This week on The Collection, we are talking Def Leppard and specifically, Def Leppard on Cassette. We go through every single album that has been released on Cassette, what I’m missing and what was never released on cassette. From ‘On Through the Night’ to ‘Drastic Symphonies’ let’s walk through the Def Leppard Cassette Catalog.
So go check it out as it is live tonight right now, March 10, 2025 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
If you read my site, you know Def Leppard is one of my all-time favorite bands, if not the #1 band on my list. And for that, this list was extremely hard for me to do, yet easy as well. I will already go ahead and say it, there is not a horrible album in this bunch only some I like more than others and yet a few that are absolute no-brainers as the top choices. And yes, I am biased.
Speaking of top choices, my Top 5 is my Top 5 because each album is completely different. The band completely changed up the sound and style on each of these albums and when the band does that, for me they hit it out of the park.
From the very beginning in 1980 with their debut and all the way up to today, the band has been mainstay in my musical journey. In 2019, they were inducted in to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and all I can say is it is about damn time!!! They received the highest public vote so I am not the only one that things these guys from England are pretty darn great. And their last studio album was 2023’s ‘Drastic Symphonies’…so they are still going strong…sort of.
So, let’s get to it. Here is my favorite Def Leppard albums from the worst one to the very best. I hope you enjoy it.
WORST – DRASTIC SYMPHONIES (2023)
This album is basically dreadful with some shining moments. There are only 6 tracks worth listening to in my opinion and the rest was waste of time. They did at least experiment with a few tracks, although some were so bad they hurt, at least they tried. The problem was they should’ve “Tried” on all the songs rather then simply add orchestration to a lot of the original tracks. That is laziness. Keep “Turn to Dust”, “Paper Sun”, “Hysteria”, “Too Late For Love” and “King of the World”, skip the rest.
Def Leppard are known for taking long gaps between albums, but this might the longest. It has been 7 years since the last studio album, the 2015, self-titled gem, ‘Def Leppard’. Now, the band is back with an album that pays tribute to the era of glam rock with the likes of David Bowie, T. Rex and so many more. In fact, the title of their 12th studio album, ‘Diamond Star Halos’, is taken from the T. Rex 1971 song, “Get It On”. This is something Joe Elliott has been exploring with his Down ‘N’ Outz side project, but now that has leaked in to the Def Leppard camp…well, not really, as it has always been there. As Joe Elliott, Rick Allen, Rick Savage, Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell were all influenced by the great music of the 70’s.
‘Diamond Star Halos’ was released on May 27, 2022 and went all the way to #10 on the Billboard 200 album chart and even #5 in their UK home. Not a bad position for a band that have been around for over 40 years. And of course, I bought this album 4 times!! You read that right. I have the Target Exclusive vinyl with the yellow/red translucent vinyl and tarot card litho, but that is not all. I have 2 Japanese CDs as well. Why 2? Well, each one comes with 2 different bonus tracks so I had to have them both. And we don’t stop there. I even bought the cassette…yes, they put out a cassette with this one too. I had to have every format. Wait…hold the presses, I almost forgot. I also have the SDE Surround Sound version on Blu Ray and Dolby Atmos. So, I guess I have bought this album 5 times…yes, I have a problem.
Enough about my problems, let’s talk the album. It opens with the song “Take What You Want” which I swear is a throwback to ‘Pyromania’ era Leppard. I heavy rocker (well, as heavy as they get nowadays). Gang vocals, gritty riff, catchy chorus, it is all there. Then they glam it out with “Kick”. A poppy rock song that harkens back to T. Rex and Mott the Hoople. I admit, I like this one. Damn, is it catchy and gets stuck in your head.
“Fire It Up” cranks up the rock with some slamming riff, heavy bass from Sav and pounding drums from Allen. Joe almost raps the vocals and the chorus is layered with vocals as they are known to do. Their choruses are always huge. I have a love/hate with this one. Musically, killer…the rapping style lyrics, not so much.
We are to the final of the Big Collection Series I will be doing. It is DEF LEPPARD!!! This is the last large collection I have…well…in my collection. Will it be the final series? Probably not, but don’t expect any more to go to this size again. There is nothing else left that would even hold a candle to it. The only one’s bigger are Kiss and Jeff Scott Soto and we’ve finished those series. Bon Jovi is close, but we are currently doing that one as well. So, this is it for the Big Guns.
Coming September 7th, 2023, DEF LEPPARD!! We are going to go through the series in chronological order of the material, not necessarily the album release dates. My Buddy Mike Ladano did his Leppard Series that way, and honestly, I liked it. So the years of some of these releases might be more current, but all the songs on it aren’t. There might be some minor exceptions to that rule over time, but my series, my rules. I hope you are ready for it!
What will we be reviewing? I have that mapped out so let’s talk through it.
THE STUDIO ALBUMS:
And I didn’t realize I didn’t have the 2015 self-titled album on vinyl. I think I was waiting for The Collections, Volume 4 to come out, but maybe I need to go ahead and get it.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 