Classic Rock Magazine
---------------------

The Joy Of X

Loaded they may be, but it's not cash that drives DefLeppard. After 20
years, it's their place in music history they're looking to secure.

 
"IF THIS WAS ABOUT MONEY," JOE ELLIOTT says, "We could have retired in
1988. Clearly we don't need the money. We all believe that we've still
got great songs inside us."

So here is a record made by rich guys with the purest of motives. Hungry
fighters will always be the best, but there's much to be said for the
veteran survivor, made wise and wily by time and experience. There are
great measures of skill and know-how in the 13 songs on 'X'. Like anyone
involved for a number of years in successful creative endeavour, Def
Leppard will never drop below a certain standard. They are solid and
disciplined, and it's impossible not to admire the craftsmanship here.
Each song is perfectly wrought and expertly primed for maximum effect,
'X'  will certainly not let anyone down.

The band have their favoured signatures, small ticks and quirks that
mean 'Armaggedon It' comes to mind during "Four Letter Word', and
'Hysteria' during 'Tom To Shreds', but these just mark out the record as
peculiarly Def Leppard's, and serve as reminders that the band have made
themselves immediately identifiable, a brand in the best sense of the
word.

Of course, they are aiming for the kind timelessness achieved by the
heroes they had when they started out: Bowie; Zeppelin; The Who. All
those artists have inured themselves to fad and fancy by pursuing a
singular course regardless of prevailing trends. All have dropped
clangers (as Leppard did with 'Slang'). And they have all had their
moment when they could claim, genuinely, to be the biggest band in the
world. Def Leppard can, too, and while their influence may not be as
wide-ranging or their music as critically regarded, their remarkable
story only adds credit to their achievement.

As 'X' is released, there is an VH1 TV movie of their career out, and a
DVD of one of ITVs Classic Albums series, made about 'Hysteria'. Both
are revealing, for their own reasons. The TV movie, had it been
presented as fiction, would have been written off as too hard to
believe. But all of that experience informs 'X' with a certain emotional
weight. Elliott's lyrics are straightforward -workmanlike, even-but he
knows about life; his voice sounds world-weary in the best of ways, and
it's the stand-out feature of 'X'.

There was always the suspicion that 'Pyromania' and 'Hysteria' were
ruthlessly geared to his limitations by producer 'Mutt' Lange, patched
together as skillfully as each chord, each effect. Here - older, wiser -
the voice is organic and human, imperfect but equal to a big radio
ballad like 'Let Me Be The One' or the "Photograph'-y pop-rock of
'You're So Beautiful' or 'Everyday'.

The Classic Albums programme actually serves as a reminder of how good
Def Leppard's basics are. As Phil Collen, Rick Savage and Elliott strip
the tunes back to their original riffs and arpeggios, it's apparent how
the beast is built, layer by layer. Lange was - and remains - the master
of radio rock (as his subsequent success with wife Shania Twain has
demonstrated), but if the foundation is not there the building falls
down. It's another lesson well-learned. Songs like 'Love Don't Lie',
'Four Letter Word', 'Scar' and the opener 'Now' follow that principal,
constructed immaculately from the ground up.

The other revealing part of Classic Albums is the footage of the famous
Wisseloord Studios. At the time, the press had everyone believing that
the band were holed up in some kind of liber-compound at terrifying
expense, when in truth, it was little more than a jingle studio above an
unlovely Dutch car park. Nonetheless, it worked. For much of 'X',
Leppard again eschewed something big-name and pricey in favour of a
couple of studio rooms at Joe Elliott's house in Dublin. Aside from a
couple of weeks in Los Angeles with Marty Frederickson, and a stopover
in Sweden at the Cheiron base with Andreas Carlsson and Per Aldeheim,
'X' is essentially home-made. Again, for all their associations with
technology, Leppard adhere to first principles: ya don't fix what ain't
broke.

As for those collaborations, the band claim they were a success.
Frederickson has written for Aerosmith, which perhaps hints at the kind
of reinvigoration Def Leppard seek in the charts. Carlsson and Aldeheim
are a mini-industry for teen hits, and probably just boosted confidence
in the band's melodic sensibilities. Collaborations are, again, hardly
new to Def Leppard. ('Mutt' was famously regarded as an equal partner in
the band and always received songwriting credits.)

The message is this: Def Leppard are not going to drop the ball now. All
their songcraft is here and in order. Yes, it delves into the realm of
experimentation occasionally, but no one will be mistaking 'X' for
anything other than a commendable, occasionally inspired, always
entertaining Def Leppard album, with all the hallmarks of melodic depth
and sonic quality that such a recommendation brings.

Elliott himself comments: "Every band says their new album is their
best, and it's such a bogus statement. I'm not saying that this album is
better than 'Hysteria' or 'Pyromania', but it's the best record we can
make now."

You're right about that, rich boy... 


IN A NUTSHELL
Look up 'well-crafted, perfectly executed radio rock' in the thesaurus
and you'll find a picture of the front cover of 'X'.

Score: 4 out of 5