We are on the third studio album for the band Down ‘N’ Outz. A band that was created by Joe Elliott to cover Mott the Hoople and Ian Hunter songs and they did that job gloriously. For this third time, they decided to do something different. They created an album that was almost all original material penned by Joe Elliott himself. There is one cover on it and that is perfectly fine. The band line-up is slightly different. We do still have Paul Guerin, Guy Griffin, Keith Weir and Paul Martini, but they have a new bass player with the wonderful Share Ross from the band Vixen. She is a great addition to this ragged bunch of guys.

The album came out on October 11, 2019 and was produced by Ronan McHugh and the engineer on the album is an old Def Leppard friend by the name of Phil Collen. Cool he lended a hand to the production. We get 12 tracks on a single LP which is a very nice gatefold with the lyrics inside. The album sleeve has some great pictures of each of the band members and the vinyl itself is simply black. I don’t know if this thing charted or any sales figures, but a project like this is done for the love of music, no expectations to be a massive chart success. Joe’s had that, this is a passion project. And let’s see how that passion plays out.

SIDE 1:

The album opens with the first song Joe wrote for the album, “Another Man’s War”. Joe was going for something that was not Def Leppard but more Mott, Bowie and that 70’s glam. and I would say he did a bang up job with that goal. The piano is the driving force on this one while the guitars give it just enough bite to rock the song out. A pure 70’s style gem and Joe’s vocals honor that era greatly. A stellar opening track that sets the mood.

“This is How We Roll” inspired by a line from Guy to Joe in a bar after watching a video of one of their gigs. Joe was trying to cross Humble Pie and late era Mott the Hoople. And again, he captured it to perfection. This is a more guitar heavy track with a similar tempo and style to the opening track. The guitar solo on this is killer and probably the closest we get to a Leppard track on the album. This was also the first single for the album.

As we know, Joe is a huge Bowie fan and this is his tribute to him called “Goodnight Mr. Jones”. It starts off with a piano and Joe’s vocals and later builds in some orchestration. A beautiful track and one of my favorites on the album. I love all the Bowie song references in the lyrics, I always enjoy that. Very Ziggy sounding and quite stunning overall.

“Creatures” is fun, exciting and feels like vaudeville on steroids. It is a time machine back to the 70’s and it feels like something Queen would do. I love the style and time changes as it keeps you guessing what is coming. Instead of a guitar solo, we get a whistling solo. Queensryche would be jealous (only Deke will get this).

Then we get another piano heavy track with “Last Man Standing”. Lyrically stunning all based around the opening line “God took an axe to my family tree”. A very somber track and one of Joe’s best vocal performances and best written songs as well. The guitar solo on here matches the song perfectly as it emulates the mood and yet stands on its own. A stunning track.

SIDE 2:

“Music Box” is a musical interlude that Joe had written back in 1978. He dusted it off and it turned it to more vaudeville. We have a fairground organ, a recorder, a bass drum and a harp. It is cute and all, but really adds nothing to the album in my opinion. A full flushed out song woud’ve been better.

But it does transition nicely into the rocking track “Boys Don’t Cry” which is full of energy, smashing piano and rip-roaring guitars. Those backing vocals scream Def Leppard though, well, who cares, it still sounds great. An explosive track that is the real kick off to side 2 if you have this on vinyl. And damn…that solo is one of the better ones on the album. It just rips.

“Walking in Babylon” is about coming to a crossroads and making a decisions. It is a little maudlin in feel and isn’t that exciting or interesting to me. It is a little epic in its styling and at almost 6 minutes, maybe a little too long. It is not one of the song to stick with me.

“Let It Shine” is another piano based song and another song that seems reflective and sad. It has a better chorus then the prior song, but doesn’t feel much different. Also close to 6 minutes it overstays its welcome. The two songs together a little downer for me.

“Music Box Reprise (Griff’s Lament)” is another brief musical interlude and like the original music box, does nothing for me or the album.

Then we get to the only cover on the album, “White Punks On Dope”, originally by The Tubes. I love the energy, the honky tonk piano, the blistering guitars and bombastic drums. A fun track especially after the disappointment in the last 2 songs. But to be honest, I love this song no matter what, I even like Motley’s version.

The final track is another instrumental and this one is called “The Destruction of Hideous Objects Part 3” and it is useless for me as well. It brings back the vaudeville whistling and that is about the only thing about it I like. Otherwise, not sure the point.

Track Listing:

1. Another Man’s War – Keeper
2. This Is How We Roll – Keeper
3. Goodnight Mr. Jones – Keeper
4. Creatures – Keeper
5. Last Man Standing – Keeper
6. Music Box – Delete
7. Boys Don’t Cry – Keeper
8. Walking to Babylon – Delete
9. Let It Shine – Delete
10. Music Box Reprise (Griff’s Lament) – Delete
11. White Punks On Dope – Keeper
12. The Destruction of Hideous Objects Part 3 – Delete

The Track Score is 7 out of 12 Tracks or 58%.  The first half of the album is stellar. The back half, not so much as it was too scattered and not very rocking.  I do love the band went the original material route instead of another album of covers and the fact they kept that 70’s glam vibe was awesome as well.  Joe sounds great and the production is top notch as expected in anything Joe touches.  I’m not sure how much I’ll pull this out in the future, but there are some songs to add to my Joe Elliott playlist at least.  My Overall Score is a 3.0 out of 5.0 Stars.  Some good, some not so good.  Want more Leppard then the side projects though.

NEXT UP: HITS VEGAS: LIVE AT PLANET HOLLYWOOD – VINYL (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 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. Cybernauts – The Further Adventures of the Cybernauts (2001)
49. X (2002)
50. Hysteria: Classic Albums DVD (2002)
51. Best of Def Leppard (2004)
52. Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection (2005)
53. Yeah! (2006)
54. Yeah! Bonus CD with Backstage Interviews (2006)
55. Songs from the Sparkle Lounge (2008)
56. Man Raze – Surreal (2008)
57. B-Sides (2021)
58. Yeah! II (2021)
59. Yeah! Live (2021)
60. CMT Crossroads – Taylor Swift & Def Leppard (2009)
61. Down ‘N’ Outz -My ReGeneration (2010)
62. Man Raze – PunkFunkRootsRock (2011)
63. Down ‘N’ Outz -The Further Adventures of… (2014)
64. Def Leppard (2015)
65. Personal Jesus 7″ Single (2018)
66. Down ‘N’ Outz -This is How We Roll (2019)
67. Hits Vegas: Live at Planet Hollywood – Vinyl (2020)
68. Hysteria: Live – Vinyl (2020)
69. Def Leppard Acoustic Vegas – 10″ Vinyl (2020)
70. Down ‘N’ Outz – The Music Box E.P. (2020)
71. Diamond Star Halos (2022)
72. High & Dry – Picture Disc (RSD) (2022)
73. Drastic Symphonies (2023)
74. Drastic Symphonies – Picture Disc (2023)
75. Definitely: The Official Story of Def Leppard (2023)
76. Def Leppard – ‘One Night Only: Live at The Leadmill’ (RSD) (2024)
77. “Just Like ’73” – 7″ Single (2024)

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!