"It's wonderful. It's like a self-imposed prison sentence finished!" says Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott with an audible sigh of relief. Of course, he's talking about the long-delayed release of Hysteria, an album that they might as well called "Nightmares"...

The story begins in 1984, when Leppard's rocket-ride to success was at its peak. First emerging from Northern England in 1979, the band had released an EP and three albums, each more successful than the last. The third LP, Pyromania, sold over six million copies in the U.S. alone, and the band played to more than a million fans on the subsequent world tour.

When they started recording their fourth album in late 1984, things began to go wrong. First, producer Mutt Lange, who'd played a large roll in the band's success, had other commitments. Their second choice didn't work out, so they tried producing it themselves: no luck. Then in December drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm in a tragic auto accident. By the time he had recovered and developed a unique new drumming technique (making extensive use of foot petals and electric drums), Lange (by then back o board) injured his knee in a car accident. And then, as Elliott was about to record vocal overdubs, he came down with the mumps. What more could go wrong? Apparently, nothing. The band resurfaced with a short European tour last summer, and spent most of the year finishing up Hysteria. Faces caught up with Joe (via a trans-Atlantic phone line from Ireland) as the band was rehearsing for their Hysteria world tour, which began in June.

Faces: How are the rehearsals going?
JE: It's going very well, but we've still got a long way to go, because it's very difficult to transfer some of the new songs into a live format.
Faces: Were the "Monsters Of Rock" festivals you did last summer the only gigs you've done since the accident?
JE: Yeah, we did nine shows last year around Europe, and the last show we played before then was...mm, February 7th, 1984 in Bangkok (Thailand!). I thought (last summer's) show's went very well; the reviews were sort of mixed, but who gives a sh*t what the press think, anyway? The kids liked it, and that's all that matters.
FACES: How many songs have you gone through since you started recording Hysteria, what, three years ago?
JE: We started an album towards the end of 1984. Overall, we wrote about 30-35 songs, but they weren't all finished- there was just a guitar line or a vocal or something. Twelve songs made the LP, and we finished seven or eight others that we hope will eventually see the light of day, either as B-sides or on the next album.
FACES: Speaking of B-sides, "Tear It Down" (the flipside of "Woman") sounds an awful lot like AC/DC.
JE: Oh yeah, that riff is pure AC/DC. But once I start singing, it doesn't, because I couldn't sing like (Brian Johnson). Every song we do has its influences showing; we can't really cover them. "Armageddon It" is like a cross between T. Rex and Chuck Berry, and "Run Riot" is, in all essence, really "Summertime Blues"- you'd never hear it, but the guitar/vocal thing is quite similar. There's also a song you haven't heard- it's only a backing track, I haven't done the vocal- that sounds so much like Led Zeppelin we'd probably get sued if we ever put it out!
FACES: Hysteria is very technalogical, but it's still raunchy.
JE: Yeah, well I think we came up with the ultimate compromise there. We couldn't go much further in the rock field, because we did it with Pyromania, and we didn't want to copy it. So musically, we just played and went with whatever came out. But with the technology, we did move forward; there was all this studio equiptment cryin' to be used, so we tried it, and if it worked, we kept it. The technology didn't take over-it's still guitar over bass over drums, and musically, the album is all over the place. Some songs sound like the mid-70's, some are things that have never been heard before. The album is something like 63 minutes long, so you get a value for the money, and it's varied.
FACES: Yeah, I think you've done very well with this.
JE: Well, after four years, we ought to! No, we wanted this album to be as far advanced from Pyromania as Pyromania was from High and Dry. There was no way we could put out a mediocre album after makin' everyone wait for so long.
FACES: Did the pressure ever get ot you?
JE: It never got to us as people, but subconsciously I think it did. We never looked at each other thinkin', "How do we ever follow Pyromania?". but we might've had dreams about it! (laughs) Still, I think this album will make people think Pyromania was ordinary. Consistency is the important factor. We could've thrown an album together in six weeks, but we'd rather put out a good record every few years for 20 years than make patchy albums every year.
FACES: Do you think the band was progressing steadily before the accident?
JE: Before Rick's Accident, we'd reached a stage where we'd spend a year in the studio workin' on Pyromania, and then a year on the road, so we were in need of a rest. Then Rick had his accident, and there was absolutely nothing we could do while he was in the hospital. When you get time to think, all this self-analysis crap sets in, and we started to overthink everything. We'd been doing very well. and I was thinkin'. "Maybe we're due for some bad luck," but when your drummer loses his arm...
FACES: Did you ever consider carying on without him?
JE: Never, ever. The guy was only 21 when it happened, he still has so much (of his life) in front of him... it made me think, "What would you do in his situation?" At first, we were just hoping and praying that he'd live, and then we thought he'd never play drums again. But the four of us never fell back and said, "Right, Rick's out. Who are we gonna get to replace him?" We decided that it should be Rick's decision if he want's to stay or leave-there was no way we were gonna sack him. And then, as he got better we thought, "Maybe there is a way he can play," and he's proved it. He's a very, very brave man.
FACES: Have your fans stood by you through all this?
JE: Well, the fan mail's died down a bit in the last few years, but certain ones keep writing and saying that they's wait forever if they had to. A lot of them have really stuck by us. I think a few have jumped the fence into the Bon Jovi camp (laughs), But there's no race; of course you can be a fan of theirs and a fan of ours.
FACES: What are your favorite songs on the album?
JE: Mm...I like "Woman," "Pou Some Sugar On Me," "Don't Shoot the Shotgun," "Animal," "Gods of War," "Armageddon It"-I like 'em all!
FACES: Obviously! I would almost think that you've spent so much time on these songs that you'd never want to hear them again!
JE: (Laughs) I know what you mean, but you get used to it. In 20 years, I might never want to hear "Photograph" again. I listen to the album a couple of times a week, but I listen to it against the Cinderella album or the Whitesnake album, or even something like Scritti Politti, and I think it stands up well to all of them.
FACES:Are there any recent albums you've heard that you really like?
JE: I think the Bon Jovi album is the best I've heard in a long time. I like the Cinderella album, but only parts of it- I don't like the whole thing. As for some of the other new stuff, you can put the Slayers and the Manowars and whatever in the same trash can, as far as I'm concerned!