The Def Leppard E.P. from 1979, sold really well and saw the band’s popularity rise heavily in their home country of the U.K. The Union Jack was their friend, but that was soon about to change. With the release of their debut album, shouts were coming from the media that Def Leppard were sell-outs and trying to pander to the American public especially with a song called “Hello America” and the fact that they toured way more in the U.S. then they did anywhere else. As a result of those shouts, they were abused and heckled and bombarded with bottles of piss at the Reading Festival, but to be fair a lot of bands were abused during that festival.

Def Leppard were one of the first bands on this ride called the New Wave of British Heavy Metal which included the likes of Iron Maiden, Saxon, Tigers of Pan Tang and many more. Their sound was more raw, definitely more heavy and yet a little more polished then some of the other bands. There was no denying that this young gang of boys with an average age of 18, were ready to rock America and the World. The band consisted of singer Joe Elliott, guitarists Steve Clark and Pete Willis, bassist Rick Savage and the Thunder God himself, Rick Allen who was the tender age of 16 when the album came out.

The album was produced by Colonel Tom Allen who you might know from producing acts like Judas Priest and engineer on albums from Black Sabbath. He helped craft a really solid and exciting debut album which saw the light of day March 14, 1980. The album saw three singles with only 2 charting in the UK, but the album did sell over a million copies over time thanks to their big albums ‘Pyromania’ and ‘Hysteria’ I am sure. Through the success of the album and the touring, they band caught the eye of producer, Robert John “Mutt” Lange. The man saw something special and these young lads and would change their world forever.

I remember growing up and seeing this album in my brothers collection and I remember him seeing them live and telling me how great they were. So I grabbed this album and listened to it a lot. I had a strange fascination with it using it for two projects in school. One was a paper in English which I talked about the song “Wasted”. That paper sucked and I was lucky to walk away with a “C” when it probably deserved and “F”. The second was for Art Class when I drew the album cover. I still have the original album on vinyl and the cover is all marked up since I drew lines on it to help with my actual drawing. It is rough. Not the drawing, it looks great and is below…

Time for the music. The album opens with “Rock Brigade” and it is a scorcher. A full on 70’s vibe reminiscent to me of Aerosmith. The guitars are loud and crunchy with Pete Willis laying down a brutal solo and the band has a ton of handclaps that march along to the beat. The drumming by young Allen is top notch and the lad is already heads and shoulders above his competition. A slamming song right out of the gate.

Then the bands gets a little cheesy with the American pandering song “Hello America” as the scream the title repeatedly at first before the song explodes with more rocking attitude and some great double guitars by Willis and Clark (the sound like a couple of explorers). The song even has a little synthesizer in their thanks to Chris Hughes and the solo this time around is handled by the shredder Steve Clark. The song is heavy, fast and frenzied and although full of cheese it is still fantastic.

“Sorrow is a Woman” opens with a bunch of guitars then suddenly slows down in to a jazzy sound with Joe slowing down the vocal delivery before it gets all bombastic again to fall back to the jazzy, groovy feel thanks to Savage’s bass line. This time around we get three guitar solos with Clark taking the first, Willis the second and they both slam home the third. Some of their best owrk on the album is right here. This is one of the more interesting tracks and is just a full on rocker throughout. Variety is the spice of life and this does the trick.

Then we get another rocker with “It Could Be You” with more frenzied guitar work, an Elliott scream and Allen’s banging drums which really shine here. The song is at break-neck speed and though the chorus is a little repetitive, it still sticks with you just as much as Pete’s electrifying solo and the boys riffing. And then BAM…its over.

“Satellite” is a little darker in tone, but is not less heavy. Though the guitar solo by Clark is tremendous and Willis licks on the ride out of the song are stupendous, the song was trying to be bigger than it is. Still a fun track though and will rock out.

The first side of the album ends with the doomsday track, “When the Walls Come Tumbling Down”. The song opens all somber and morose as Dave Cousins of the band The Strawbs reading a news story of the aftermath of a massive bomb with a whole end of times feel to it. The song feels epic, dramatic and sees the band being adventurous and stretching their experimental wings. Musically, the guys really outdo themselves and really show some talent…and that talent is in everyone.

The second half of the album opens with another scorcher in the version of “Wasted”. A pure rocking track which is a little sleazey. A great song live as well. This one is pretty simple, killer riffs, powerful drums and Joe’s vocals rocking out about the vices of drugs and alcohol. Nothing more to it as nothing more is needed. A pure metal track!

“Rocks Off” is next and was called “Getcha Rocks Off” on the E.P. This is a newly recorded version which is a little tighter sounding and includes a bunch of fake crowd noise to make you think it is live..which it is not. For that reason, it isn’t quite as good as the original as it doesn’t sound as fresh and raw. The one thing that is great on here is the drumming by Rick Allen and the trade off of guitar work between Willis and Clark our guitar explorers.

Then we get more guitar mastery with “It Don’t Matter”. The song feels all 70’s with its bluesy guitars and all around sound. The guitars are king here as Joe’s vocals seem down in the mix. The chorus is really simple and not all that exciting. Overall one of the weaker songs on the album as there is nothing new or different for me.

Then we see the band go back to their more darker metal side with “Answer to the Master”. When you have two solos, I’m all for it and both Clark and Willis get one here. And the solos will just make you say…DAMN! Another highlight is Rick’s drumming as the boy can play. At 16, he has more chops than most. This is musical showcase for everyone as even Savage’s bass work is savage. All around great track.

The song ends with another version of “Overture” which was on the original E.P. It starts off with a more acoustic, folksy feel before going to more of a rock shuffle. The band ventures in to the Prog world with this one as it explores different musical stylings. One of the most adventurous songs they’ve done and at close to 8 minutes, one of the longer songs too. A form of song they wouldn’t tackle enough s their musical journey led them down a different path. I loved this song on the E.P. and I love it here.

Track Listing:

1. Rock Brigade – Keeper
2. Hello America – Keeper
3. Sorrow is a Woman – Keeper
4. It Could Be You – Keeper
5. Satellite – Keeper (1/2 Point)
6. When the Walls Come Tumbling Down – Keeper
7. Wasted – Keeper
8. Rocks Off – Keeper (1/2 Point)
9. It Don’t Matter – Delete
10. Answer to the Master – Keeper
11. Overture – Keeper

The Track Score is 9 out of 11 Tracks or 82%.  Their first album saw them sounding so different then where they would go down the road. A sound I miss actually.  They were more raw, more adventurous than they are today. They were willing to take chances and they mostly worked. This was an album of a lot of promise and a lot of excitement of what was to come. The combo of Pete Willis and Steve Clark was the best duo in the band’s history (sorry Phil and Steve and Phil and Vivian). The two were so exciting to listen to and they played great off each other.  Rick’s drumming was so good and I really love his fills and the force he hits with. A band that was young and hungry and getting ready to take a big bite of the music world with what was to come.  My Overall Score is 4.0 Stars out of 5.0 Stars as this band rocked from start to finish, was adventurous and took chances.  Something they didn’t do enough of for me.

NEXT UP: ‘WHEN THE WALLS CAME TUMBLING DOWN (APRIL 26, 1980)’ (2020)

THE DEF LEPPARD COLLECTION SERIES

1. Def Leppard E.P. – 7″ Single (1979)
2. First Strikes 1978-1979 (Bootleg CD)
3. Girl – Sheer Greed (1980)
4. On Through the Night (1980)
5. When the Walls Came Tumbling Down (April 26 1980) (2020)
6. High & Dry (1981)
7. Too Many Jitterbugs – B-Sides And Rarities (2020)
8. Raw – Early BBC Recordings (2020)
9. Girl – Wasted Youth (1982)
10. Pyromania (1983)
11. “Photograph” 7″ Single (1983)
12. “Too Late For Love” 12″ Single (1983)
13. Live at the L.A. Forum 1983 (2018)
14. Seattle, August 3, 1983 (Bootleg CD)
15. Pyromania TV Collection (Bootleg DVD)
16. Hysteria (1987)
17. “Animal” 7″ Single (1987)
18. “Women” 7″ Single (1987)
19. “Pour Some Sugar on Me” 7″ Single (1987)
20. “Hysteria” 7″ Single (1987)
21. “Armageddon It” 7″ Single (1988)
22. “Love Bites” 7″ Single (1988)
23. “Rocket” 7″ Single (1989)
24. Animal Instinct – The Def Leppard Story – Book Review (1987)
25. Rarities – Volume One (2018)
26. Live in Mountain View – August 17, 1988 (Bootleg DVD)
27. Historia – DVD (1988)
28. Live: In the Round, In Your Face (CD Video / DVD) (1989)
29. Adrenalize (1992)
30. “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” – Cassette Single (1992)
31. “Tonight” CD Single (1993)
32. Live Shefield 1992 (Bootleg DVD)
33. Retro Active (1993)
34. Visualize DVD (1993)
35. Hard Rock Café – Singapore, Malaysia October 26, 1995 (Bootleg DVD)
36. Vault: Def Leppard Greatest Hits (1980-1995) (1995)
37. “When Love & Hate Collide” – CD Promo Single (1995)
38. Video Archive (1995)
39. Slang (1996)
40. Montreal: The Classic 1996 Broadcast (Bootleg CD)
41. Live Bites: FM Broadcast (Bootleg CD)
42. Live in Argentina 1997 (Bootleg DVD)
43. Euphoria (1999)
44. Rarities – Volume Two (2019)
45. Rarities – Volume Three (2019)
46. Tokyo 1999 (Bootleg CD)
47. Cybernauts – Live (2000)
48. X (2002)
49. Hysteria: Classic Albums DVD (2002)
50. Best of Def Leppard (2004)
51. Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection (2005)
52. Yeah! (2006)
53. Songs from the Sparkle Lounge (2008)
54. Man Raze – Surreal (2008)
55. B-Sides (2021)
56. Yeah! II (2021)
57. Yeah! Live (2021)
58. CMT Crossraods – Taylor Swift & Def Leppard (2009)
59. Down ‘N’ Outz -My ReGeneration (2010)
60. Man Raze – PunkFunkRootsRock (2011)
61. Down ‘N’ Outz -The Further Adventures of… (2014)
62. Def Leppard (2015)
63. The Lost Session (2018)
64. Personal Jesus 7″ Single (2018)
65. Down ‘N’ Outz -This is How We Roll (2019)
66. Hits Vegas: Live at Planet Hollywood – Vinyl (2020)
67. Hysteria: Live – Vinyl (2020)
68. Def Leppard Acoustic Vegas – 10″ Vinyl (2020)
69. Down ‘N’ Outz – The Music Box E.P. (2020)
70. Diamond Star Halos (2022)
71. High & Dry – Picture Disc (RSD) (2022)
72. Drastic Symphonies (2023)
73. Drastic Symphonies – Picture Disc (2023)
74. Definitely: The Official Story of Def Leppard (2023)

PREVIOUSLY POSTED:

1. The Def Leppard E.P. (1979/2017)
2. Def Leppard: Interview Picture Disc (1982?)
3. “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” – 12″ Promo Single (1984)
4. Live at the Top (Bootleg) (1987)
5. “Pour Some Sugar on Me” –  5″ Shaped Picture Disc (1987)
6. Hysteria U.S. Tour 1988 – Tour Book (1988)
7. “Make Love Like a Man” – 12″ Single (1992)
8. “Let’s Get Rocked” – 12″ Single (1992)
9. Adrenalize: The 7 Day Weekend Tour (1992/1993)
10. X: World Tour (2003)
11. Mirrorball – Live & More (2011)
12. Def Leppard: The Definitive Visual History – Book Review (2011)
13. Viva! Hysteria (2013)
14. And There Will Be A Next Time…Live from Detroit (2017)
15. Hysteria: 30th Anniversary Box Set (2017)
16. The Story So Far – The Best of (2018)
17. The Collection, Volume 1 (2018)
18. Hysteria: The Singles Box Set (2018)
19. Live at Abbey Road Studios (2018)
20. Def Leppard: Concert Review – Charlotte, NC June 9th 2018 (2018)
21. The Story So Far – The Best of Volume 2 (2019)
22. The Collection, Volume 2 (2019)
23. London to Vegas (2020)
24. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 29 March 2019 (2020)
25. The Early Years ’79-’81 (2020)
26. The Collection, Volume 3 (2021)
27. Def Leppard Funko Pop!