Part 3 in my series of Def Leppard Slang reviews!
Part 1: “Slang”
Part 2: “Work It Out”
DEF LEPPARD – “All I Want Is Everything” (1996 two part Mercury CD single)
“All I Want Is Everything” was the first song from Slang that we got to hear. Def Leppard first revealed a live unplugged snippet on their Video Archive VHS. I was still surprised when I heard the whole studio version: It is a lot darker than I expected. I love it, don’t get me wrong. I love its sparse, organic sound. I think the chorus and verses are fantastic, but even better is the bridge.
A lot of my customers were turned off my Slang and songs like “All I Want Is Everything”. While I could argue that this song is every bit as good as “Hysteria” or “Stand Up (Kick Love Into Motion)”, it is obviously a lot darker. But it was also 1996. In 1996, bands like Def Leppard moved with the times. Bon Jovi made similar adjustments. This is no singalong hit, but it is quality songwriting and production.
Next up on disc 1 of this single is “When Saturday Comes” performed by Joe, Phil and Sav. This is apparently for a movie also called When Saturday Comes. This song would be more satisfying to those wishing for an older school vibe; indeed it is a dead ringer for Van Hagar. It is anthemic with some shredding from Phil. It wouldn’t make my own personal Def Leppard mix tape, but I thank them anyway for including the song so I wouldn’t have to hunt down an obscure soundtrack. “Jimmy’s Theme” performed by the same trio is an instrumental from the same soundtrack. Out of context from a film I’ve never seen, it doesn’t do much for me. It’s a nice slow blues with Phil playing some elegant melodies. But it’s just “nice”, I don’t regularly come back to this one. The CD ends with an edit version of “All I Want Is Everything” (whoop de do).
Disc 2, for whatever reason, also includes the same two versions of “All I Want Is Everything”. Why not just put the album version on disc 1, and the edit version on disc 2? Small gripe I guess but it got tedious when I had both discs in the changer and was too lazy to skip.
Also on disc 2 are a couple tracks from the Jeffology tribute record. Phil Collen does “‘Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers”. Personally I don’t think anybody can touch Jeff Beck on this one. In fact Beck is so awesome on this, especially live, that I don’t really see the point of listening to a cover version. Sorry Phil, that is nothing against your playing, which is really really great, especially when you start cookin’ around the 4 minute mark. I just think nobody’s even in Beck’s league on this one, and I think that’s a fair assessment.
Vivian Campbell does “Led Boots” from Wired. I love the original “Led Boots”. It’s just funky, chunky and fucked up. I think Vivian’s style is more suited to Beck than Phil’s is. This is an enjoyable listen, Vivian gets to shred a bit. It’s definitely less fucked up sounding than the original, but Vivian is just a pleasure to listen to, he is clearly enjoying himself.
The “Work It Out” single previous to this contained post cards of the first four Def Leppard albums. CD 2 of “All I Want Is Everything” has the final four: Adrenalize, Retro-Active, Vault, and Slang.
3/5 stars
mikeladano.com 
the first two albums from leppard are great! they were a real kick ass band! they lost something on the way, not just an arm :( the NWOBHM, what a wonderful time!
LikeLike
I think Gene a lot of people in the general public forget that the old band (first two albums) had two completely different guitar players on them (Steve and Pete) compared to now (Vivian and Phil). They had a real AC/DC vibe with the original two guys. They were both significant writers in the band too.
LikeLike
Slang isn’t my favourite Def Leppard album but “All I Want is Everything” is my favourite song on it.
LikeLike
Kudos to the band for writing it!
LikeLike
Definitely! Funny thing is that I was recently listening to their greatest hits album and found myself asking why this song wasn’t on it
LikeLike
Interesting. I have a few different hits albums from them (different countries/track listings) but this is on none. Work it Out and Slang are on a couple of them though.
I used to make my own Def Lep hits albums with this song on it.
LikeLike
I’m really enjoying this series. You’re introducing me to stuff that I did not even know existed. Also, Jeff Beck’s hard to top, man. Good on ’em for trying. ;)
LikeLike
Jeff Beck has such a unique sound, so identifiable. Very different. A league of his own.
LikeLike
Oh yeah! I’ve got several of his vinyls here, and they are all different, all ingenious. And if you want ALL KINDS OF AWESOME, check out the full gig at Ronnie Scott’s.
LikeLike
And I realize now that posting Jeff Beck stuff here when the post was about Def Leppard is a little rude. Sorry about that, boys.
LikeLike
Good single like I said before u gotta hand back to them for stripping back the sound for Slang,it’s a good headphones album as well….but yeah different band as for sure I mean those first three Lep albums were the us Againest the world and after the third album it was like ok now we got the world now what!!!….
I remember the Retroactive album had a superb track Desert Song,I a s hoping there were gonna follow that path which I think on some of Slang they do but of course the went back to there original sound which for me was a step back….
LikeLike
Desert Song and Fractured Love were both really excellent. But those were also old Hysteria outtakes with Steve that they never finished…once again I think their origin riffy sound died with Steve Clark.
LikeLike
One of my faves from Slang. I really liked the guitar sounds on the album version, and a great guitar solo on that too.
As singles go these seem a bit less exciting compared to the others, but still worthwhile for the rarities!
LikeLike
Yeah I would say so. Just because some of these are solo tracks, it wouldn’t have normally put them high on my collecting radar.
LikeLike