Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sparkle Shines!!!!, 6 May 2008
Don't be put off by the title, which sounds like it belongs on a Scissor Sisters album, Def Leppard are back with their first album of original material in six years and their best album since Slang!
The opening track, Go, drops on you like a ton of gold bullion, giving the heaviest opener since Desert Song on Retro-Active. The pounding rhythm is driven by a tribal, African beat from the peerless Rick Allen (playing what sounds like a standard kit on the whole album). The oriental-tinged guitars add a distinct and unique melody, and the political overtones in the lyrics show a band that have (thankfully) abandoned the generic songwriting that plagued `X'.
Nine Lives, the first single, is the most radio-friendly on the disc and though some may think that collaborating with country star Tim McGraw is an odd decision, despite the bluesy licks and country twang, this is pure Leppard at their most crowd-pleasing.
C'Mon C'mon is an infectious chant that will no-doubt be echoed in concert venues all across the world before the year is out. It has distinct feel of seventies glam, in particular Gary Glitter (are we allowed to mention that name?) with shades of T. Rex and The Sweet thrown into the mix.
Love is probably my favourite track at the moment. It starts out with a Zepplin-esque guitar part, adds in some Beatle-y harmonies, before kicking it up a notch with the electrics. The lyrics and harmonies are haunting - this is no run-of-the-mill ballad, but a mini-epic of loss that goes from a simple acoustic start to an operatic climax. A classic in years to come.
The lively and energetic Tomorrow shows the Lepps at their most fun-loving. It's a song that you can't help but blow the dust off your air guitar and join in. The solo is a particularly good example of how DL use melody in their solos and don't just go widdley-widdley for the sake of it.
The bass playing on Cruise Control will give many a cover-band problems. Rick Savage has spent most of his career playing solid eighths and it's nice to see him step up and show what he can do. It proves just what an accomplished bassist he is. This song is more brooding and darker than anything else on the album and is a nice diversion that shows another side of the band.
Hallucinate swings like a wrecking ball and is one of those unstoppable toe-tappers that Leppard do so well. Guitars and the hypnotic backing vocals drive this song and the unrelenting rhythm builds to an explosive crescendo.
Only The Good Die Young is another departure for the band and a welcome one. This mid-tempo, Beatle-influenced, song may well be the bookend to 1983's Photograph, written about Marilyn Monroe. The lyrics seem to be directed at James Dean or other stars of his ilk, maybe even a nod to the band's own fallen guitar hero, Steve Clark. One of the best songs on the album.
Bad Actress opens with a fast, rocking riff that wouldn't seem out of place on an AC/DC album. The lyrics are fast and furious and may well be a dig at the growing number of reality show wannabes. The highlight of the song is the guitar `duel' between Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell. The fastest song on the album and one for the hard-rockers.
Come Undone is another pulsing assault on the ears. It's most notable for Joe Elliot's vocal work. Joe's vocals on this album are uniformly excellent, though on this song, it seems he's pushing his voice to its limits and the result is something soaring near perfection.
Gotta Let It Go rolls in to finish the album with a gentle opening and verse, before ploughing in on the chorus. Some very nice musical changes of both tone and tempo and another amazing vocal performance make this the perfect way to end this diverse and adept album from Britain's best rock band.
One non-music-related criticism I will make of the Deluxe Edition is the fact that I didn't get the extra track the standard CD gets, or a picture of the album cover inside the booklet - it's an interesting cover and the die-hard fans like myself would like to be able to scrutinize who everyone is as well. For me, a Deluxe Edition should include EVERYTHING the standard CD has, plus more (especially when I pay an extra £8 for it (at HMV)). One further point about the Deluxe Edition, it comes in a very nice hardback jacket the size of a DVD case, so that means I can't keep it in my CD case with all my other DL albums, but instead have to exile it to my DVD shelf.
The accompanying DVD contains a 20 minute documentary on the making of the album, a track-by-track commentary about each song, and the video for Nine Lives. This is the reason I bought the Deluxe Edition but there's something wrong with the audio tracks on the DVD. Maybe it's set up for surround sound (which I don't have) but Phil is the only one who comes across clearly. Vivian's comments are about half the volume of Phil's and Joe is inaudible in some sections of the DVD with the backing-track totally drowning out what he is saying. There are no audio options on the DVD menu so I have nothing to fiddle with to try to alter the soundtrack. Anyone who has any ideas, please post.
If you weren't an X fan, you don't have to be an ex-fan, this album is a real return to form and shows Def Leppard at their finest. Check it out, you won't be disappointed.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
About time - a return to form!, 8 May 2008
After some years in the wilderness and an apparanet crisis of character, the Lepps have finally given up on trying to sound like Bryan Adams (OK if that's your bag, but...). This is a great album that keeps up a good rocking pace and allows Viv Campbell to use his guitar properly. It covers the stylings of "Hysteria" through to "Slang", but updates both very effectively. Other reviewers have done the track-by-track bit: in sum, if you missed Def Leppard via the horrendous "X" and frankly ropey "Yeah", they are back with a vengeance. Great stuff!
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
return of the rock gods, 10 May 2008
I'm happy to report that def leppard are back to their best. The long awaited new album has arrived with the first track ushering it in with a bang. Go is a monster of a riff, combined with some great earthy meshing guitar work from viv and phil.Nine lives featuring tim mcgraw is up next and has a country style tinge to the four line intro which is sung by mcgraw, different for the leppards i must admit but still them ,through and through. Once the song gets going and both vocalists open their pipes they have a scary similarity. C'mon C'mon is something that could easily have slipped through the hysteria sessions and just resurfaced at the right time. The album really sounds like a band getting back to what they do best, and enjoy and this transfers to the listner. Other great tracks include bad actress by joe, a fun goodtime rockout with an extremely catchy chorus. Only the good die young by viv, which evokes memories of the late great steve clark (r.i.p.). Tomorrow by phil which deals with a loss thats very close to him.I won't go into anymore detail but I will finish by telling anyone reading this to buy this album, it really is a fine return to form by a truly great band. Rock on!
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