Many times I have told the story of my gateway drug into the world of hard rock and heavy metal. It was late spring or early summer of 1983 and that drug was the sound of Def Leppard on the radio. The song was “Rock of Ages” from the Pyromania album. I was immediately drawn to the distorted guitars, the vocal harmonies and the energy. I had found my “music” and it was good!
A handful of bands soon followed but Def Leppard were the first. Upon further investigation, I learned that Pyromania was actually their third record. Before too long, both High and Dry and On Through The Night were added to my collection. My buddies and I geeked out to every song, every power chord, every twin guitar solo. Elaborate air guitar concerts became regular occurrences before the air was replaced with actual guitars. Def Leppard were almost always the band of choice.
Fashion Sense – Union Jack Shirt and Shorts
Unfortunately, I would have to wait a number of years to see Leppard live. I was just a touch too young. To be honest, I am not even sure if they ever played Toronto in support of Pyromania. I would have to endure the agonizing year after year wait until Hysteria brought them around once again. I would have loved to have seen Leppard on the way up back in 79 or 80. Young, hungry and driven to rule the world! Those first 2 albums were pretty magical. It was OK though, I had my union jack sleeveless shirt and of course the union jack shorts.
Enter Def Leppard – The Early Years – 79-81 a 5 disc box set that caught my attention. It contains both On Through The Night and High and Dry. Both remixed and remastered and sounding much improved over my original pressing CD’s. Most of you are well aware of these two records. For those that only know Def Leppard for “Pour Some Sugar On Me” you are possibly a retired stripper from the ’80s but that aside, you should be ashamed of yourself. If you haven’t heard the High and Dry album, you still have time to change your foolish ways. It’s in a word, PERFECT!
Live At The New Theatre, Oxford UK 1979
What really grabbed me by the balls was disc 3 in this set. Def Leppard – Live At The New Theatre Oxford UK 1979! A full live recording from 41 years ago. I admit I was half expecting a muddy, distorted bootleg of an experience. Wow, was I wrong? Whoever captured this show or however they restored this recording deserves an award. A crystal clear live show that captured 5 young men on a mission. On its own, this could possibly rank as my favourite live album of all time. It’s bloody brilliant!
What really blew my mind here was this concert was recorded prior to the band even entering the studio to record their debut album? The setlist contains most of the first album, three songs that ended up on the sophomore album and a couple of surprises. Two titles I was unfamiliar with “Medicine Man” and “When The Rain Falls” jumped out at me. “When The Rain Falls” started I immediately recognized the riff! It was reworked and later morphed into my favourite Leppard song of all time, “Let It Go”. “Medicine Man” took me a few seconds to place. It became one of their classics on Pyromania, for fun I will let you figure out which one. So cool to go back and see the evolution of the songwriting. Ok, maybe I am just a geek.
Rarities, Demos and Live Gems
Discs 4 (B-Sides and Rarities) and 5 (Early BBC Recordings) are a mixed bag of rarities, demos, alternate tracks and live tracks all obviously from 1979 through 1981. You do end up getting many versions of the same tracks so casual Def Leppard fans might lose interest at this point. For someone that once wore the Union Jack shorts to school however, it’s geek out time. All in all, it’s a fantastic box set at a great value that is twice as cool for those that do not own the first two albums. I will also say that “Overture” has aged like a fine wine and might just be one of their best songs ever written.
Watch out for the rock brigade people, this is Def Leppard when Def Leppard were NWOBHM.
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