When Def leopard was a Hard Rock band.

[Seitz333]

High & Dry was their best album, bar none.

+1 High 'N' Dry is my go to Def Leppard album, with Pyromania being #2.

 

[shredhead7]

I agree about their early stuff being the best. I think that's often true of many bands, but in this case the personal made a bigger difference. Losing Steve Clark was pretty much the end of the original Def Leppard sound.

I think Viv would be a big part of why I'd even considering seeing them live now.

I saw them two years ago. It was like seeing recent Kiss, great 'show', band sounded fantastic, lights, screens. I'm pretty sure they are pumping in vocals like Kiss, it was too sweet and Joe was too good. Viv plays Steve's parts and Pete's parts (some), but those are few and far between. He really is a bit actor in that band, not that they don't give him the stage and talk him up, there just aren't any parts for him to shine.

 

[LP Freak]

I agree about their early stuff being the best. I think that's often true of many bands, but in this case the personal made a bigger difference. Losing Steve Clark was pretty much the end of the original Def Leppard sound.

I think Viv would be a big part of why I'd even considering seeing them live now.

I saw them two years ago. It was like seeing recent Kiss, great 'show', band sounded fantastic, lights, screens. I'm pretty sure they are pumping in vocals like Kiss, it was too sweet and Joe was too good. Viv plays Steve's parts and Pete's parts (some), but those are few and far between. He really is a bit actor in that band, not that they don't give him the stage and talk him up, there just aren't any parts for him to shine.

They say they don’t use vocal tracks

 

[BigGuitars]

I literally cannot name, or think of, a single song post Hysteria....

Let’s get rocked was a great post-hysteria song. It’s probably honestly one of my favorite songs of theirs.

 

[thrashinbatman]

I wouldn't doubt them pumping in backing vox given the absurd way they recorded all the classic records (when all is said in done, probably triple digit amounts of layers), but I know at least back in the day they went through and recreated the vocal chain on the records to make them at least somewhat close when performed live. They DEFINITELY aren't punching up Elliot's vocals because if they were he'd sound better. Last time I saw them he seriously halfassed pretty much all of Bringin' On the Heartbreak, and was being carried by the rest of the band.

That being said, they're still fantastic. I'll be seeing them later this year on that stadium tour, it'll be like my 4th or 5th time. Hysteria is not only my favorite DL album, but one of my top 5 favorites, probably. All of their first 4 kick ass in their own way though. It's hit or miss after that.

 

[shredhead7]

I agree about their early stuff being the best. I think that's often true of many bands, but in this case the personal made a bigger difference. Losing Steve Clark was pretty much the end of the original Def Leppard sound.

I think Viv would be a big part of why I'd even considering seeing them live now.

I saw them two years ago. It was like seeing recent Kiss, great 'show', band sounded fantastic, lights, screens. I'm pretty sure they are pumping in vocals like Kiss, it was too sweet and Joe was too good. Viv plays Steve's parts and Pete's parts (some), but those are few and far between. He really is a bit actor in that band, not that they don't give him the stage and talk him up, there just aren't any parts for him to shine.

They say they don’t use vocal tracks

They say that, but when you listen to older shows and then current shows, it's more than getting better at vocals (to my ears). The
newer release of Pyro has a second that is live which was that tour in 83. It has a lot of HnD songs, my personal favorite Mirror Mirror, and the while they sound good, it's not THAT good.

 

[sytharnia1560]

Def Leopard have never been a band

 

[LP Freak]

Def Leopard have never been a band

They’re touring with Spinal Tap

 

[nigelpkay]

Was just talking to someone about this the other day. High N Dry had this awesome AC/DC-like raw but powerful sound, you know, the cleanish guitars that just sound thick, heavy, and huge. In Mutt Lange’s body of production work it came between Foreigner 4 and For Those About To Rock and it shows.

 

[Kevin11]

I agree about their early stuff being the best. I think that's often true of many bands, but in this case the personal made a bigger difference. Losing Steve Clark was pretty much the end of the original Def Leppard sound.

I think Viv would be a big part of why I'd even considering seeing them live now.

I saw them two years ago. It was like seeing recent Kiss, great 'show', band sounded fantastic, lights, screens. I'm pretty sure they are pumping in vocals like Kiss, it was too sweet and Joe was too good. Viv plays Steve's parts and Pete's parts (some), but those are few and far between. He really is a bit actor in that band, not that they don't give him the stage and talk him up, there just aren't any parts for him to shine.

They say they don’t use vocal tracks

They say that, but when you listen to older shows and then current shows, it's more than getting better at vocals (to my ears). The
newer release of Pyro has a second that is live which was that tour in 83. It has a lot of HnD songs, my personal favorite Mirror Mirror, and the while they sound good, it's not THAT good.

I've seen at least one fairly recent rig rundown vid where Phil's tech swears there are no backing tracks. I guess we can take that FWIW. Have to remember that unlike the old days, the band now has 3 strong vocalists to back up Joe. Phil, Viv and Sav all sing (even Rick Allen on occasion) and they've had years to perfect it.

With that said, I still prefer the Clark / Willis days by a mile. The old vid the OP shared is a real treasure.

 

[espquade]

Was just talking to someone about this the other day. High N Dry had this awesome AC/DC-like raw but powerful sound, you know, the cleanish guitars that just sound thick, heavy, and huge. In Mutt Lange’s body of production work it came between Foreigner 4 and For Those About To Rock and it shows.

I would agree with the production and the tone/vibe of High and Dry... I would have to say it is for me their best album with On thru the Night a close second. Pyromania had some good songs but you could start to tell that after Pete Willis was let go and Phil came in the songs started to go in a more Hard Rock meets Poppy style formula and the production started getting slicker and slicker with each album after that losing that great hard edge they started out with.

 

[Rock Bodom]

High n Dry is hands down my favorite Def Leppard, that just floored me the first time I heard it. I still love playing so many songs off that album, the title track is probably one of my all time favorites along with Switch 625.

Clark and Willis were really the golden years, and I think Pyromania benefited from Willis still having a presence that made it to the album even though he was fired towards the end, and despite Mutt starting to go more pop (I think it still rocks much more than Hysteria, but those first 2 albums just had that more raw straight up sound).

Love the old footage, I try to grab as much old audio and video I can from that era.

 

[MrDowntown]

I will see them this summer with Crue and Poison. My wife and I plan to Lyft to show and just get drunk out of our minds and just enjoy the tunes for what they are not get overly critical.

Hell yes...that's the spirit. that is exactly what my wife and i will be doing. it's the music we grew up to,,, and listened to whilst dating...all lovey-lovey! it'll be a blast!