As the music world changed through the 1990’s however, the band had to decide if they were going to continue along the same path or look to adapt to what was occurring and make themselves more accessible in this regard. The result was the album “Slang”, on which the sound produced was a departure from what they had done before, along with being the first album in 15 years without the input of producer Mutt Lange.
Three years on, and while for “Slang” there seems to have been a conscious decision to try something different from the sound they had always played, here on the follow up “Euphoria” the attitude basically came with a ‘don’t rule OUT the past completely’ attitude. And while Pete Woodroffe retained his position as producer of the album, Mutt Lange did return to the studio for a short time to not only help pen three tracks for the album, but sing back ups on those three songs as well. He was not the only guest to appear, with former Formula 1 champion Damon Hill, who was apparently a neighbour of bassist Rick Savage, playing a guitar solo on the opening track of the album.
So while the mid-1990's had appeared to heavily influence the previous album, it was a return to the basics of the band’s sound through the late 80’s and early 90’s that was to be the driving force of the new album. The question that had to be asked was, would this still appeal to the band’s fan base after such a lengthy amount of time?
Having turned in a different direction on their previous album “Slang”, the opening three tracks here on “Euphoria” certainly bring back a sense of the past, all of them channelling the sound and structure that can be found on both “Hysteria” and “Adrenalize”. The opening salvo of “Demolition Man” is excellent, up tempo, energetic, with great guitars from both Phil Collen and Vivan Campbell, and vocals from Joe Elliott that are in top form. Def Leppard are generally excellent at composing opening tracks on their albums, and this one follows that pattern perfectly. This is followed by “Promises”, which was the first single released from the album, and this is most definitely written in that late 80’s era style. In fact, you could easily imagine this coming straight off the “Hysteria” album. It slots right back into the pop rock sound that Def Leppard had been cultivating for over a decade and is inoffensively enjoyable for what it is. The third track here is “Back in Your Face”, with the attitude and spark that you would expect from a song with this title. The lyrics are playfully belligerent and the song again harks back to those earlier days of the band. Overall, the first three tracks on the album showcase the blueprint that the band had set out for itself.
From here, the album begins to branch out into those other areas that I’m sure are excellent for many fans, but I begin to question the logic. “Goodbye” is exhibit one, the third single released from the album, and a clear cut sugar sweet ballad that is aimed directly at a very specific part of their fan base. The band does them well, but there are reasons I have a hard time getting around them, which I will get to later. “All Night” follows, and is a real cringefest. Honestly, as much as I dislike ballads, the previous track outstrips this easily when it comes to enjoyment. The lyrics here are just... awful... here, take a listen to this. “I like a woman who loves to drive, loves to do it fast, yeah, above 95. Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh yeah. I love a woman who likes to make me sweat, who'll come on round lookin' for love, get what she can get show me babe what's on your mind, I wanna feel ya one more time”. I mean, this is on a Paul Stanley/Gene Simmons Kiss level of cringe factor. Phil Collen and Mutt Lage, seriously, give yourselves an uppercut. This song is basically unlistenable.
“Paper Sun” breaks the mould of a Def Leppard song, not only with deep and heartfelt lyrics about the subject matter, but with two great and separate guitar solos from the two guitarists, both showing off their abundant talent in setting alight the song and retaining the emotional impact of the track. It’s a creeper, it's a song you need to listen to a bit to get the most out of it, but it is worth it. “It’s Only Love” winds us back to the Def Lep ballad, with choral vocals throughout. You’ve heard it all before, there is no need for me to expand on my thoughts here. We have the same with “21st Century Sha La La La Girl”, not in the ballad way but in the same way as “All Night” is composed. The music is upbeat and enjoyable enough, but lyrically it's not one that is going to raise your IQ by listening to it. The power ballad “To Be Alive” comes from Vivian Campbell and one of his side projects called ‘Clocks’, and has been suitably Def Leppardized here.
FINALLY we return to something great, with the instrumental track “Disintegrate”, written by Phill Collen and concentrating entirely on great hard rock and guitars. When he unleashes, and when you watch him live, Collen is one of the great guitarists, and here he and Viv especially get the chance to do so. If only they did it more often. Sadly it doesn't last with the return of the power ballad in “Guilty” which will hit the majority of the fan base in all the right areas. “Day After Day” follows along the same lines, though does have an energetic and powerful guitar solo slot in the middle that is the highlight of the song. The album then concludes with “King of Oblivion” which does allow the album to finish on an upbeat note.
I have been a fan of Def Leppard since the mid-1980's, prior to the release of “Hysteria”, and grew into that love on the back of those first three amazing albums. The gradual morphing of the band and their music did not stop me loving those albums, or the band and the albums that followed this period. “Slang” had been a turning point though, and so although I had heard a couple of the singles from this album on the radio, I hadn’t rushed out to buy it, and it was in fact a couple of years later before I did listen to the album.
When I did, an age old question almost immediately rose in my mind - Why does this band do ballads when you have two of the best guitarists on the planet in your mix? Anyone who has seen Phil Collen live, and heard Vivian Campbell on Dio and Last in Line albums, know what they can do. The answer of course is – they love those kinds of songs. That’s why they write them, and that’s why they play them, and why I still continue to say – what a waste.
For me this album is a 50/50 proposition. When I first got it, it just couldn’t retain my interest over the other albums that I was listening to at the time, which increasingly was of European power metal bands. However, other bands from the 80’s that I still listened to were in the process of releasing some of their worst ever material (stay tuned for Megadeth and Queensryche over the coming months), so this album at least was familiar in sound which did give it an advantage.
Having had this on again for the last two weeks, the good songs are still good, and the average songs are still average. I don’t have time for ballads, there has to be something spectacularly good about them for me to listen to them, and these ones don’t have that. The songs that verge on hard rock are still listenable. The problem for Def Leppard is that, in my opinion, they reached a zenith with “Adrenalize” that they have been unable to approach or better since. Some of their song ideas are good, but the attraction to the ballad does hinder them, and restricts their growth in that way. Especially since even in that regard, they had done that kind of track far better back in the day than they can reproduce after that fact. “Euphoria” is fine, I have listened to it beyond my reservations and still find enough here to like. They have better albums.
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