{"id":41105,"date":"2008-09-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/songs-from-the-sparkle-lounge\/"},"modified":"2008-09-16T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-09-16T00:00:00","slug":"songs-from-the-sparkle-lounge","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/songs-from-the-sparkle-lounge\/","title":{"rendered":"Songs From The Sparkle Lounge"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love Def Leppard — I don\u2019t care who knows it and I\u2019m sure as hell not ashamed of it. There have been a few missteps every now and then, but for the most part they have been consistently good and have remained a powerful live act. Their last effort, the irrelevant covers album Yeah!, <\/i>was indeed disappointing, so it\u2019s no surprise that just short of two years later the band have released their tenth studio album.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Songs From The Sparkle Lounge<\/i> is their first album of new material in six years. If the band were hoping for redemption, they have most certainly found it in the Sparkle Lounge. It is their best album since the colossus of the \u201880s that was Hysteria<\/i>. The disc\u2019s title comes from the little room set up by the band backstage at gigs throughout their 2006 US tour, where the bulk of these songs were written (meanwhile, the cover was inspired by Monty Python\u2019s Live At Dury Lane <\/i>album, and of course, a little known band\u2019s album about some dude named Sgt. Pepper and his lonely band.)<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Recorded at singer Joe Elliott\u2019s home studio, Songs From The Sparkle Lounge<\/i> is every bit as edgy and powerful as you\u2019d expect, if not surprisingly short, clocking in at just under forty minutes. Four of the five band members have contributed songs and the band co-wrote and recorded the first single \u201cNine Lives\u201d with country star Tim McGraw; unfortunately, it\u2019s one of the only flat spots on the record. A little too run-of-the-mill for my liking and the clich\u00e9 lyrics bring nothing new to the table.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Opener \u201cGo,\u201d however, is classic Leppard. Vivian Campbell is one of rock\u2019s most underrated guitarists and it\u2019s his signature sound that kicks off the album in style. Elliott\u2019s unmistakable rasp is in fine form and the chunky arrangements and chorus harmonies are all we need to remind us how great these boys are.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Two of the best highlights both come courtesy of bassist Rick Savage, whose obvious \u201870s influences shine through here. First up is \u201cC\u2019mon C\u2019mon,\u201d which is reminiscent of mid-\u201870s glam rock for all the right reasons. A thumping Rick Allen drum pattern and a highly infectious chorus should keep the glitter rockers high for a few more years yet.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

This is followed by the epic \u201cLove,\u201d which has been compared to Queen and it\u2019s no wonder to me. A heavy riff quickly fades into a sublime acoustic guitar gently picking away while Elliott gives his best Mercury-style vocals yet: \u201cLove, love look what you\u2019ve done to my heart \/ Oh, I should have known from the start.\u201d It\u2019s a beautiful thing.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Guitarist Phil Collen rises to the challenge with two rockers of his own. \u201cTomorrow\u201d is the powerful pop-rock that Leppard have become known for and was written about his father\u2019s untimely death at the hands of cancer. However, it\u2019s not morose but uplifting and positive in its lyrical content.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cHallucinate\u201d has a heavier vibe that would sit comfortably with \u201cAnimal\u201d on the tour bus. Joe Elliott\u2019s \u201cBad Actress\u201d is a humorless stab at the modern day Hollywood<\/st1:place> starlets: \u201cYou can\u2019t sing, can\u2019t dance, can\u2019t fit in your pants \/ You\u2019re a bad actress.\u201d His next effort, though, is \u201cCome Undone,\u201d and it\u2019s one of those flat spots I spoke of earlier — complete filler, nothing more, nothing less.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

By far the most original moments here are the three songs written by Vivian Campbell. \u201cOnly The Good Die Young\u201d is the most commercial of the three and was written about Steve Clark, whom Campbell<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> replaced in the band following his death in 1991. \u201cGotta Let It Go\u201d walks on the darker side of the street and closes out the album with an ass-kicking swagger that many bands would kill for.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

The third of Viv\u2019s trilogy is the darkest and best song to emerge from the Sparkle Lounge<\/i>.\u00a0 \u201cCruise Control\u201d was written after his guitar tech told him to play something \u201csatanic.\u201d The opening riff is the result and coupled with the religious leaning lyrics — \u201cI close my eyes I bend in prayer \/ I train my mind to not just care \/ And to my god I give my soul \/ I train my mind to cruise control\u201d — it packs a mean left (field) hook. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Produced by the band along with Ronan McHugh, Songs From The Sparkle Lounge <\/i>is heavy, short, and to the point. As a classic Def Leppard album, all the boxes are checked and nothing is missing. The band sounds as though they are still having fun, and these songs will easily work their way into the set-list without any trouble. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":29518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5660],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-41105","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-def-leppard","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41105","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\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41105"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41105"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}