Disco de Def Leppard: “Songs From the Sparkle Lounge”

Probably not since 1996's "Slang" have I been so satisfied with a Def Leppard album of original material. "Euphoria" from 1999 contains excellent tunes but is slightly mired down with some total clunkers at the start, while 2002's "X," though bravely seeking to navigate into pure pop-rock waters in the vain of the then-popular boy bands, is a bit limpid when compared to the entire Leppard catalog. Enter "Songs from the Sparkle Lounge," an album that has real hit potential for a band that deserves more accolades to come its way in this day and age.

With its splashy cover and a less curt title than most Def Leppard albums, "Sparkle Lounge" right away makes its presence felt -- and the in-yer-face music does not once disappoint. The first track, "Go," is a pure jolt of both retro and modern Def Lep energy and may have made a stronger lead-off single than "Nine Lives" with Tim McGraw, though that great song's crunchy guitar work, hand claps and various addictive choruses are ten times more real and fun than tunes such as the contrived "Let's Get Rocked" from "Adrenalize." Equally as elated-sounding is Rick Savage's glammy toe-tapper "C'mon, C'mon," apparently the band's next choice for a single, which could easily find a happy home in commercials, movies and arenas till the end of time. Savage also wrote the multi-dimensional "Love," which threw me for a bit of a loop. "Love" begins with a thunderous explosion but quickly subsides to beautiful flamenco-style guitar picking and Elliott's soft vocals, which at first come off as sappy. Luckily, though, "Love" actually turns out to be a creative piece that is somehow a concoction of Queen's extravagant vocals, The Beatles' easy melody and Leppard's militaristic guitar work wrapped into one.

Interestingly, the Leps mostly chose to forgo a collaborative songwriting process in favor of bringing individual projects to the table. Collen's soaring "Tomorrow" features a Bono-esque "hoo-hoo" rally at the start and a message of living for today, but it's his other tune, "Hallucinate," which qualifies as one of my favorites on the CD. The opening riff of "Hallucinate" is chunkier and bolder than "Photograph"'s from the early 1980s, but Elliott's amazing vocals and the chorus within the song are what make it so special. Elliott, meanwhile, flaunts his rugged vocals, rollicking songwriting skills and intrepid attitude on the rough-and-tumble "Bad Actress" and the majestic but rocking "Come Undone," which is another favorite of mine.

Vivian Campbell, too, deserves credit for his songwriting work on "Cruise Control" and "Only the Good Die Young." The former song takes on a suicide bomber's eerie point of view, while the latter is a sweet and deserving tribute to the legendary Steve Clark, whose dark but catchy riffs have managed to live on in Def Leppard's music. Uncannily, "Only the Good Die Young" is a cool mix of Beatles and old-school Leppard, which proves Campbell is an underrated weapon in the band, someone with a great voice and guitar-playing skills, and a guy who seems to bring a fresh approach.

Joe Elliott's voice is less raspy than in years past -- probably all the screaming and cigarettes over the years have taken their toll -- but his iron vocals are still on cue enough to more than get the job done. The underrated Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell are brilliant on this CD, pulling off stunning, fluid guitar solos everywhere, and Rick Allen's drum fills are so liquid-smooth that the guy must be receiving technical help somewhere. Nonetheless, this new approach to percussion on a Leppard album only enhances what is rapidly becoming a Hall of Fame career. Highly recommended.

I'm a longtime Lep fan, since the early '80s and High & Dry. I've never grown tired of their music, and one of their discs is always in the CD player. We all love some work more than others - I never got attached to "Slang", and thought some songs should have gotten more airplay than they did, such as "Promises" which is still a favorite, and "Everyday" off the X album which I liked much more than the rest of the world - but like many other people I figured their days of releasing relevant original-material studio albums were likely passed. I was ok with that, knowing they're still frequent-tourers, and I've now seen them 6 times (3 times in the last 2 years, in fact). So I wasn't expecting this album at all. Wow, what a fantastic and welcome surprise.

"Sparkle Lounge" didn't grab me the first few times I played it through. Maybe it's just me, but it always takes some time to absorb what I'm hearing. The same may happen to you. On the 4th listen, I became absolutely positively hooked. First of all, the production quality is SUPERB. My first listen was on a pair of small computer speakers - what a waste. When I played it on a full system, it absolutely rocked. When I say production quality, I'm not talking about the songs, or the lyrics, I'm talking about the behind-the-scenes engineering of the recording. It's the cleanest, purest, and most sonically crisp recording since Green Day's "American Idiot", which is also a production masterpiece.

And I never thought I'd hear Def Lep with so much diversity. I thought I'd dislike the slight country flavor of Nine Lives, but it actually works very well. I distinctly hear the Beatles and Gary Glitter in "C'mon C'mon", and the Beatles again in "Only the Good Die Young". And whether you like or dislike "Love", and the idea of ballads in general, I love the Queen influence in the song - it's got Bohemian Rhapsody all over it. And in "Gotta Let It Go", the chorus reminds me of Bon Jovi, and their hit "Have a Nice Day", with the huge power chords and pounding percussion. Again, whether you like or dislike Bon Jovi, that's not something I expected from Def Lep.

The entire album is paced well, it's sequenced perfectly, and it's never boring. But you want to know what the real litmus test was? By the end of the 4th listen, I realized I was "dancing" around my place of work, playing air guitar and air drums, as I listened to the CD. Isn't that really what it's about, and what matters? I'm actually rocking out to a brand new Def Leppard album. Yes...it's 2008, and I'm rocking out to a Def Leppard album, and it's not called Hysteria or Pyromania!

I'm sure they worked like dogs to make it as good as it is. As a fan, I'm proud of them, and they should be very proud of themselves. As if their catalog of great music wasn't already large enough, they just added another winner to their history. Congratulations to Def Leppard, I'll see you on tour again very soon.

When I received Sparkle Lounge I decided I was going to "live with it" for a while before deciding what I thought. Well, I've been listening to it for a couple of weeks alongside their greatest hits package(Rock Of Ages) to see how it stacks up to material throughout their career and I think this is their best effort from start to finish since Hysteria.

What I genuinely like about this album is the variety of songs on it. There are songs that remind me of OTTN and High & Dry(Hallucinate and Gotta Let It Go), one's that could easily have been on Pyromania or Hysteria(Nine Lives, Tomorrow and Bad Actress) and some that are better than some of those on Slang or X(Go, Love and Come Undone). They also give a salute to the music they grew up listening to - C'Mon C'Mon and Only The Good Die Young definitely have a 70's feel to them.

Some people have always wanted Def Leppard to make another High & Dry, others would love to see "Hysteria 2" while others think Slang is the pinnacle of their recordings. Well, the reason people have those opinions is that Leppard had, and still HAS, the talent to make those albums and Songs From The Sparkle Lounge hits on everything that's great about the band. Fans of the band or anyone just looking for a good, fun rock and roll album should definitely pick this one up.

I haven't enjoyed a Def album more since Retroactive. Solid percussion coupled with the fun guitar riffs and the trademark harmonizing makes it a really exciting release. The songs "Go" and "C'mon, C'mon" are catchy enough to justify buying the album. Definitely release candidates. Lots of good stuff to be found throughout. Thanks guys!

In the days prior to the release of this album, I noticed that many of the early reviews said the album was just OK. But make no mistake about it, "Songs From the Sparkle Lounge" is much better than that. At first listen, with the jarring opening track "Go," which is a mix of the "Slang" sound and the "Hysteria" sound, it becomes apparent that the guitars are back in full swing. Other tracks keep the energy level at its highest in years while supplying classic Leppard hooks ("Bad Actress"), and a few tracks stand out as smashes in the waiting. "Only the Good Die Young" is the catchiest Def Leppard song since "Promises." There is only one true ballad on the disc, "Love," which doesn't catch on immediately, but this record is not about the ballads. It is about the fact that this band needed a guitar-driven, energetic release to follow up the band's excellent 2006 covers album "Yeah!" They have accomplished that here, and Joe Elliot's vocals are better than ever, showing no signs of age. This body of songs will add to the live shows; they now have some brand new legitimate hard rock songs to stand along side their past classic hits, and while each and every track is not "Photograph" material, there is much to love here, and it proves that Def Leppard is very much a vital rock band in today's market, and there are several tracks here which may give the band its first huge hit in quite some time.