Sometimes, I can get the gist of an album after just one listen.
\nSometimes, it takes me a few spins, or even a few days to really
\nget into what the artist or band was trying to accomplish.<\/p>\n
In the case of
\nOn Through The Nigh<\/i>t, the 1980 full-length debut from Def
\nLeppard, it’s taken me damn near 20 years — just about the length
\nof time it takes Joe Elliott and crew to record new albums these
\ndays.<\/p>\n
In a sense, it’s hard to objectively view or listen to this
\nalbum today, what with the superstardom that Def Leppard
\nexperienced with
\nPyromania<\/i>, the series of tragedies the band has faced, and
\nthe almost mythical proportions surrounding
\nHysteria<\/i> and its recording. If you judge this album from
\nyour experiences with songs like “Photograph” or “Pour Some Sugar
\nOn Me,” you’re going to come away with a bad taste in your
\nmouth.<\/p>\n
But let’s take a look at the big picture. In 1980, Def Leppard
\nwere just five guys unknowingly riding the crest of what became
\nknown as the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. The band — vocalist
\nElliott, guitarists Steve Clark and Pete Willis, bassist Rick
\nSavage and drummer Rick Allen — were five young men hungry to make
\na name for themselves outside of England, and they were still
\nsearching for a sound they could call their own.<\/p>\n
They almost nailed it on the first side alone — even without
\nthe help of a superstar producer like Robert John “Mutt” Lange.
\nRight from the start, tracks such as “Rock Brigade” and “Hello
\nAmerica” dare the listener to take a seat and be captivated by the
\njourney that Def Leppard aims to take you on. Oh, sure, the
\nproduction isn’t quite as polished, but the energy, talent and
\nemotion are all there in spades — and that’s something you can’t
\ntweak a knob on in post-production.<\/p>\n
Even tracks like “Sorrow Is A Woman” — the first suggestion of
\nballads courtesy of the verses — cuts through the preconceived
\nnotions of Def Leppard and demand that they be taken on their own
\nmerit. For a while, it honestly feels like Def Leppard can do no
\nwrong on this album.<\/p>\n
But
\nOn Through The Night<\/i> does eventually hit that pothole
\nseparating the solid songwriting from the chaff of filler material
\n— starting with the spoken-word intro to “When The Walls Came
\nTumbling Down.” Granted, this was indeed a first effort (not
\nincluding the band’s independently-released EP), and some slack
\ndoes indeed have to be allowed for — but the drop-off in
\nsongwriting quality between tracks like “Sorrow Is A Woman” and
\n“Satellite” to the level of “When The Walls Came Tumbling Down” and
\n“It Don’t Matter” (despite that syncopated rhythm track laid down
\nby Allen) is a tad disheartening. It’s a pretty significant
\ndifference between the levels of songwriting — both from the
\nlyrical and the musical points of view — and is the one thing
\nwhich marks
\nOn Through The Night<\/i> as one that’s strictly for the die-hard
\nfans.<\/p>\n
All of this being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if, somewhere,
\nsomeone in either the music industry or in radio decided to dust
\nthis one off and help try to lead a re-discovery of this first
\neffort. Despite the passage of time, the occasional dated sound and
\nthe weak effort here and there, there is enough good material to
\nrecommend
\nOn Through The Night<\/i> to those curious to hear what Def
\nLeppard sounded like before they were ready for
\nBehind The Music<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5660],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-37592","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-def-leppard","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37592"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}