Euphoria - Def Leppard (CD 1999)

Down and up on their luck all at once

Def Leppard is known as one of the hardest luck bands of all time. They are frustratingly
talented, fun, the music varies from mindless party drivel to towering and powerful rock ballads.
They were one of the primary bands who formed the true meaning of the phrase "power ballad".
They did it again and again, with songs like Photograph, Gods of War, White
Lightening and now on their latest release, Paper Sun.

The ballads were a often a reflection of what and who they were - the pain that they were
enduring and the far flying culture that they were helping form, swimming in the middle of and
grabbing firmly by the Snardlies.

Lep released a couple of early albums that had limited success, but the releases of Pyromania
and then Hysteria made them legends. After they had truly gotten their act in high gear, their
drummer Rick Allen got into a bad car wreck and lost an arm, two albums later - their amazing
lead guitarist lost his life to the road, the fame and way too much coke. The guys wrote White
Lightning to commemorate both his addiction and his life. "You never laugh about it, never."

Careers in a plastic jar, shake it and watch the snow flakes

Lep continued making albums and touring, in spite of their horrendous luck in their personal
lives. And eventually, even the stadiums stopped filling up as they once had. Their album sales
fell off and they lost track of the groove. That is until the 1999 release of Euphoria.
Staying within the tradition of their one word, power album titles - Lep released this album to
much acclaim, and new video release and even a VH1 behind the rock show charting their
meteoric rising and falling. The VH1 special also illuminated some of the sexual meanderings,
which kept the boys quite busy and excited. Their music has always oozed with a blatant
sexuality that has been part of their appeal, they give out free eargasms with each release.

The new album revitalized a sagging career and much of the credit is due to their producer Mutt
Lange (Mr Shania Twain) - who had taken some time off to do Shania's production and well,
frankly to "do" Shania. Has anyone else noticed how much Shania's videos look like old Def
Leppard videos with some boots and fiddles? I did, they are identical. So Mutt came back, and
helped the boys out and it was a marvelous album.

The new album sees the original crew back, one armed drummer and all - with a new guitar
player Vivian Campbell to fill the flying arpeggios and coat the amps with his soul. Lep is
rockin' again, and this album proves it.

Tracking the tracks

1 - Demolition Man - A classic Lep party song. They sing about sex, rebellion and
being ready for the party. This guy is sick of people ordering him around, he is ready for a fight
and this song is his anthem. Guitars wail, in a typical if classic hair band anthem.

2 - Promises - This is one of the power ballads of the album, the song that got the most
air play. The video was not really too bad either, at last another hit for Lep. It is a prom night
song really, it could have fit in the depth of any teen movie available...it is all about keeping
promises. The loving part of the song is the wonderful harmonies that the guys always seem to
capture during the course of their choruses.

It is really an incredibly tender song, with flying guitar solos at the end, wrapping around
incredibly high strung vocals and soaring harmonies. I love this song.

3- Back In Your Face - This is the weakest song on the album, a sort of Scottish pub
shout. Their back in our face, like they never left - and unfortunately in this case they chose to
write a song about it. The guitar rips along, but the drum part is stupid and the lyrics and a bit
inane.

4 - Goodbye - Yet another sweet ballad, no real depth to this song - "you won't ever
have to say goodbye". Another teen song, even the harmonies are limp. The lyrics sound at a
point like they were trying to do a Lep wedding song, which somehow seems to miss the point of
who this band is in the big picture. They did fatten up a brief couple of guitar lines toward the
end that lent itself to an interesting sort of flanged out ending.

5 - All Night - The typical Lep hard core, XXX kind of song. These guys can sing a
little porno when it really comes down to it. The guitars are fuzzed out, sounding a lot like they
were driven through RockMan boxes and diced and sliced in the studio. The guys definitely
want you all night, they want to taste you, they want you to give it to them. Again, no real depth
to this one, just a lot of hot, wet fun.

6 - Paper Sun - The star of the album, the best song by a mile. This is the standard
bearer. If you saw the VH1 special, this is the song that they talked about in the same breath as
God's of War and White Lightning. There is a virtual wall of guitars approaching the beginnings
of the lyrics, singing about a beautiful woman who has come undone. Living on a Paper Sun is
obviously quite a tenuous existence, and the guys are wary of it, hugely disappointed.

I am not sure that they are not again singing about their broken band mates, their friends who
have turned their backs on truth and common sense. The music swells and grows, like the
hundred foot swells building from the driven winds of pain and controversy splashing across the
oceans of their lives. Finally they go diving into their solos, the guitars slashing out. The vocals
growing with the other parts of the music. This has the best guitar solos and while a much
longer song than others on the album, it is well suited to its size.

"You're Living on a paper sun
blind to all the damage done
You're living on a paper sun
waiting for the tide to turn
livin' on a paper sun
waiting for the night"

7 - It's Only Love - A teeny bop love song, there is no need really to get all hung up on
falling in love. It is a simple thing - and a very simple song with chime like electric guitar
sounds that take me back to the Byrds and a much simpler time for rock all together.

8 - 21st Century Sha La La La Girl - Another sexy song, but not a whole lot interesting
musically. Really pretty corny all together, a song about a sex goddess from outer space. This is
beginning to prove that for every incredible song, there is one of these. There are some fun
vocals and the beat rocks, but the lyrics are very weak.

9 - To Be Alive - This ballad is pretty touching in its way, a mellow song. There is a
lot of potential, a laid back melody with bright spots from the guitars and vocals. This song
could have been the best song on the album, it just lacked a certain something. The guitar
soloing is tremendous if laid back, layers and layers playing on top of one another.

10 - Disintegrate - The classic, very short Lep instrumental. This one sounds like it
could have been part of the soundtrack to Gone in 60 Seconds as it seems a great race of
electric guitar lines. There is a decent chorus and the shouting band screams along. They break
it down into a strumming acoustic guitar at a point, letting the tension build again.

Their sound without the vocals is interesting, not necessarily distinguishable as Def Leppard. I
wonder though how many bands could stand up behind just their instruments. It always seems
bold when they venture out into communicating without words. Well done lads.

11 - Guilty - These last three songs are great, building to a powerful climax as they go.
This one is not bad - a fairly typical Lep rocker, not screaming just cranking along. This one is
good road music. Kind of the rock version of "If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don't Wanna be
Right", without all of the glamour and emotional release. The lads are at their finest though
when they hit the bridge and take me into a Photograph-like vocal treat.

"It's not my first offense
and it won't be my last (my lips are sealed)
I wouldn't change a thing
except what's in the past"

The vocals are tight and the guitar solo is predictable but I love this song - it makes me feel like
it is 1989 all over again.

12 - Day After Day - The other triumphant Lep power ballad. This one starts out with a
single guitar line, and then adds vocals. Then the rest of the band sneaks in and honestly, this
one sounds the most like "Gods of War" that I have heard on this album. They can build a level
of tension with minor chords that fills your heart with a level of dread and your mind with
ghostly images and sadness.

"I always said to keep your eyes wide open
like a circle of light
spinning out of control
and I just can't let gooooooooo"

The Joe Elliott screams out the word go, dragging it along as far as physically possible and
fading away into a cacophony of electric sounds and flying fingers. Vivian out does himself
with his soaring solos, it is all very reminiscent of Winger's guitar work - lots of scales and
arpeggios. But ultimately there is that haunting melody, the desperation in their vocal work and
the terror that underlies the song all together. And at the tail end it is a simple guitar line again,
but only acoustic instead of electric. It thrills me.

13 - Kings of Oblivion - And to end it all the race is on. "Daylight is dying a thousand
deaths" in this one, with a powerful and rambling groove that allows only for an obscene stack
of guitars and bass lines. The guys were only about 16 or so when they started playing together
and had their mega hits at the rips old ages of 19 or 20. So now they are approaching their
thirties and feeling like some of the old men of rock. You wouldn't know it from this album
these gentlemens are indeed still the Kings of Oblivion, rocking as hard as any band can.

The final cut does not collapse in on itself, but builds and builds and allows you to end an
otherwise workman like album with an excellent rendition of what rock bands can be.

Give this one a listen if you are a fan of Lep. The guys have done an album much in the
tradition of their earlier work. It has some severe weak points, but the strengths more than make
up for that.