Def Leppard - Songs From The Sparkle Lounge

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

"Love Bites" & "Bringing On The Heartbreak" has some INSANE high notes in those choruses...

But it sounds like men singing. On X, it sounds like woman...and maybe one dude with a high-pitched voice. Haha.

Eyesore wrote:

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

"Love Bites" & "Bringing On The Heartbreak" has some INSANE high notes in those choruses...

But it sounds like men singing. On X, it sounds like woman...and maybe one dude with a high-pitched voice. Haha.

Just sounded like Def Leppard to me...

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.

St Patrik wrote:

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.

You know, you might have nailed it—they forgot the guitars. It's got pop guitars, not rock guitars. Now that I think about it, I think that's probably why the vocals sound so high. The rock guitar, that heavy crunch—relatively speaking—is a too-important ingredient for that bottom end, and they stripped that away on X. I do like "Now" and "Scar," though.

Anyway, I keep listening to this new one. It really is a great album. "Love" is an amazing tune. It is literally like nothing the band has done before. I've read reviews calling it a bland and typical Def Leppard ballad. Completely incorrect! Anyone that knows the band can hear that this song is different. I wish it was even a bit more epic, if they had taken that Queen approach even further.

Quote :

I've read reviews calling it a bland and typical Def Leppard ballad. Completely incorrect! Anyone that knows the band can hear that this song is different.

I agree. It's the first song they've EVER done like that. It's got a huge QUEEN influence, in the same way a HAREM SCAREM epic/ballad would...that's what struck me this morning hearing that song on the way to work...I could easily hear Harry Hess singing this song in a HAREM SCAREM context...

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...

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

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...

Never underestimate the power of putting a county star on your album.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

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...

Never underestimate the power of putting a county star on your album.

Or getting an NBA tie-in...

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

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...

Never underestimate the power of putting a county star on your album.

Or getting an NBA tie-in...

I missed that. What's the NBA tie-in?

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 ), 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).

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.

"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.

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

Eyesore wrote:

Anyone ever check out Phil's side project, Man-Raze? Stupid name, but there's some sort of logic behind it when they describe it. Still stupid, though.



Anyway, I dig them. Very 70s punk style. In fact, the drummer is in the Sex Pistols.

I was watching VH1 Classic over the weekend and they were actually playing a commercial to promote this cd. Pretty nifty. I probably still wouldn't buy it, but it's nice to see that they're getting a little promotion.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

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...

Never underestimate the power of putting a county star on your album.

Or getting an NBA tie-in...

I missed that. What's the NBA tie-in?

Sorry...

'Nine Lives' was being tied into the NBA playoff's...

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

Anyone ever check out Phil's side project, Man-Raze? Stupid name, but there's some sort of logic behind it when they describe it. Still stupid, though.



Anyway, I dig them. Very 70s punk style. In fact, the drummer is in the Sex Pistols.

I was watching VH1 Classic over the weekend and they were actually playing a commercial to promote this cd. Pretty nifty. I probably still wouldn't buy it, but it's nice to see that they're getting a little promotion.

Man, it's a great CD! I mean, you'd have to like the style, but it's really solid front to back. And I like that there was no sticker on it mentioning that the band featured Def Leppard and Sex Pistols members. I thought that was cool.

Definitely a great album.

rattpoison wrote:

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.

One of my questions are on there, regarding the live boxset/or similar that they did use to talk about in the past. I also asked Phil about the mentioned touring plans for Man Raze, he basically said that they would probably mainly play the States. Yeah, pretty fun press conference, followed by a great gig (albeit boring set list).

rattpoison wrote:

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

Not only not positive, he's being downright stupid.

OK, I still consider Def Leppard's first three albums to be very much
NWOBHM albums, but if he doesn't I'll just concede that to him. But to
say that the NWOBHM label was an embarrassment that most bands don't
want to be tagged with??? Iron Maiden was the only good NWOBHM band???
I'm sorry, but that's just ignorant.

If he doesn't like the music, that's fine, but most metal fans would
say that was one of the greatest and most defining eras in metal
history.

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.

metalinmyveins wrote:

I love it as Joe Elliott continues to alienate a fan base that helped Def Leppard rise to their pedestal of pop stardom.

How so? That fan base shunned them the second they got a hit song. Most jumped ship after High N Dry. When Pyromania came out, few remained. The Hysteria era is where they acquired their true fanbase, the people that made the first three albums sell millions, and the people that remains fans today. I can't imagine Joe Elliot is alienating people that wrote them off the second they scored a hit—25 years ago! In fact, I think he's probably justified in telling those people to piss off.

And I'll say it again, On Through The Night, while definitely heavier all around, had all the sounds that supposedly make Def Leppard a "pop" band. If that album had been recorded note for note, but with the Hysteria approach, no one would call that album—or the band—heavy metal.

Eyesore wrote:

metalinmyveins wrote:

I love it as Joe Elliott continues to alienate a fan base that helped Def Leppard rise to their pedestal of pop stardom.

How so? That fan base shunned them the second they got a hit song. Most jumped ship after High N Dry. When Pyromania came out, few remained. The Hysteria era is where they acquired their true fanbase, the people that made the first three albums sell millions, and the people that remains fans today.

I'll call bullsh*t on that one. Metal fans made them who they are and bought every single album....

Most jumped ship after High and Dry??? In your dreams. Def Leppard was one of the biggest METAL bands in the world after Pyromania. Sure, you'll find the purists like Ult, who say that Pyromania was a "sell out", but personally I disagree. I LOVE Pyromania and still consider it to be their pinnacle today. Not ONE THING wrong with that album. In fact, I would not hesitate to put it in the top 20 of all time...

But then came Hysteria...

Yes, I bought it immediately. How could I not, with the band waiting all that time for Rick Allen to get back up to speed after his accident? It was the ultimate metal band "We're not bailing on our bro" story... They DID IT!!

Uhhhh but then you listen to the album and... they didn't. I spun it as much as anyone back then. I TRIED so hard to like it, but ultimately, I hate it. It's pop crap.

And I've never bought an album since.... Look at the numbers. They won't lie. They've never sold any better than they did on Pyromania and/or Hysteria. When the metal fans were still buying.

Even now, who is buying the albums? Still the metal fans... just hoping.

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. 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.