Tag: High ‘N’ Dry (Saturday Night)

Def Leppard – ‘High & Dry’ – RSD Picture Disc (2022) (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic14 Comments

Yes, if you’ve been following the Def Leppard Collection Series then you know I’ve reviewed ‘High & Dry’ already; however, since this the collection series, here is the Record Store Day Picture Disc that was released back in 2022 for ‘High & Dry’. I don’t usually buy too many Picture Disc unless they are like 12″ Singles or E.P.’s because I usually already have the albums. But with Def Leppard, if I see it, I buy it…and guess what…I saw it so I bought it!! It was released on April 23, 2022 and is supposed to be limited to 6,000 copies. It states it is an RSD First which means they plan on releasing the picture disc to the general public at any time now I guess. I don’t think I’ve seen it happen yet. I have scatted the pictures in the post and you can read along to the original review from last year. Enjoy!!…

Original Review:

While touring in support of their debut album, ‘On Through the Night’, Def Leppard opened for one of the biggest bands at the time, AC/DC. Famed producer, Robert John “Mutt” Lange, who produced AC/DC’s massive album “Back in Black”, took notice of the band and he was very impressed. So much so, he agreed to be their producer for the band’s sophomore album ‘High ‘N’ Dry’. A move that would change the course of history for this band and catapult them in to the stratosphere of rock stardom. But first, they had to do an album and this album saw the band head to a more melodic phase, however, the edge and rawness of the debut was still present.

The songwriting was more refined, everything seemed more purposefully composed, it was cleaner yet it was still powerful, engaging and after over 40 years with it, it is one of the best rock & roll albums of all time. Well…it is for me. The band, who was Joe Elliott, Steve Clark, Rick Savage, Rick Allen and Pete Willis, recorded the album between March and June of 1981 and it was released a very short time later on July 11, 1981. A short 16 months after the debut. Man, if they could’ve only kept that pace of releases, how much could they have released over the years. The album would go to #38 in the U.S. and #26 in the UK. Not a massive success, but enough of one thanks to the ballad “Brinin’ on the Heartbreak” which saw massive airplay on MTV, that the band was setup nicely for the next album.

Their third album ‘Pyromania’ was so big, so successful and so amazing, that ‘High ‘N’ Dry’ was re-released in 1984 with 2 additional tracks. One was a re-mix of “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” which added synthesizers and piano overdubs to make it sound more like what was done on ‘Pyromania’. The other track was “Me & My Wine” which was the B-Side of the original release of “Bringin On the Heartbreak”. It too was re-mixed for a more modern sound. This re-release helped sell more albums which has since seen the album go double platinum. They even did new videos for it with Phil Collen on guitar who was not on this album at all as Pete Willis was at the time. The copy we are reviewing today is the original release without the 2 new tracks, the way it should be heard. Let’s get to it.

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Def Leppard – ‘Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection’ (2005) – Album Review (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic27 Comments

The compilations are coming fast and furious. First we had the UK greatest hits compilation called ‘Best of Def Leppard’ which came in a 1 CD and a 2 CD version. The U.S. did not get that release. Instead, about 6 months later, the States got a slightly different collection called ‘Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection’. This was released May 17, 2005 about 7 months later and went to #10 on the Billboard 200 chart selling over 1 million copies in the States alone. Canada bought about 200,000. So, it did well.

How does this one differ from “Best of”? Not by a whole lot. The biggest, noticeable difference is the artwork is really spruced up and more vibrant with the Union Jack used as background. Some of the pictures are the same and the liner notes I think are identical. This time, Disc 1 is identical to ‘Vault’ with the only change adding 2 songs. Disc 2 is pretty close to the same as well. There is a different New song. Instead of the cover of The Kink’s “Waterloo Sunset”, we get a Badfinger cover of “No Matter What”. We do get 18 tracks on Disc 2 instead of 17 with “Paper Sun” and “Mirror Mirror (Look Into My Eyes” being different. The dropped “Make Love Like A Man”, thankfully. And lastly, the track order is shaken up on Disc 2 as well. Let’s be realistic, they aren’t that different.

DISC 1:

The album opens with the biggest song of their career, “Pour Some Sugar on Me”. It was the third single off ‘Hysteria’ in the UK, but the fourth in the States. And it was do or die time for the band. They need to sell way more and this song did it for them. Yes, the song is about sex, but it is it the energy of the song that make this one so good. This is the ‘Historia’ Video Edit version which opens with “Love is a like a Bomb” and is actually longer then the album version.

Then with no mercy, we get “Photograph”.  First…the song is NOT about Marilyn Monroe.  The song is about an obsession with a woman and all you have of her is that photograph.  The Marilyn Monroe part was added for the video to help tell the story.  And it captures it perfectly.  As the video shows that obsession going a little too far. The song was perfect in my book and the video was mesmerizing.  The two together captured my attention like nothing ever had before and every time MTV showed, I turned up the volume! 

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Def Leppard – ‘Best Of Def Leppard’ (2004) – Album Review (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic39 Comments

Up to this point, Def Leppard really only had 1 greatest hits album and that was 1995’s ‘Vault: Def Leppard Greatest Hits 1980-1995’. Since that last compilation, they have released a couple more albums so it was time to update the Greatest Hits package and this time it is called ‘Best of Def Leppard’, easy enough. There is a single disc version which is basically the same tracks as the ‘Vault’. Well, close enough. They did remove two tracks and add two more recent ones then they added two more tracks on that one to give us 17 tracks instead of 15. And I am okay with the choices they made.

There is also a 2 CD set which is what I have. It came with a slip case (my copy doesn’t have that piece) and a second disc with more of a diverse selection. While the first mostly ignores the first albums (exception being “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak”), this adds a few more tracks plus gives us more of the newer albums. And even better a new song…well new to Def Leppard as it is a cover of The Kink’s song “Waterloo Sunset”. This was a preview of what was to come with the band’s next studio album ‘Yeah!’ which is a covers album. I like that second disc since it is the usual Leppard standards.

The CD came out on October 25, 2004 and it did sell 300,000 copies in the UK and went to #6 on the albums chart. It charted in other countries as well, but it didn’t chart in the U.S. as it was not officially released here in the States. That would come the next year with a new compilation called ‘Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection’ which we will review next week. Now, since this set is 34 songs over 2 CDs, this review could take awhile. I’ll get started.

DISC 1:

The album opens with the biggest song of their career, “Pour Some Sugar on Me”. It was the third single off ‘Hysteria’ in the UK, but the fourth in the States. And it was do or die time for the band. They need to sell way more and this song did it for them. Yes, the song is about sex, but it is it the energy of the song that make this one so good. This is the ‘Historia’ Video Edit version which opens with “Love is a like a Bomb” and is actually longer then the album version.

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Def Leppard – ‘Seattle, August 3, 1983’ (Bootleg CD) – Album Review (the Def Leppard Collection Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic72 Comments

The tour for Def Leppard’s ‘Pyromania’ album started on February 9th, 1983 in London, England and would go on for 11 months, travel the world on and on December 18th, 1983 in Dortmund, West Germany. The tour was massive and a huge success. They even recorded the show at the L.A. Forum on the September 11th which was released as Live at the L.A. Forum which we reviewed last week. But being a such a fan of the band, I like to collect as many shows as I can get and I found one from a month earlier that was recorded in Seattle, Washington on August 3, 1983. Yes, it is a bootleg, but it is a radio broadcast so they sound is going to be pretty good…and it isn’t bad.

The show as recorded at the Seattle Center Colesium and it is the EXACT same setlist as the LA Forum show the band released. But the show is slightly different and the sound doesn’t sound the same as the other show so it does sound like a different show despite no variations in the setlist. First off, Joe Elliott’s voice is super high in this mix and the guitars are pushed a little to the back. Some songs I notice the bass is even higher then the guitars. The crowd noise isn’t as prominent so sometimes you forget they are there except when Joe interacts with them. The set I have was released in 2022 and on a 2 CD set split identical as my vinyl splits the LA Forum show.

The show kicks off with the air raid sirens, bombs bursting in the background and machine guns firing and it sounds way better and clearer then the Forum show. There is a gap in the track and and it makes it feel like the intro was not even a part of the show. Then the band goes in to “Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)”, Joe’s vocals are a little rough and super loud along with the background vocals while the guitars don’t have the crunch or power you’d hope. But the energy is high and the tempo is really quick. “Rock Brigade” is up next and it sounds a little muddy and again, Joe’s a little rough around the edges and is sounds a little shot. The solo is ripping and they stick to the original song with not much extra added.

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Def Leppard – ‘Live at the L.A. Forum 1983’ (2018) – Album Review (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic84 Comments

Def Leppard had made it big time with their third album ‘Pyromania’. The tour was huge. It traveled the world and saw millions of fans flock to their shows. They were on fire and the flame was growing hotter and hotter. There had been no shows released until the Deluxe Edition of Pyromania saw the light of day in 2009. That was the first time we had a taste of Live Leppard from 1983. Of course, this was only on CD. It wasn’t until the release of the giant box set ‘The Collection, Vol. 1’ in 2018 that we were able to get this on vinyl which is what we are reviewing here today.

The show was night two at the L.A. Forum on September 11, 1983 and thanks to MTV and Def Leppard’s high profile videos, the crowd was massive and the energy was high and electric. The band was in fine form and ready to rock. This show had been bootlegged heavily back in the day so now we get a freshly mixed and wonderfully sounding show. This would be the first live show Leppard had ever released that wasn’t a video. As a fan, we were thrilled to finally get an early show with Steve Clark on guitar. Now, since then we have a handful of live shows from that era and Leppard had released several newer shows, but this was the first one to see a CD release that we could pop in our car or home stereo and turn it up to 11.

Side One:

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Def Leppard – “Too Late For Love” (1983) – 12″ Single (The Def Leppard Collection)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic78 Comments

The final single for the album ‘Pyromania’ was unplanned. “Too Late For Love” would be the fourth single and was released on November 25, 1983. A song that wasn’t going to be a single, but due to the success fo the first three singles, they thought let’s release another one and it went to #9 on the US Mainstream Rock chart, but didn’t hit the Top 40 as no official video was done for it.

The single I have is a 12″ Single and it is also out of the U.K. like the “Photograph” single from last week. However, this I actually found in the wild here in the States so I grabbed it up quickly. You have “Too Late for Love” on one side and the other side has two tracks, “Foolin'” from Pyromania and “High ‘N’ Dry (Saturday Night)” off the ‘High ‘N’ Dry’ album. I’m sure that was done to help drive sales of the prior album…and it worked.

SIDE 1:

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Def Leppard – ‘High & Dry’ (1981) – Album Review (the Def Leppard Collection Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic100 Comments

While touring in support of their debut album, ‘On Through the Night’, Def Leppard opened for one of the biggest bands at the time, AC/DC. Famed producer, Robert John “Mutt” Lange, who produced AC/DC’s massive album “Back in Black”, took notice of the band and he was very impressed. So much so, he agreed to be their producer for the band’s sophomore album ‘High ‘N’ Dry’. A move that would change the course of history for this band and catapult them in to the stratosphere of rock stardom. But first, they had to do an album and this album saw the band head to a more melodic phase, however, the edge and rawness of the debut was still present.

The songwriting was more refined, everything seemed more purposefully composed, it was cleaner yet it was still powerful, engaging and after over 40 years with it, it is one of the best rock & roll albums of all time. Well…it is for me. The band, who was Joe Elliott, Steve Clark, Rick Savage, Rick Allen and Pete Willis, recorded the album between March and June of 1981 and it was released a very short time later on July 11, 1981. A short 16 months after the debut. Man, if they could’ve only kept that pace of releases, how much could they have released over the years. The album would go to #38 in the U.S. and #26 in the UK. Not a massive success, but enough of one thanks to the ballad “Brinin’ on the Heartbreak” which saw massive airplay on MTV, that the band was setup nicely for the next album.

Their third album ‘Pyromania’ was so big, so successful and so amazing, that ‘High ‘N’ Dry’ was re-released in 1984 with 2 additional tracks. One was a re-mix of “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” which added synthesizers and piano overdubs to make it sound more like what was done on ‘Pyromania’. The other track was “Me & My Wine” which was the B-Side of the original release of “Bringin On the Heartbreak”. It too was re-mixed for a more modern sound. This re-release helped sell more albums which has since seen the album go double platinum. They even did new videos for it with Phil Collen on guitar who was not on this album at all as Pete Willis was at the time. The copy we are reviewing today is the original release without the 2 new tracks, the way it should be heard. Let’s get to it.

Continue reading “Def Leppard – ‘High & Dry’ (1981) – Album Review (the Def Leppard Collection Series)” →