In 1998, Def Leppard went back in the studio to record their seventh studio album, ‘Euphoria’. The band’s plan for the album was pretty much, don’t abandon the original Leppard sound. Go back and record an album that sounded like the albums that made the band famous. And the album turned out exactly like that. After creating an album like ‘Slang’, that was a brand new sound for the band and wasn’t that successful. This was probably a smart idea. It was produced by Pete Woodruffe and Def Leppard at Joe’s Garage Studio’s 1 & 2 in Dublin, Ireland and would be released on June 8, 1999. The album would actually be moderately successful, hitting #11 on the Billboard charts and it would go Gold in the States.

Longtime friend and producer, Robert John “Mutt” Lange, came and helped out with the album, but only spent four days in the studio giving them advice rather than sitting at the boards working. Heck, he even helped write a few songs and sang backing vocals on a track. I’m sure his direction in those short four days helped the direction of the album. Speaking of direction, the band’s look went in a different direction too. The hair was cut short, the clothes were nicer and they looked like a more modern rock band going in to the year 2000. But musically, it was back to their heyday of the 80’s and early 90’s. And not a moment too soon.

The band was still Joe Elliott, Rick Savage, Rick Allen, Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell and is still that band today as I write this in 2024. What I like about this album is that Vivian keeps getting more involved and has a lot more writing credits on this one. His influence on the band is evident. The band have aged well, matured and delivered us a solid Leppard album.

Coming out of the cage with a roar is the opening track “Demolition Man”. A high energy, fist pounding rocker. The song sees the typical gang type vocals on the chorus, the fast, frenzied guitars and Joe spitting out lyrics at breakneck speed. A banger of an opener that let it be clear, Leppard was back with what you want to hear, yet sounding both old school and modern at the same time. A nice mixture of the two.

Next up is “Promises” and is the most Leppard sounding song on the whole album. The album’s first single and written by Phil and Mutt. The song went to #1 on Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks and immediately caught my ear when I heard on the radio. I was so excited to go out and get the album after I heard this. This has a huge chorus, a catchy beat and a mid-tempo rocker that is everything you want from this band. This one will take you back and one of the best tracks on the album.

“Back In Your Face” brings more gang vocals, more solid riffing, but this time a more modern rocker. It is aggressive, in your face and heck, it even has an electronic, hip hop drum beat…what? The one thing I don’t like about the song is those electronic drum beats. They aren’t the typical Rick Allen electronic drum beats and that is a little scary. But overall, this is a beast of a track and another great rocker on the album.

Then we get the first ballad on the album with “Goodbye” and this one is soley written by Rick Savage (and he does not get enough song writing credits). This one could’ve been taken right off ‘Adrenalize’ as it sounds like that album sonically. Probably the best ballad on the album. It is mature, sophisticated and mostly sincere. This was the third single from the album and only charted in the UK at #54, but this song would’ve killed back in late 80’s and early 90’s.

The next Lange contribution is again with Phil and this one is called “All Night”. It is different and not in a good way. It is a pure sex song. juvenille lyrics, electronic drum beats and too modern sounding. It is utter trash and could be one of the worst songs the band has written for me. It is right up there with “Personal Property” from ‘Adrenalize’. Now, the chorus is pretty good, catchy and stuff, but the orgasmic sounds from Joe just kill it. I would say it fucking sucks, but I don’t want to cuss in the review so I won’t say that.

We go from the worst song on the album to one of the best with “Paper Sun”. “Paper Sun” is one of those epic songs that Lep has on their albums in the vein of “White Lightning” and “Gods of War”. This one is a little psychedelic, a little rock and a lot of pure class by the band. The guitar work on the album is some of the best by the band, Joe sounds amazing and the rhythm section of Rick and Rick just takes this song up a notch. It doesn’t get much better than this. This was the second single and went to #11 on the US Mainstream Rock Chart…not bad.

Then back to the ballads with “It’s Only Love”. It opens with some cheesy “na-na-na’s” and Joe sounds a little uncomfortable with that opening verse. The song is not good at all. A boring ballad, terrible lyrics and feels weird. The band doesn’t feel like they believe in this track. Utter filler and could’ve easily been left off the album and it would’ve made it a better album.

“21st Century Sha La La La Girl” is one of the strangest songs by the band and yet one of the absolute killer songs by the band at the same time. A really cool opening riff, strange and amazing. Joe almost raps out the lyrics a la “Pour Some Sugar on Me”. More rock and psychedelia mixed together. It is high energy, electric and exciting all at once. A modern rocker to take us in to the 21st Century and yet also screams back to the past. I love it.

Vivian had a side project called “Clock” that recorded the song “To Be Alive” written by Viv and PJ Smith. He brought it to the band and they Leppardized it. So, is this a cover song? Probably. But who cares. This one is another ballad, but different then the rest. The verses are softer while the chorus is a little bit more upbeat like any good ballad. It is a little more somber overall and darker. Very nicely done, but not a favorite on the album.

Not seen since ‘High & Dry’s’ “Switch 625”, we get an instrumental track. This one is called “Disintegrate” and was written Phil Collen. The guitar work between Phil and Vivian is fantastic. You can really hear the difference in their playing. It has the simplicity of “Switch” and yet more modern sound with Sav and Allen joining in on the fun for more flavor. Something different and cool.

“Guilty” is similar to “It’s Only Love”. It is cheesy as well and derivative of so many songs. It is another boring filler track that does nothing for me. I think I’ll pass on discussing this one further as I didn’t like “It’s Only Love” either.

“Day After Day” has a sound similar to “Paper Sun”, but a little less psychedelic and more rocker. The chorus is huge and really catchy. It has a dark tone to it and actually takes me back to “High & Dry” with the guitar tone. And for that, I have to like it.

And to close out the album we get “Kings of Oblivion”. An upbeat rocker that really has a cool opening and then when Joe comes in on the first verse it feels like we are back on ‘Hysteria’ but yet with the sound of the B-Sides like “Tear it Down”. However, lyrics and style are more “Paper Sun” and “White Lightning” but not as epic feeling. More straight up rocker. A good closer as it goes out with a bang.

Track Listing:

1. Demolition Man – Keeper
2. Promises – Keeper
3. Back In Your Face – Keeper
4. Goodbye – Keeper
5. All Night – Delete
6. Paper Sun – Keeper
7. It’s Only Love – Delete
8. 21st Century Sha La La La Girl – Keeper
9. To Be Alive – Keeper (1/2 Point)
10. Disintegrate – Keeper
11. Guilty – Delete
12. Day After Day – Keeper
13. Kings of Oblivion – Keeper

The Track Score is 9.5 out of 13 Tracks or 73%.  I have to admit, I really like this album. It was glad to see the band go back to more of the Lep sound we grew up loving yet keep it modern and fresh sounding of today.  No, not all the songs worked, some are really bad. Overall though, I found it to be a great, enjoyable listen and that gave me a little nostalgia for the band’s heyday.  A bunch of tracks are real standouts with “Paper Sun”, “Promises” and “21st Century Sha La La La Girl” being only a few of them.  One of the band’s later albums, I still pull out and enjoy every listen.  Now, it still isn’t as good as their early stuff, but at least it is a step in the right direction.  My Overall Score is a 3.9 out of 5.0 Stars.  If you missed this and like Lep, then you missed out. Go grab it if you can.  One of the promotional tag lines for the album was “After Pyromania and Hysteria…comes Euphoria” and that is true.

NEXT UP: DEF LEPPARD – ‘RARITIES VOLUME 2’ (2019)

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 Sheffield 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!