![]() | By: Def Leppard Label: Mercury Records Ltd (London) Released: 15 Jun 1999 RRP: Average Rating: ![]() |


This is the album that said "Hello world, we are Def Leppard, take notice!", especiallly in America where "Photograph" made them household names. Produced by Mr. Shania Twain, (Mutt Lange)it features the excellent rockers Comin' Under Fire, Foolin' Rock Rock Til You Drop, Billy's Got A Gun & Stagefright. All these tracks are mint & sadly apart from Foolin' seldom seem to feature in the live sets nowadays. Photograph is up there with Love Bites as one of the only songs to start me blubbing.
Action Not words, Die Hard & of course Rock of Ages (unter glieben glauben globen, what an intro!)add to the rockers making this one of the few albums in the world to not have any bad tracks. Guitar playing, singing, everything about this album is spot on. If you do not own this & like classic rock you need your head examined! If you want to get into Def Leppard start here, buy everything but Slang & be hooked for life!


Photograph took the world by storm, & rightly so. A gorgeous, melodic rock homage to one of the century's most beautiful icons.
Stagefright was to start the live set for many years to come, while the stunning Too late for love would leave the audience gagging for more. One of hard rock's greatest tracks, both on vinyl (or disc) & espciallly live. Together with Bringin' on the heartbreak (from High 'N' Dry), the Leps would never sound this good again. Die hard the hunter became a classic, while Foolin' was an (almost) over-produced piece of stadium rock genius. It's an orgasmic statement of intent that Leppard have struggled to match in the years since.
A similar theme continues as the Leps churn out more rock classics until the incredible Billy's got a gun brings the amazing experience to a dramatic close.
Like many of the Leps' earlier & later lyrics, this might sound like a cliche, but they reallly don't make 'em like this anymore. Which reallly is a great shame.

New guitarist (then, anyway) Phil Collen added a new level of musicianship to an already solid band, & John "Mutt" Lange's legendary perfectionism in the studio resulted in the monster of an album that still makes me feel young 20 years later.
Can't praise it enough.
Below are some of the current bestsellers - click them for a price comparison and find the cheapest place to buy!