Def Leppard - Songs From The Sparkle Lounge

Metal graduate Age : 36 Joined : 02 Apr 2008 Posts : 120

The thing with X, for me, was that they forgot their recipé, which is in essence the combination of lots of vocals, and big guitars. They just forgot the guitars, which made it too pop. Glad they found that again on Sparkle. BTW, are people really serious about Sparkle not being a Rock album? It sounds very rock to me. Actually, I think every album DL made has been Rock, X not included. Rock with a pop sense, sure, but still very much rock. Also very happy theyve gone for the more "organic" approach regarding production. Sparkle is similar to Slang in that sense, and Im a big fan of Slang.

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/def%20leppard%20irritated%20with%20hit%20album%20success_1068158

Phil Collen say's he's "irritated" by new album's success...
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THE CAVE - Come join the Doomed

Metal graduate Age : 25 Joined : 26 Feb 2008 Posts : 194

Regarding Phil's comments - X likely didn't do so hot because it wasn't a great album. As much as I love this band, as that album was coming out and I heard the first single (can't even remember what it was), it didn't exactly inspire me to run out and buy it. I eventually found it used (the only Lep album I've bought used)and my opinion hasn't changed one iota. It's just so bland and poppy.

As for Yeah! not doing as well as they might have liked, my guess it that the market was flooded with new covers albums, and Lep's (despite being one of the better ones) got kinda lost in the shuffle.

Now, I finally got out and bought Sparkle (the delay had more to do with being sick than not wanting to get it Smile

), and I'm really liking it. Admittedly 'Go' doesn't do much for me, but the rest of it is holding up well. 'Love' is a great ballad, easily one of the better ones they've done in 20 years, and I agree, it's not your typical Lep ballad (it almost seems theatrical). 'C'Mon C'Mon' and 'Bad Actress' have a bit of a 70s glam thing going, and the rest sounds like the band's trademark sound, but much more organic. This one will likely be getting a lot of play time (it has already).

Metal graduate Age : 25 Joined : 26 Feb 2008 Posts : 194

Oh and on a non-musical side note: kudos to Rick Savage for going with a bit of a glam look in the band photos. Cool

Metal graduate Age : 36 Joined : 02 Apr 2008 Posts : 120

"Collen says, "I am pleased but mildly irritated by the fact that we haven't done anything different (to the most recent album) but simplified it."

Phil has a point that from the melody perspective Sparkle isnt too different from X ("Tomorrow" VS "Torn to Shreds" is a good example). However, he misses another, more valid point, IMO, which is what I pointed out earlier in this thread: on X the big guitars where diminshed and as a result the recipe that people like the band, gone to a large extent. I think most people including the ones that love the band, accept that Leppard hardly is a full blown Heavy Metal band. In fact that is probably one of the reasons I myself turn to them in the first place: theres no other band that sounds exactly like them and theres other bands I turn to for "heaviness". After all, I am as big a fan of Hard Rock as I am of Metal. However, we do "expect" DL to be a R O C K band. Thus theres not a mystery that X in effect bombed, IMO.

Heres an interview with Joe and Phil at the recent Sweden Rock Festival talking about the album and other interesting things.

Joe has some interesting things to say regarding NWOBHM, 80's Hair/Glam Metal etc. All as you would guess not positive.

And kudos for Joe giving props to Hanoi Rocks even if he did say he wanted to f*ck Michael Monroe back in the day. Yeah you guessed it, a pretty eventful interview.

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Finally picked it up - pretty good CD, better than X.

Metal graduate Age : 36 Joined : 02 Apr 2008 Posts : 120

Metal graduate Age : 37 Joined : 10 Jun 2008 Posts : 104

I love it as Joe Elliott continues to alienate a fan base that helped Def Leppard rise to their pedestal of pop stardom. I stopped listening to his ramblings along time ago. I loved it when he told their fanbase that we're not a heavy metal band and we never were. That's funny, because their first three albums had a very distinct metal sound to them. I guess it was O.K for the band to tour with the Iron Maidens and Judas Priests of the world to get their start. What a hypocrite! I for one will never put another dime toward this band.

I listened to the new album on youtube, and though I thought it sounded a little better than "X" that's not saying much, since that thing was absolute trash.

I was glad at least glad to see Phil Collen not taking the slant that Joe did by branding the NWOBHM as something so utterly insignificant. Iron Maiden was the only band to come out of the NWOBHM that was any good??? Please!

Joe does seem to enjoy shooting himself and the band in the foot.

I laugh at the "never were a heavy metal band" line too. My favorite album by DL is High N Dry and no one will ever convince me that isn't a metal album.
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I got into Leppard with Pyromania at 9 or 10 years old. I didn't know anything else by them. By the time Hysteria came out I was kinda like Eyesore in how much I loved (and love) that album. It may be pop rock, but that album is good beyond words. Oh yeah, IMO.

But I'm a metalfan, and a Leppard fan from the 80's and I hven't bought anything from them since Euphoria, so I don't know who is right here. I'm just glad to be here. Smile

Nice punch, btw.

Hey, I'm going by what I read. Obviously I was just a kid at the time, but I hear nothing but complaints about how Pyromania had too many radio-friendly pap, and the re-recording of "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" with keyboards was crap, and so on and so on.

But I do know for a fact that while Def Leppard did do well with Pyromania, and the re-recording of "Bringin' on the Heartbreak," it wasn't until Hysteria that they became huge.

EDIT: Watching a movie right now, more coherent thoughts to come. lol!

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