For years now Def Leppard fans have been waiting for “the album”, as in a return the pop/rock melodies and harmonies that made them for a while, arguably the biggest band in the world. Songs from the Sparkle Lounge may be it, or as close to it as fans will ever get. In many cases bands that have sold as many albums as Def Leppard, have at least one or two albums that defined them, and although they have created strong material since, have never fully matched those signature recordings. In Def Leppard’s case fans will never get another Hysteria or Pyromania, but Songs from the Sparkle Lounge offers a collection of melody drive rock songs that will surely have some lasting stay in your CD player, IPOD or MP3 player.
The album starts with one of the stronger tracks, Go and then leads in the commercial pop driven sounds of the first single, Nine Lives, featuring country recording artist Tim Mcgraw. From here the album offers the second single and another catchy tune called C’mon, C’mon. This album certainly won’t give us 7 singles as Hysteria did, but after track three I continued to find a collection of songs that I liked more and more with each listen. Many of them have catchy choruses, Def Leppard harmonies, and an odd sound bite here and there as we heard on some tracks back in the Hysteria days (Rocket, Love Bites, Gods of War). This album gives us just one ballad, a song called Love. After many listens through the Sparkle Lounge, this is the one track that doesn’t work for me, and I now find myself skipping that one track only. The song does go into some interesting directions, almost epic in places. I’ve heard it compared to Queen and the similarities are definitely there. But whatever reason for me, it is my least favourite.
Another strong point from this latest Def Leppard offering is as I am listening, I can hear the band performing these songs live and really selling them. I hope on their current tour they offer a few tracks from the Sparkle Lounge, because many of these songs would definitely lend themselves well to a concert performance. One thing Def Leppard always had going for them is the ability to put off a great live show. I’ve only had the opportunity to see them once back on the Seven Day Weekend Tour, supporting the Adrenalize album. But from reviews I have read over the years, even some of the band’s critics have a difficult time knocking their live show.
Def Leppard have put out some decent albums in the past few years. I thought X was decent, and Yeah, although all covers, was an awesome listen. Excluding Yeah from the list, and ranking Def Leppard albums comprised of original material, I place Songs from the Sparkle Lounge in 4th in my list of favorites as follows: Hysteria, Pyromania (very close second), High and Dry, Songs from the Sparkle Lounge. As a grade I give Songs from the Sparkle Lounge a strong B+.
I will be getting the opportunity to see Def Leppard live again later this summer and will post my thoughts on the show here. That same show will also feature Billy Idol as the supporting act, another who I am very curious to see perform and will also offer my opinions for you all.
The album starts with one of the stronger tracks, Go and then leads in the commercial pop driven sounds of the first single, Nine Lives, featuring country recording artist Tim Mcgraw. From here the album offers the second single and another catchy tune called C’mon, C’mon. This album certainly won’t give us 7 singles as Hysteria did, but after track three I continued to find a collection of songs that I liked more and more with each listen. Many of them have catchy choruses, Def Leppard harmonies, and an odd sound bite here and there as we heard on some tracks back in the Hysteria days (Rocket, Love Bites, Gods of War). This album gives us just one ballad, a song called Love. After many listens through the Sparkle Lounge, this is the one track that doesn’t work for me, and I now find myself skipping that one track only. The song does go into some interesting directions, almost epic in places. I’ve heard it compared to Queen and the similarities are definitely there. But whatever reason for me, it is my least favourite.
Another strong point from this latest Def Leppard offering is as I am listening, I can hear the band performing these songs live and really selling them. I hope on their current tour they offer a few tracks from the Sparkle Lounge, because many of these songs would definitely lend themselves well to a concert performance. One thing Def Leppard always had going for them is the ability to put off a great live show. I’ve only had the opportunity to see them once back on the Seven Day Weekend Tour, supporting the Adrenalize album. But from reviews I have read over the years, even some of the band’s critics have a difficult time knocking their live show.
Def Leppard have put out some decent albums in the past few years. I thought X was decent, and Yeah, although all covers, was an awesome listen. Excluding Yeah from the list, and ranking Def Leppard albums comprised of original material, I place Songs from the Sparkle Lounge in 4th in my list of favorites as follows: Hysteria, Pyromania (very close second), High and Dry, Songs from the Sparkle Lounge. As a grade I give Songs from the Sparkle Lounge a strong B+.
I will be getting the opportunity to see Def Leppard live again later this summer and will post my thoughts on the show here. That same show will also feature Billy Idol as the supporting act, another who I am very curious to see perform and will also offer my opinions for you all.
2 comments:
I look forward to hearing about how the Def Lep / Billy Idol show is. I saw Def Lep a few years ago with Journey, it was a very good show. And on the new disc, the song "Hallucinate" is awesome!
I'll definately be sharing my concert experience here. The show is on August 10th in Ottawa. I'll be travelling for a few days after that, but should have a post up within a week or less after the show.
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