Retro Active - Def Leppard (CD 1993)

I had stopped buying Def Leppard CDs for a while there after Hysteria (there was that embarrassing flirtation with Michael Bolton, what was I thinking?) However, I took a job at an unnamed used CD shoppe which later fired me because they realized that, in the course of all those raises they had given me over the years I had come to earn nearly $2 above minimum wage. I was suddenly too expensive and must go. But in the course of my time there I made out like a bandit in the CD department. I believe when I started I owned a grand total of 5 CD and when I left, that number had mushroomed courtesy of the employee discount also known as "if the boss likes you, it s free." For free, I ll try anything. I tried Retroactive under that auspice. This one, I would have paid for.

The record was released under the "we can t go another 4 years without a release, where s all that stuff that didn t fit onto previous albums?" program. This is not to say that this CD is packed with cast off that never should have seen the light of day, but when it takes you 12 years to release 4 albums, you re bound to have some good stuff lying around that just doesn t fit.

Desert Song
Shows a little growth in the song writing area, apparently left over from the Hysteria sessions. This little ditty contains "Indian Melodies." Ok, I m not really hearing it either, but I trust them. And get these crazy lyrics, man: "The sky is falling / On this setting son / Echoes of silence / Ringing loud and long / This isolation / Is the king of pain / A lost horizon / In an ocean of flames." There s some actual depth here.

Fractured Love
This couldn t actually be considered a power ballad. It s not enough ballad. According to the liner notes it was the first song to come out of the Hysteria writing sessions and it does have the ring of Pyromania to it. Actually, it sounds a lot like Pyromania. Photograph matured a little.

Action
This is a cover of an old Sweet tune. I don t have enough experience with the song in question to comment on how similar or dissimilar it is. It s energetic and it doesn t sound like Def Leppard. This song marks the first time Vivian Campbell is allowed on record with Def Leppard. He only sings background and even I can t pick his voice out of the line up, but it s a great little tune.

Two Steps Behind (acoustic version)
I was oh so leery of this track. Def Leppard acoustic sounds like a sick joke, and it was in an Arnold Swartzeneggar movie. Puleeeze! And shockingly, it s a wonderful song. Gentle, affirming, and sweet. Vivian Campbell s and Phil Collen s acoustic guitar work is just lovely (whew, did you ever think that word in context with Def Leppard?)

She s Too Tough
And lest you think the boys are getting soft with age. This song was originally recorded by Helix (and the snickering can stop, I don t actually have that yet.) The lyrics seem to be entirely composed of "She s too tough / she can t help it / she just can t help it." Come on, it s a stadium, shout along song.

Miss You In a Heartbeat
Ballad that doesn t veer into power territory. According to the liner notes it started as a little tune Joe was playing around with on the piano that Phil liked. Then it was supposed to be a piano-vocal song, but it got a little out of hand. There s a nice little Spanish guitar solo in the middle. "I ll miss you in a heart beat / It ain t love / If you don t feel that way."

Only After Dark
Mick Ronson tune. It seems to be stuck between hard rock and ballad, while never becoming a power ballad. It s got a good beat, but I don t think I can dance to it.

Ride Into the Sun
This is the first song Def Leppard ever recorded, according to the liner notes. I m thinking some major work went into this one because it doesn t sound anything like High N Dry (Or, shudder, On Through the Night.) It does have the early air to it, but it s not at all rough as the early stuff usually is.

From the Inside
I m actually surprised that my jaw didn t break when it hit the floor the first time I heard this song. I m not familiar with the Hothouse Flowers, but I know more than any non-musician should know about Irish folk music. Boys and girls, this song opens with a tin whistle. And it sort of sounds like what would happen if Def Leppard decided to play Irish folk songs. In addition, the lyrics are leaps and bounds beyond anything they had done before. The song is about addiction from the drugs point of view. "I am bad / I am evil / I am winter / I am pain / I ll mess up your life / I ll beat up your wife / I ll lose all your friends / And I ll win in the end. // So you play the joker / and I ll play the clown / And I ll laugh when you're up there / And I ll laugh when you're down / And though your screams break the silence / I won t make a sound."

Ring of Fire
This tune has the big paw prints of Mutt Lange all over it. If the style in music hadn t changed I probably would have hated this song simply because ever vendor at every country fair on Earth would have been blaring this tune until it became permanently etched in my mind like that short skirts song Shania Twain did. NO DON T SAY THE NAME . It takes me days to get the tune out of my head once I ve heard the title or the first measure.

I Wanna Be Your Hero
Originally titled Love Bites. It s ok, no great shakes.

Miss You In a Heartbeat (electric version)
Same song, but electric. I prefer the acoustic.

Two Steps Behind (electric version)
See above.

Miss You In a Heartbeat (acoustic, alternate)
Bonus snippet. This is the piano vocal version that was planned and discarded in favor of the previous track. It s a nice clean little song without the orchestra swell of strings. It almost sounds like it could be lounge.

This CD was my favorite Def Leppard CD until Slang came out. It hints at what they can do when they give it the old college try. The only thing I find truly annoying about this one is the fact that the tracks all seem to slur into one another so that, when I have it in a shuffle, I get the beginning of the next track before the changer changes. Still, definitely worth full price.