This is the album that said "Hello world, we are Def Leppard, take notice!", especially in America where "Photograph" made them household names. Produced by Mr. Shania Twain, (Mutt Lange)it features the excellent rockers Comin' Under Fire, Foolin' Rock Rock Til You Drop, Billy's Got A Gun and Stagefright. All these tracks are mint and sadly apart from Foolin' seldom seem to feature in the live sets nowadays. Photograph is up there with Love Bites as one of the only songs to start me blubbing.

Action Not words, Die Hard and of course Rock of Ages (unter glieben glauben globen, what an intro!)add to the rockers making this one of the few albums in the world to not have any bad tracks. Guitar playing, singing, everything about this album is spot on. If you do not own this and like classic rock you need your head examined! If you want to get into Def Leppard start here, buy everything but Slang and be hooked for life!


The dogs   March 8, 2004
 6 out of 6 found this review helpful

What more can be said? This is the canine's nadgers of metal albums. It contains 'Photograph' a record so perfect that it makes me weep to hear it. Lock the door, plug in the air guitar and attain musical nirvana.


The Best Album Ever...?   October 19, 2002
 4 out of 5 found this review helpful

The naivety of 'On Through The Night' promised nothing like this, while the excellent 'High 'N' Dry' layed the foundations but...Jeezus, this album was amazing. Probably the one that made stadium (or poodle) rock the monster that it became. Opener Rock rock (till you drop) showed no compromise and kept the Leps true to their metal roots. However, this was a band determined to show that they could leap way beyond the NWOBHM from where they came.

Photograph took the world by storm, and rightly so. A gorgeous, melodic rock homage to one of the century's most beautiful icons.

Stagefright was to start the live set for many years to come, while the stunning Too late for love would leave the audience gagging for more. One of hard rock's greatest tracks, both on vinyl (or disc) and espcially live. Together with Bringin' on the heartbreak (from High 'N' Dry), the Leps would never sound this good again. Die hard the hunter became a classic, while Foolin' was an (almost) over-produced piece of stadium rock genius. It's an orgasmic statement of intent that Leppard have struggled to match in the years since.

A similar theme continues as the Leps churn out more rock classics until the incredible Billy's got a gun brings the amazing experience to a dramatic close.

Like many of the Leps' earlier and later lyrics, this might sound like a cliche, but they really don't make 'em like this anymore. Which really is a great shame.


The best   October 15, 2002
 3 out of 4 found this review helpful

I first heard this album aged 13, and it blew me away. Since then, I've been a huge Leppard fan. The album remains as fantastic and influential as ever - a benchmark on how to write/play/produce rock.

New guitarist (then, anyway) Phil Collen added a new level of musicianship to an already solid band, and John "Mutt" Lange's legendary perfectionism in the studio resulted in the monster of an album that still makes me feel young 20 years later.

Can't praise it enough.