Yeah!
Label: Universal
Length: LP
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Yeah!
After 28 years together and 65 million albums sold, Def Leppard decided to kick back and record an album of personal faves. Except this is Def Leppard, and they don’t exactly ‘kick backâ?� like the rest of us. Sure, there was no songwriting grind this time, but it isn’t as if they just tossed off an album to put one out. This features all the band’s hallmarks: the massive vocal attack, the larger-than-life guitars, a propensity for arena rock dynamics. Their choice of covers, ranging from the expected (T. Rex’s ’20th Century Boy,â?� Sweet’s ‘Hell Raiserâ?�) and the surprisingly coherent (the Faces’ ‘Stay With Me,â?� Badfinger’s ‘No Matter Whatâ?�) to the outright weird (the Kinks’ ‘Waterloo Sunsetâ?� as a grunge ballad), showcase a band that groomed their chops in the early ’70s. They even put the ‘new waveâ?� into their British heavy metal with a solid motoring of The Nerves’/Blondie’s ‘Hanging on the Telephone.â?� Overall, it’s considerably more fun than expected.
This article appears in May 24-30, 2006.