DEF
LEPPARD
Songs From the Sparkle Lounge
Island Records 2008
www.defleppard.com
Genre
Hard rock / pop-rock / classic rock
The Good
Holy crap! The guitarists finally discovered the distortion button on their
amps for the opening track "Go." I thought they lost them after
Leppard's attempt at pop music on their last studio album X. It's
not full-out hard rock like the group's early work, but it still packs
a punch. "Nine Lives"
takes a blusey twist, or a country twist if you will with the
guest vocal appearance of Tim McGraw. The song is rich with melody despite
it's
country
feel. "C'mon C'mon" has a 70s rock groove to it, which the group
must have gotten the flavor for on their covers album Yeah!. "Cruise
Control" is
raw, faded, and echoed. The meaty guitar riffs return on "Hallucinate."
"Only the Good Die Young" is a touching tribute to fallen entertainers.
Def Leppard is still feeling the 70s groove on "Bad Actress," only
this time they delivery and energy overload.
The Bad
The ballad "Love" is bit too sappy for Def Leppard. Barry Manilow maybe.
The Verdict
It's clear that now the group is a bit older they want to be pop-stars. Most
fans found this hard to swallow on their last studio effort. However, on
Songs From the Sparkle Lounge, Def Leppard finds a way to mix their current
fondness for pop, with their tride and true hard rock sound. Sure, they've
toned the 80s arena rock guitars and replaced them with fuzzy 70s tones,
but the crunch rocks just the same. Call me a die hard though, I still
crave the big-guitars, heavily polished sound of their hey-day.
Did You Know?
Guitarist Vivian Campbell used to be a member of Whitesnake and Dio.
DEF
LEPPARD
