Def Leppard's cover album a dubious effort
Nearly a year ago, Def Leppard "leaked" its version of Badfinger's "No Matter What" as a tease for a long-in-the-works covers album, "Yeah!" It's an ideal song for a band that specializes in layered harmonies and sticky choruses, and it allowed singer Joe Elliott to turn down his increasingly distracting rasp.
Frankly, "No Matter What" was so good, it roused plenty of interest in even the most jaded Lep fans.
That the underrated '80s rockers — always more British glam than hair metal chose songs from bands that directly influenced them (Mott the Hoople, Sweet, ELO, The Kinks) gives the album a hint of purpose. But at least half of these songs never needed to be pursued outside of sound checks and goof-off jam sessions.