Def Leppard - Songs From The Sparkle Lounge

Go is great but I'm not amazed by anything else

I've only listened to the 30 second snippets but I'm with you, Go is the only song, that made me want to hear more, that and maybe Come Undone. Track 4, Love, even just hearing 30 seconds, I can tell that would be a skipper for me, lol!

deb

even better than what i expected...
might be because of the order of the tracklist...
as someone said it's "RAW".

if you're looking for great fun and easy going songs, this is the album...

damn this record just gets better each time i listen to it...

anyway has someone listened to the chorus of Gotta Let It Go...?
sounds like HAND...
still great song

Ok..... this has been overdue:

I just came from seeing Def Leppard tonight at Soboba Casino here in Southern California. It's this place out in the desert hills on an Indian Reservation. You get to it by taking a highway with one lane for each way. This is not the norm in Southern California. We have Freeways with 6 lanes going in each direction. We need this to assist with the high levels of driver stupidity in the region. They manage to **** those up anyway, but my point is...do you really want to trust these people to stay on their side of the road on a single lane highway?

Before hitting the road for this place, I bothered to seek out the new album, Songs from the Sparkle Lounge. As Captain Jovi said, it was pretty available out there. I just haven't been moved to really get a listen since hearing the clip and reading the lyrics for "Nine Live."

Now let me say this.....whoever said that Def Leppard were never lyrical genuises or something to that effect, can not use this song as example. Actually, Def Leppard has been quite respectful in their lyrical ability. The gag fest that is the latest single is not an example of typical Def Leppard. This song is embarassing. I could live with the chorus, but the verses are truly ****ing awful and I won't quote them. It takes bad Def Leppard lyrics to a new low.

So I hit the road with the premiere of Songs from the Sparkle Lounge pounding thru the car stereo on my way to see Def Leppard. I listened to it through and to a number of songs several times over. At this point in time, I cannot say it's moved me. I will give it another shot sitting at home hooked up directly and with the lyrics up. "Go" didn't really do anything for me. It just doesn't seem to go anywhere. I was expecting something fast paced and chugging. Instead I got the opening beat from Paradise City. I did kinda like C'mon C'mon just for the groove. I'll save a review for after a proper listen off the actual CD when I pick it up. The album didn't make me go "****!! I love this!! And I'm on my way to see them!" It made me go, "Ok, can I put my System of a Down compilation disc back in?" (I finally just recently picked up Mesmerize and Hypnotize...I'm on a real binge." Still, I held out hope that they'd introduce more new songs into the set tonight, besides "Nine Live."

When I decided to go to the show. It was based on the fact they were touring for a new album. I opted not to see the "Yeah!" tour though I actually do like the album. I just didn't like the idea of the triple bill they were on. Short sets paired with "has-beens." Now the other acts may have been great. I don't pay attention to them. The judgement is issued by not being ignorant of what the general public would call that line up. I'd prefer Def Leppard tour as a single headliner. Let the focus be on them. Play the halls and let it be an intimate and sharp presentation of the band. So when they came out on this tour with another co headlining bill. Reo Speedwagon. Good lord..........I did like one song from them but.....sigh.

Tonight's show was a single one-off headliner show. It was that aspect that sold me on going. I got the ticket a few weeks after they'd already went on sale. A seat on the floor towards the back to the left. I held out hope that the fact they were alone tonight would lend to the possibility of a longer set with more songs, not naively..mind you.

I was sloppy about getting there. I left late and had no sense of urgency. I guess I just wasn't really that excited. Apathy was fairly close. I love the band, but as a live act, they've been on auto pilot. The last time I saw them was on the X tour. I drove up to San Francisco to throw in seeing them somewhere in other LA in the hopes that maybe a different city's audience would help. Before that I saw them on the Adrenalize tour. I was bored then. It WAS a tour for the only album of theirs that I didn't like that retreaded the Hysteria tour show...in keeping with the theme. I don't remember why I didn't go to the Slang tour, it's a regret I have. The Euphoria tour never came to Southern California and I stupidly waited for them to announce a local date rather than head up to Northern California. The X tour was fine. I think I was mostly wore out after the 5 and half hour drive there..stereo blasting them the whole way. It was a bit of an overdose, really. I will give them credit for delivering a performance of "Now" that got my attention, unfortunately I also had to endure three of the 5 or so tracks off the album that I could do without, played live while far more deserving material off the album was passed up again.

So with that history behind me...apathy led to me walking in to a show after the headlining band had already started playing for the first time in my life. I arrived at the Casino, drove around the parking lot for a while trying to find a space. I came to this place expecting a Casino like I see within city limits. Instead I got some kind of ranch and the arena was a gated off area with some bleachers and a tarp. I expected busy-body security.....upon arrival my first thought was "****! I should have rolled one." So I set off towards the big ole Indian tent the band was due to play in and I heard "Rocket" coming out live over the sound system. Oh well, at least I knew the opening song hadn't changed.

They were into the 2nd song, Animal, when I got inside. I couldn't get to my seat because some drunken lass had taken residence there. So I just stood at the end of the row in the aisle next to an old man....and that is literally what I did....stood there. No fist in the air, no applause, no singing-along, no tow tapping. I was a bit exasperated with my apathy, really. In my defense....I missed the opening of the show and that followed with the exact same set list they've been playing on the co-headlining bill shows. The band seemed mostly on auto-pilot. I kept wondering who the hell their lighting designer was and why he had the job. The staging is fairly basic, but could be put to good use. It just under performs. The highlights were Foolin, Rock On, Switch 625, and Pour Some Sugar On Me. That last one is one I never thought I'd have myself saying again in this lifetime. I regard it as a bathroom break song for me. However, they backed up an energetic delivery of the song with the addition of a new intro based on the mix you find most easily off the Vault album (Love is like a Bomb bomb bomb." "Nine Lives" got no response from the audience and Mirror Mirror, a song I was looking forward to, fell flat. I headed for the door upon hearing "Gunter." No way was I getting stuck behind this drunken and meth-jacked-up crowd, who was mostly allowed to do what they wanted by security, out there in bubba **** on single lane highways.

It turns out the highlight of the night was driving home with far better moments from the band getting a spin over the car sound system in the hot summer-like evening air with the windows down. While sitting in traffic to get out of the parking lot (I wasn't the only one with the same idea) I had Action straight into Demolition Man, both live, blasting for all to hear. I quickly forgot the experience back in the Indian tent. From there it was Paper Sun, Day After Day, and then the live tracks from the Hysteria remaster Disc 2 (Elected, Love and Affection, Billy's Got a Gun, Rock of Ages w/ Not Fade Away/My Generation, Rader Love/Whole Lotta Love, and Women.) I had to remind myself that the band I loved was still there.

Upon getting home, I got at my computer and put in my recently acquired near mint quality DVD of the band in Tokyo 1999. I had downloaded some clips here and there from the show..but the quality was relatively poor though not hiding the fact it was a show worthy of pursuing. It's a document of a band that had matured, but was still hungry. Yes, we can only watch "Live In the Round" so many times. You know they are delivering when they can give a performance of Make Love Like a Man that reminds me that I actually liked the song for a few spins on top of playing new songs that were actually good and playing them with fire. By pure performance alone, not because the song is rare or epic, Paper Sun leaves you sitting stunned. Slang is attacked as if it were a hit for the band. This was the band I hoped to see tonight.

Hopefully the new album will catch on with me and will be able to add some fuel to my appetite for them. Like Bon Jovi, I'll always have their past efforts to draw upon. It's just that we can only listen to the same catalog of material so much. New blood is neccessary to sustain my interest.

That's what's bothering me a bit about seeing them...the fact that it's not solely a Def Leppard concert, but a triple headliner. (let's be honest)

Like you, Bleeding Purist, I'd much rather Leppard had more time and focus on stage to flesh out their catalog and give a truer representation of what the band is about.

It didn't bother me so much on the Yeah! tour and they were only touring a covers album, so all you can expecting is a handful of overs, and basically the Vault album, as there was not "new" orignal material as such. Plus as it was my first time seeing them live, that sort of set was best for me.

However it's recently occured to me that with two other bands playing a same-sized set (for me, Whitesnake and Thunder), I'm worried it's just gona be a greatest hits set, plus Nine Lives thrown in, and maybe a few more new tracks. No deeper cuts into their catalog. Basically, a quite vanilla show.

I'm very fond of the new album, and even though Nine Lives is far from their most inspirational work to say the least, it's still a good listen. I like it alot more now that when I did when it first leaked.

Go is killer. Nice and heavy, but I agree, it rips off the beat from Paradise City and it doesn't really go anywhere. C'mon C'mon just reminds me of Yeah!, basically re-writing an old T-Rex type song. A good listen, but basically pointless. Love is just plain boring, but doesn't let the album down for me at all. All I have to do is skip it. Tomorrow, although quite a simple easy-going song, it's one of my favourite tracks of that album. Lyrics aren't great, quite repetative, but I duno. I think cause it reminds me of songs like Hysteria and some tracks from Euphoria, that distorted bit at the end, and just the all round feel of it. Cruise Control was a bit of a grower, but I've grown to love it. Probably the most adventurous track on the album that's got a hint of the X album. Nice, istorted driving beats.

(I've do the rest of my little review later)

I'm with the above 2 posters, the fact that DL tours with multiple 'major' acts bothers me to no end. I understand the business and ego reasons behind it, but as a result we, the die hards won't be able to hear songs from their deep catalogs. Which is almost as bad as BJ not playing BOBITA in every show.

I haven't picked the new album, when was it released?

Heard the album today, liked it for the most part through a couple listens. In response to a couple comments, I don't see a connection to Paradise City in Go at all, maybe it's just me. However, I do hear the connection to Have A Nice Day in Gotta Let It Go. Overall I think the album is good for the band. It has a more free feeling to it. A lot of fans were disappointed with X and it wasn't their best effort. With this album they try to go back to more of their classic sound on a couple tracks, like Go, but are able to keep a modern, mature feel to the album. Haven't listened to it enough to pick out favorites or ones to skip, but Tomorrow stands out a lot.

It's out tomorrow (or today depending on when you read this.)

Agreed.

C'mon C'mon is cheesey, but it sounds OK. Come Undone wasn't bad either. The rest I could do without.

I also really liked X though, which most on here didn't. I thought Now, Torn To Shreds, Everyday and Scar were excellent. 4 Letter Word was pretty good too.