Def Leppard - Yeah, Mercury Records

Motley Crue

Yeah (2006)
Def Leppard
Mercury Records

It seems to be such an ugly thing to do, in this age of American Idol and You’re A Star; we search for the ultimate ‘naturally gifted signer’ by forcing them to sing other people’s songs on national TV. Bands often record covers for B-Sides, when they run out of original material, and it’s a little treat to hear your favourite band cover their potentially ‘unsung heroes’ on single or EP releases. But what happens when a band go that one step further, producing an album of cover versions as Def Leppard have done with their latest album Yeah, and filling the music rack with their versions of T-Rex, Thin Lizzy, Free, Badfinger and much, much more.

It’s a journey that, for Def Leppard, begun in their childhoods. By their own admission, listening to the likes of Rock On every Friday night with Tommy Vance on Radio One may not make much sense to your average 20 year old, but began a journey that fuelled 10 explosive studio albums and countless platinum singles. For a band that has been at the forefront of almost every musical movement for the last 25 years plus, this is a rather interesting prequel to their to recent Greatest Hits collection, providing the background inspiration to the music they perform. Fans of the band will already recognize Waterloo Sunset, their cover of The Kinks classic, which made the 2nd disc of the aforementioned release in 2003. Originally rumoured to be a double album, which might be the finished product in Japan, the European version of the album is 14 very different and unique songs all combined in 70s British culture.

Its interesting to note that none of these songs reached number one originally, with tracks like Little Bit of Love failing to make even the Top 15, songs like Hell Raiser (with a special appearance by The Darkness Justin Hawkins) are more the exception then the rule. While most of the collection presented here could be misjudged as a poor stopgap between studio albums, songs like 10538 Overture maintain this album is just as important as any original Leppard releases that have preceded it. Bowie’s Drive By Saturday is possibly the only example of a song by an artist you’d never have expected to hear from the original performer in the first place! Standout tracks include No Matter What, Waterloo Sunset, a cover of Blondie’s Hanging On the Telephone and Mott the Hoople’s Golden Age of Rock and Roll featuring members of the Def Leppard extended family on backing vocals and Ian Hunter himself presiding over the track as ‘Master of Ceremonies’.

The only track that I think could have been left alone was Thin Lizzy’s Don’t Believe A Word; I’ve previously heard an acoustic version of the same song sung by the bands current Rhythm Guitarist Vivian Campbell, and its something I’d recommend any fan downloading free of charge from DefLeppard.com in the near future. Considering Campbell is Belfast born its perhaps his Irish-ness that warms me to his version of the song as opposed to the electric version provided by Leppard on this release. Stay With Me closes the album, although I assure you there’s another album of material recorded out there, and Phil Collen assumes vocal duties while Joe plays a Fender Rhodes on this Faces classic.

The albums much more then a few sound checks and outtakes, its well produced, and could fast appeal to an American audience unfamiliar with British Glam. With an extended appearance on Jay Leno scheduled for May 23rd, the albums official release date, Def Leppard are fast becoming more American mainstream then European. To celebrate the release, the American chain store Target have released a special 5 track EP, which features all non album tracks, including their cover of Bowie’s Space Oddity and Yellow Dog’s American Girl. European fans should fret though, as those tracks will more then likely appear on a single release in the UK, before the band head to the States for a 3-month tour. In conclusion I’ll be giving it a second listen, and it’ll remain in my collection for a long time, perhaps becoming as iconic to Leppard fans as the songs included herein where to the band themselves.