Part 2 of a 4-part series on early Def Leppard singles!
DEF LEPPARD – The Def Leppard E.P. (1979 Bludgeon Riffola)
I’ve been slowly, slowly working towards a complete Def Leppard collection. This is one of the last items from the early years that I still needed — The Def Leppard E.P. This is a 7″ single, 33 1/3 RPM however, and never have these recordings been released on a Def Leppard CD. This first EP had Frank Noon on drums. He was just a fill-in, and a month later Def Lep replaced him with a 15 year old Rick Allen.
I have been wanting this one since I was a young fella. Def Leppard was a band I was obsessed with back in highschool. They are in fact the band that really kicked off my collecting, as I described in one of the first Record Store Tales. “Ride Into the Sun” was the B-side to the “Hysteria” single, and it has long been a personal favourite of mine. What I found out later was that this B-side was actually a re-recording of one of the very earliest Def Leppard songs, pre-On Through the Night!
The self-produced 1979 version of “Ride Into the Sun” is a bit different, not as fast or heavy, and containing a different pre-chorus. It’s still a great, fun Def Leppard song from their brief “NWOBHM” period. “Getcha Rocks Off” is a Van Halen-style shuffle, a cool tune that really cooks, with hot solos and a couple smoking riffs. This recording was briefly available on Lars Ulrich’s NWOBHM compilation album. A heavier live (?) version of this song is available on the On Through the Night album.
Side B was taken up by a 7:50 epic track called “The Overture”. This song too was re-recorded by Tom Allom for the debut album (that version is just called “Overture”). Perhaps this song is as close as Def Leppard has ever been to a metal band. It riffs solidly along with some primitive dual guitar hooks. There are ample solos, pounding drums, and different sections and tempos. It’s like Def Judas Maiden. Or something.
The edition I bought is MSB001 of which 15,000 copies were made. This edition unfortunately did not come with the picture sleeve. The original cover was spoof of the His Master’s Voice logo, with a leopard instead of a dog.
I’m glad to finally have this Def Lep collectible. It’s been a long time waiting.
“Hello America” was the third of three singles from Def Leppard’s debut album, the first two being “Wasted” and “Rock Brigade”. Like many kids in the late 80’s, I first heard the song “Hello America” on Def Leppard’s video anthology, Historia. It was a weird video, with Rick Allen’s drums up front and the band in behind! Nobody would ever say that this was one of Def Leppard’s all time best songs, but it’s catchy with a driving riff. Joe Elliot hadn’t really found his voice yet. This is standard hard rock, but not outstanding. The guitar solo by Steve Clark is quite excellent.
Please note, Leppard’s first single for “Wasted” had an alternate recording of “Hello America” on the B-side. This is not that version. This is the standard album version.
The B-side, like the A-side, was produced by (Colonel) Tom Allom who had also produced Judas Priest’s British Steel around the same time. “Good Morning Freedom” was not on the On Through the Night LP, however. This is an exclusive track. Just over three minutes long, “Good Morning Freedom” is a good song, much in the same vein as the rest of Leppard’s music at the time. “Good Morning Freedom” (parsed as “Goodmorning Freedom” on the vinyl itself) is very New Wave of British Heavy Metal in style. It almost sounds like an Iron Maiden B-side from the same period. The track boasts a driving rhythm, rock-solid riff, but also another shaky Joe Elliot lead vocal. Not an outstanding song, but most definitely collectible. The tune is credited to Elliot, Clark, guitarist Pete Willis and bassist Rick Savage. It’s notable for its Rick Allen drum intro.
Not a bad single, comes with a picture sleeve, and rocks harder than their later material.
3/5 stars
Def Lep playing “Good Morning Freedom” in Vegas as part of Viva! Hysteria
Pyromania is one of those landmark albums that every melodic rock fan should own: Over 10 million copies sold, four classic hit singles, and a sound that at the time was so new and fresh that everybody took notice. This is before Rick Allen’s accident, before Steve Clark’s death, and before Def Leppard had any serious hits. Three would prove to be their lucky number when they set down to record their third album.
Pyromania is also the only Leppard album to feature a three-guitar lineup, in a sense. Pete Willis was fired mid-way through recording, ironically for alcohol abuse, the same illness that would take Steve Clark 8 years later. Phil Collen (ex-Girl, with Phil Lewis of the future L.A. Guns) was hired to complete the unfinished guitar rhythms and solos. Willis’ rhythm guitar appears on all 10 tracks, making this his final Def Leppard album.
Girl, featuring Phil Collen and Phil Lewis
At some point in the 1990’s, Pyromania was licensed out to Mobile Fidelity labs, who used the original master tapes to create a 24kt gold “Ultradisc II”. The discs are “custom pressed” (don’t know what that really means) on gold, because it doesn’t oxidize (IE, it’ll last longer). Although the back cover states that “all liner notes, photos and artwork from the original LP are faithfully recreated”, this is not so. All the Ultradisc comes with are the lyrics, and nothing else. Not even a producer credit. And the weird thing is, Leppard didn’t even print lyrics in their albums at the time.
The ultradisc comes in its own unique case seen below, and does sound tremendous, I can vouch for that. Does it sound better than the remaster? Hell, I don’t know. I’m no audiophile. They both sound good to me! The 24kt gold is obviously collectible, which is why I still have it, even though I upgraded to the deluxe since then.
The Ultradisc II’s unique case
Now, onto the deluxe. This was freshly remastered. It brings the glory of Mutt Lange’s groundbreaking production to daylight. The liner notes (by one of my favourite writers, Rolling Stone’s David Fricke) reveal Mutt’s obsession: At one point the band were laying down entire chords one note at a time in order to get the right alchemy. Their goal was to create an album that nobody had made before, and they succeeded. (Hard to believe that they would pull off the same stunt twice, and do it again on Hysteria, as different from Pyromania as Pyromania was from On Through the Night!)
This landmark album contains no weak songs: All 10 of its tracks were valuable use of precious vinyl. It even filled the vinyl, a full 45 minutes, pretty close to the maximum afforded by the format. From the melancholy apocalyptic riffage of the power ballad “Too Late For Love”, to the manic gallop of “Rock! Rock! (‘Til You Drop)”, this album is nearly flawless. Album cuts like “Comin’ Underfire” (tied for my favourite on the album) and “Stagefright” stick to the brain like peanut butter in the mouth. (“Too Late” is my other favourite.)
And that’s not including the hits: “Rock of Ages”, “Foolin'”, and “Photograph”, all classics in their own right, which I certainly hope you already know by heart. The combo of Def and Mutt had, by this point, gotten quite good at writing riffs with hooks, and the songs to go with them. “Rock of Ages” has a life of its own now, radio will never let this one die. “Photograph” was a mid-tempo pop rock classic, pointing the way to Hysteria, four years later….
Unlike the Hysteria and Adrenalize deluxe editions on the market, Pyromania has no B-sides. There were no extra tracks lying around unreleased, and no B-sides available. The liner notes reveal that an 11th song was written, but not much else is known about it.
Instead, the bonus second CD contains an awesome sounding show from the Pyromania tour. It’s important to remember that no live albums or videos were released by Def Leppard until post-Hysteria, so this is the only live release featuring Rick Allen before his accident. Def Leppard sound absolutely ferocious. Joe Elliot’s voice is at its vocal-cord-shredding best, gargling glass like Brian Johnson possessed. Steve Clark and Phil Collen (the new boy) rip and shred on their guitars, and weave them into a wall of thunder (listen to “Switch 625”). The two Ricks, Allen and Savage, keep it rolling on the rhythm, steady as she goes. And then Brian May of Queen even shows up at the end for a CCR cover tune (with a surprise foray into Led Zeppelin)! Some of these songs have never been heard live on a CD before. Indeed, Leppard rarely play anything pre-Pyromania anymore.
I mean, it’s always a treat to hear “Wasted”, isn’t it? Combine that with some great tunage from High N’ Dry, such as “Mirror Mirror” and “Another Hit and Run”. These are some of my favourite Def Leppard tracks anyway, and to hear them live in ’83 by a young and hungry band is really, really entertaining.
Pyromania being their third release, it would have been totally appropriate (and in hindsight very wise, considering the gap between albums) to release this concert as a live album back in the 80’s as the band buckled in for the very hard Hysteria recording sessions. For whatever reason, that didn’t happen. At least we get to hear it now!
5/5 stars
Pictured below: the three versions I currently own. The original LP, the 24 kt gold Ultradisc II, and the deluxe.
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