Def Leppard - Songs From The Sparkle Lounge
 

PRESS RELEASE: BAND RETURNS WITH NEW STUDIO ALBUM (posted 02.29)

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"SONGS FROM THE SPARKLE LOUNGE" SET FOR RELEASE ON APRIL 29

Album Release Kicks Off With U.S. Spring Concert Tour!
Album Contains 11 NEW Original Songs Including the Single "Nine Lives" Featuring Tim McGraw

New York, February 28, 2008 - Def Leppard, Great Britain's premiere arena rock band, is back with a bang-kicking off 2008 with the release of their 14th studio album and a U.S. arena concert tour scheduled for this spring. Entitled "SONGS FROM THE SPARKLE LOUNGE" (Bludgeon Riffola/Island/UMe), the album set for release on April 29, contains 11 new songs including the highly-anticipated single "NINE LIVES" featuring a groundbreaking collaboration with country music superstar Tim McGraw. The band is set to debut the single on ABC-TV's Dancing With The Stars on April 29 and on Jimmy Kimmel Live on April 30. "SONGS FROM THE SPARKLE LOUNGE" is Def Leppard's first album of brand new material since 2002's "X" and begins yet another remarkable new chapter in the band's 30-year recording career.

Recorded last year during month-long stints at lead singer Joe Elliott's Dublin studio, the album's title refers to a backstage area called "The Sparkle Lounge" on Def Leppard's 2006 tour where the band would go to write songs. Tracks from the album have been described by the group as written in the style of "HYSTERIA", with the production of "HIGH 'N' DRY"

"The whole record's got a great '70s feel," said lead singer Joe Elliott. "By our standards, it's a very different album as we've been very adventurous, musically, on certain numbers. On the album there are classic Def Leppard songs and then there's also tracks that are very new-wave influenced while others sound like middle-to-late '70s AC/DC. There will definitely be some moments on it where anybody that's familiar with our music will go, 'Whoa! I wasn't expecting that!'"

The foundation for the album's collaboration with country music superstar Tim McGraw was layed at Def Leppard's 2006 Hollywood Bowl show where McGraw joined the band on stage for an encore performance of "POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME." The artists stayed in touch following the performance, and when the band started writing the song "NINE LIVES" they immediately thought of reaching out to McGraw to sing on it. Guitarist Phil Collen flew to Nashville to play it for McGraw who loved it and recorded the song in Nashville shortly after. Other standout tracks on the album include "GO," reminiscent of the band's classic track "ROCKET" in its power and aggressive tribal beat; "LOVE," an emotive and moving epic song; and the anthemic "TOMORROW," a song written by guitarist Collen about the death of his father.

With more than 65 million albums sold worldwide and two prestigious Diamond Awards to their credit, Def Leppard--Joe Elliott (vocals), Vivian Campbell (guitar), Phil Collen (guitar), Rick "Sav" Savage (bass) and Rick Allen (drums)-continues to be one of the most important forces in rock music. Over the course of their career, the band has produced a series of classic groundbreaking albums that set the sound for generations of music fans and artists. The group's spectacular live shows, filled with powerful melodic rock anthems, have become synonymous with their name and they are an institution in the touring industry as they continue to sell out arenas worldwide.

The 11 working titles on the new album are as follows:

1. Go
2. Nine Lives (featuring Tim McGraw) [1st Single]
3. C'mon C'mon [2nd Single]
4. Love
5. Tomorrow
6. Cruise Control
7. Hallucinate
8. Only The Good Die Young
9. Bad Actress
10. Come Undone
11. Gotta Let It Go

Japan Bonus Tracks
12. Love (Piano Version)
13. Nine Lives (Def Leppard Version)

SONGS FROM THE SPARKLE LOUNGE: DELUXE CD&DVD EDITION
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Bonus DVD containing the following:

"Behind The Curtain"
"The Sparkle Lounge Commentary"
"Nine Lives" Video

Why do Def Leppard even bother anymore?
They are releasing a new album that won't sell (and they know it that's why the material will be half assed) so they can tour again next summer with some other past their prime band opening but playing the same size setlist and play 1-2 new songs on it!!

These guys are one of my favorite bands.

I reckon I'll catch them on their next tour. Their new albums tend to put me off seeing them... I don't know why, this doesn't usually affect my purchasing of tickets for other bands that I consider not releasing good new studio albums. Hey ho.

I saw them live for the first time on the Yeah! tour which seemed pretty much like a greatest hits tour, no rarities, just basically the Vault album.

I think it's been far too long waiting for a brand new album from Def Leppard now. It's been 6 years since X, which hardly set the world on fire. Also even though X had a few good songs, I wasn't blown away. But this new album sounds like it's gona be, like Euphoria, more back to their roots, but maintain the looseness and roughness of the Yeah! album.

I reckon Def Leppard could easily get with the times if they released a much more heavy-metal-like album, purely because I feel they have the flexability to do so and IMO they could really pull it off, just like Alice Cooper's 2000-onwards albums and Billy Idol's last album.

ha ha... it's sad but so true.

This one reminds me something...

I stopped being excited for Def Leppard albums after their Covers Album. What a bunch of crap that was. This album doesn't hold much promise either.

Cant wait Dave!

If it is gunna be more Euphoria/Yeah than X this sounds very intresting.

'X' was a sad attempt at a past-it band desperatly trying to sound relevant.
Bon Jovi managed it by gradually changing thier sound, progessing and maturing with the years, whilst sticking with the same key principles and song themes.
Def Leppard hadn't progressed at all when it comes to song-writing and production, they were just rehashing Pyromania. It seemed they had finally wised-up when 'X' came along, but it was a case of 'too little, too late'.

They've still got it live though (bar Joe's voice), i'll give them that.

I saw DL this past summer...they rocked their asses off! Joe's voice was struggling somewhat but the rest of the guys picked up the slack.

It was definately one of the better concerts I had been to in a while (and I go to a fair number of concerts!)

The guy sitting next to us had flown in from Peru to see them. That's dedication!

I'm looking forward to hearing the new album although it won't get any radio play no matter how good the songs are. My local station only plays Photograph, Love Bites and once in a blue moon Pour Some Sugar On Me. (They play a full spectrum of Jovi!)