Def Leppard – ‘Retro Active’ (1993) – Album Review (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic

The band was now five albums in but it had been 12 years total. Not a great track record. They wanted to not have 4 years or more between albums again so it was decided to release a compilation album to hold fans over until the next release. But this wasn’t any ordinary greatest hits compilation, nope…that would’ve been too easy. The band decided to pull together a bunch of rare tracks and B-sides and put them together on one release…but still…not so simple as they re-recorded parts, remixed others and gave us a solid collection of songs from their career over the span of 1984 up to 1993. It also gives us some of the last recordings of the late, great Steve Clark.

The album would be called ‘Retro Active’ and released on October 5, 1993. It would spawn three singles including “Two Steps Behind”, “Miss You In A Heartbeat” and The Sweet cover for “Action”. Both “Two Steps Behind” and “Miss You In A Heartbeat” would go Top 40 and the album would go on to sell over 1,000,000 copies in the U.S. alone. Heck, even the opening track, “Desert Storm” would hit the U.S. Mainstream Rock Chart at #12 without even being released technically as a single.

One really cool aspect of the album is the cover which was designed by Hugh Syme and Nels Israelson. The image is a photographed of a woman sitting in front of a vanity mirror. However, she is positioned just so, along with other items, so that when you moved the album further away from you it turned in to a skull. A really cool concept

The album opens up with an outtake from the ‘Hysteria’ album called “Desert Song”. It was originally recorded as an instrumental and is the last song released by the band to feature Steve Clark on guitar. In fact, it is noted as the only song in the catalog to feature both Steve and his replacement Vivian Campbell who did some background vocals on the song. I know I said it was originally an instrumental and it was, but lyrics were written when the pulled the song back out after forgetting about it for years. The song is about Mick Ronson who was dying of cancer around this time. It is a killer opening track, hard hitting and a really cool Clark tone to it which is so missed. The bass work is great on this as well as the guitars. To me, the song sounds more like it would’ve fit on ‘Slang’ then on ‘Hysteria’. A truly fantastic track.

Another song that was done for ‘Hysteria’ is “Fractured Love”. This has Steve on it as well and co-written by him. It opens with a dramatic drum beat and there is an eerie, dark tone it. Joe’s vocals are soft and almost spoken through a radio. The song builds and builds and then explodes with the full band coming in hot and heavy. Another great track that might not have fit on ‘Hysteria’ but definitely is at home here. So far, this is not your typical sounding Leppard album and that is great.

Next we get the B-Side to the ‘Adrenalize’ single for “Make Love Like A Man” called “Action”. Yep, the band’s cover of The Sweet’s song “Action”. Now, this isn’t quite the same song as they did re-record the snare drums for this one. But, man is it a cool cover. The Leppardized it while keeping the heart of the original version.

“Two Steps Behind” (acoustic version) is up next and this is not the version that was the B-Side to “Make Love Like a Man”. That song had a bunch of great B-Sides didn’t it. No, this is the version that was on the movie soundtrack for ‘Last Action Hero’ with the added strings by Michael Kamen. The song went to #12 on the billboard charts and is one of the band’s best ballads they have ever done.

And we have yet another killer B-Side with the song “She’s Too Tough” which was the B-Side for three singles off ‘Adrenalize’ and on the Japanese edition of the album. The change to this version is that all the drums were re-recorded. It is a rough, raw track and almost doesn’t sound like Lep at all. Joe sings it in an almost scream vocal, very high pitched and there is no polish to the song. Just feels like they plugged in a played with all the gusto they could muster. And you know what, I like it!! A fun note, this song actually first appeared in 1987 and was recorded by the band Helix for their 1987 album ‘Wild in the Streets’. For them it was a cover, for Lep it is really their song.

“Miss You In A Heartbeat” is up next and is one of three versions on this release and none are the same as what was used for the singles from ‘Adrenalize’. This first version is an acoustic version that has both Joe Elliott and Pete Woodroffe on piano with the rest of the band on other acoustic instruments. I personally like this better than “Two Steps Behind” as one of the band’s best ballads and I really like “Two Steps Behind”. This one is soft and tender with heartfelt vocals by Joe and great angelic backing vocals by the boys. The song was written by Phil Collen and was actually recorded by Paul Rodgers’ band The Law for their self-titled debut album from 1991.

If you like covers, we have another cover here for the Mick Ronson song, “Only After Dark”. Originally this song appeared as the B-Side to “Let’s Get Rocked”, but this version is different with added guitar parts so you get a new recording of the song here. This is another raw, headbanging rock song from the band. It has a great, catchy groove, a swing to it and it basically kicks ass. This album keeps killing it for me.

Next up is a classic Leppard song called “Ride into the Sun” which first appeared on the Def Leppard E.P. and later on re-recorded for ‘Hysteria’ as a B-Side to “Love Bites”. This is the re-recorded version with minor changes. The intro was changed from a Rick Allen drum solo intro to a piano driven intro that was done by Ian Hunter. Pretty cool. You can hear early Lep on this one and it is a classic Leppard song as I said at the start of this paragraph. Raw and heavy…gotta love it.

Now we get to one of my all-time favorite Leppard songs with “From the Inside”. A song about drugs and what they do to the person addicted to them. It is taken from the view point of the drugs themselves. It contains members of the Hothouse Flowers and is such a brilliant song. How many Def Leppard songs have used a mandolin or a Tin-whistle…this might be the only one. The song appeared originally as a B-Side to “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” and “Stand Up (Kick Love Into Motion)”.

“Ring of Fire” first appeared as a B-Side for “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and in the UK for “Armageddon It”. The song comes in with an intense simmering heat that explodes in to a big wall of sound. There is a rawness and intensity to it that reminds more of ‘Pyromania’ era songs then ‘Hysteria’ and for that I think it kicks some major ass. It is loud, gut punching and a heavy hard rocking track. Heavier than anything on ‘Hysteria’. It is old school Leppard and that might be my favorite era of the band so this is a true standout for me.

Another ‘Hysteria’ era B-Side is “I Wanna Be Your Hero” for the songs “Animal” and “Pour Some Sugar on Me” in the UK. The drums were re-recorded and the intro was changed up so those are the big differences. The song speaks to the desire that everyone wants to be someone else’s hero. To protect and comfort the one you love and show them how much they really mean to you. It is a heartfelt ballad with such emotion that will tug at your heart and when you get swept up in the melody and that catchy chorus, you will be all in. The tenderness of the guitar picking to the soft, emotional vocals by Joe make you stop and take notice. When the full band kicks in, the power ballad turns up a notch and you get swallowed up in the sound. At the end, the song fades out and you think it is over, but it fades back in for a smaller taste before it ends for real this time. Leppard does the ballad better than most and to think this didn’t make the album…damn!!

We get “Miss You in a Heartbeat” again but this time it is the full electric version of the song. It is still a ballad but it is crazy how much the dynamics of the song changes without the piano. Still a great ballad though so don’t you fret. If that wasn’t enough, we get another version of “Two Steps Behind” and like the previous song, it is the full electric version of the song as well. A different sounding opening and a totally different vibe as well. It even has gang-style backing vocals. This version of the song had never been released prior to this one. And there is a hidden track here as well with “Miss You In a Heartbeat” piano version. This is only Joe on the piano and an acoustic solo by Phil. I don’t think anyone else is on it. Another stellar version of a stellar song.

Track Listing:

  1. Desert Song – Keeper
  2. Fractured Love – Keeper
  3. Action – Keeper
  4. Two Steps Behind (Acoustic Version) – Keeper
  5. She’s Too Tough – Keeper
  6. Miss You In A Heartbeat – Keeper
  7. Only After Dark – Keeper
  8. Ride Into the Sun – Keeper
  9. From the Inside – Keeper
  10. Ring of Fire – Keeper
  11. I Wanna Be Your Hero – Keeper
  12. Miss You in A Heartbeat (Electric Version) – Keeper
  13. Two Steps Behind (Electric Version) – Keeper
  14. Hidden Track: Miss You In A Heartbeat (Piano Version) – Keeper

The Track Score is 14 out of 14 Tracks or 100%.  I think this album was fantastic idea by the band.  Some great B-Sides, covers and rare tracks to have all in one spot. And even cooler that most of the B-sides are even different versions from when they were B-Sides.  The bands next studio album wouldn’t come out until 1996 so this definitely helped during another long stretch between albums.  This has two of the band’s best ballads with “Miss You In A Heartbeat” and “Two Steps Behind” plus one of my all-time favorite Lep tracks with “From the Inside”.  For that alone this is perfect. Throw everything else in and you can’t beat this.  More bands should have been doing this.  My Overall Score is 5.0 out of 5.0 Stars…no surprise I am sure.

NEXT UP: DEF LEPPARD – ‘VISUALIZE’ (1993) – DVD REVIEW

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!