Def Leppard X: The Undercover Review
by Hector the Rock Dog

I can't believe a Def Leppard album could be so good. In fact, X is great. It's almost a guilty pleasure sitting alone in your room listening to a Def Leppard record these days and enjoying it. The sins of 1999's Euphoria are well and truly forgiven on X.

Maybe it is because after Euphoria, they had no more expectations and instead of recreating chart fodder, they went back to being themselves. They have always been at their most potent when they are at their most simplistic. You can sum up their Mission Statement in three simple words "lets", "get" and "rocked". They stick to the statement and this is what comes of it.

"Now", the album opener and first single is guitar, bass and drums. Hey, it's just a rock song but isn't that what the fans want. They never stray far from the formula. "You're So Beautiful" is another great anthem but the ballads also add to the flavour. They start early in the love song "Unbelievable" and "Long Long Way To Go" is quite possibly "the boy meets girl, boy stuff up relationship, boy asks for forgiveness" song of the year.

Def Leppard used to hang out with Mr. Shania Twain, Mutt Lange, and obviously learned the art of the power ballad from him. There's no Mutt here, They've produced the record themselves with Pete Woodroffe at Joe Elliott's studio in Dublin. Later, "Let Me Be The One" gives Long, Long Way" a run for it's money.

But, back to the rock. "Four Letter Word" is exactly the old rock formula DL fans know and love. Hollywood directors should note "Torn To Shreds" as a great soundtrack theme at that crucial scene for their next teen movie. Actually, I take that back, make it a Bruce Willis / Michelle Pfieffer flick, the DL fans are more mature these days.

Congratulations to Def Leppard. There fans have been sliding like Dow Jones spares lately. This one should put a bit of upswing back into their portfolio graph.

article resource: http://www.undercover.com.au/urdefleppardx.html