe Elliott: vocals
Rick Allen: drums, percussion, vocals
Phil Collen: guitars, vocals
Vivian Campbell: guitars, vocals

Had Songs From The Sparkle Lounge followed 2002’s X, folks would be stumbling over themselves to call this album the return of Def Leppard. However, thanks to the “back to basics” cover album, Yeah!, which dropped a couple of years ago, hopes were much higher for this record than they would have been had it followed that stinker of a set.

Even with that sort of raised anticipation, Songs From The Sparkle Lounge nearly delivers. When the band blazes on “Bad Actress”, one of their most rocking songs ever, you’ll have forgotten about those two decades or so that have passed since Def Leppard was the coolest thing going. Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell are on fire for that track, and manage to amp up several others. And speaking of amping it up, it’s taken a long time, but Def Leppard has finally gotten close to mimicking what Mutt Lange did so well on their early albums. The production is slick and the guitars are chunky, the drums boom appropriately and the layered harmonies…well man, no one fucking does it better than Joe Elliott when it comes to hard rock vocals.

Still, this isn’t Hysteria-era Def Leppard, even if there is a close approximation. While the band has went through great trouble to get things to SOUND like the mid-80’s, they’ve forgotten that their greatest asset is their ability to write great RIFFS. And while vocal harmonies and great solos and all around LOUD rock is well and good, it’s the riffs that keep you coming back to this music. Songs From The Sparkle Lounge is sadly lacking in that department, the one thing really needed to hammer this music home. Still, the band sounds energetic and revived singing their OWN songs now, which means that we’re heading in the right direction.

The Songs: 7.0
1. Go
2. Nine Lives (feat. Tim McGraw)
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

Songs kicks off with “Go”, a hard hitting percussive track that sounds more like a crappy 90’s Def Leppard comeback cut than a crappy 2000’s Def Leppard comeback cut. Just a little too “listen to how hip this is” for my tastes. Luckily, the unexpected collaboration with country star Tim McGraw fares much better. On “Nine Lives”, McGraw and Elliott trade verses over a dirty rock lick that wouldn’t sound out of place in today’s pop country format. That’s more a symbol of Def Leppard’s influence on today’s pop music than pandering, really, and when the chorus kicks in, you can’t help but love it – “Nine lives/Nine times to die/I’m livin’ once but I won’t be twice shy”. My my my. The band and McGraw are having a ball on this one and it spills over to the listener.

Other great tracks here include the rocked up “Bad Actress” and the classic Def Leppard-sounding “Hallucinate”, which will spark memories of “Photograph”. The album closer “Gotta Let It Go” is a terrific midtempo ballad. In all, Songs From The Sparkle Lounge is filled with hits (the riff heavy “C’mon C’mon) and misses (like the sappy “Love”). The balance, unfortunately, just isn’t going to turn you on like Pyromania, but if you give it a few spins, the highlights get better and better .

The 411: Songs From The Sparkle Lounge continues the return of Def Leppard. After losing their way (culminating in the awful wuss rock of X), the band got back to their roots with a covers album. On this release, they’ve rediscovered Def Leppard. And while the riffs aren’t as heavy and abundant as the good ol’ days, there are enough things going in the right direction, like the fun “Nine Lives” and the adrenaline fueled “Bad Actress”, that fans will perk up their ears. If you’re a fan, this is a record you’ve been waiting on for quite possibly ten years.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]