To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the bands debut album, Def Leppard put together quite an impressive box set. This disc is the second prized disc to have. It is full of studio recordings and live songs from various BBC recordings in those early years. Some pretty cool stuff and the only way to get it is to buy The Early Years ’79-’81 (2020)
The first set of songs were recorded in June 1979 and they were for a show hosted by DJ Andy Peebles. The really cool thing about these four songs is that all the guitar parts were handled by Steve Clark. Pete Willis was unable to get off work to record the sessions. This was back when the band was still trying to make it. Those 4 songs that were recorded were “Glad I’m Alive”, “Sorrow is a Woman”, “Wasted” and “Answer to the Master”. The guitar sound on these songs all sound a little different as a result, There isn’t as much depth as the guitar parts sound too similar than when Pete is on it as this guitars sound different than Steve’s.
The solo on “Glad I’m Alive” sounds different almost hollow like in a stage far from the band. Still, this is one of the coolest non-album tracks the band has ever done. “Sorrow is a Woman” sees Joe shine on vocals, but the music this time around lacks a little punch. “Wasted” is all guitar so it is all Steve. It isn’t as raw and crunchy as the original recording, but there is something cool on this one. Rick Savage’s bass seems to be higher in the mix to offset the lack of Pete’s guitar and it adds a new dimension to the song. They also added a lot of echo to Joe’s vocals at time which i very different from the original. Lastly, “Answer to the Master” really misses the second guitar,but still a solid recording of the song. I’d still would’ve been a fan of these songs if these were what I heard first. I didn’t have these versions in my collection so I think they are awesome.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 