1188. David Lee Roth / Skyscraper. 1988. 3/5

By the time we had reached 1988, enough time had now passed to allow the furious debate over the Van Halen/David Lee Roth split to dissipate somewhat. Both Van Halen with Sammy Hagar at the helm, and Roth, had released albums, and fans of both or either had spent months or years dissecting them and declaring which was better and which proved who was right over the whole episode. 18 months later, and while the divide remained it wasn’t as hardline as it had once been. The success of both sides probably contributed to that.
For their part, DLR and his band – Steve Vai, Billy Sheehan and Gregg Bissonette – had toured the world for 12 months, drawn great crowds and showed that as a live performer, they as a group and Roth in particular still had it. They then got together to produce the follow up album that became “Skyscraper”. The writing and recording process was not as straight forward this time around, and it is interesting to note that while Billy Sheehan did play the bass on the album that he was not asked, or did not contribute, to writing on the album. Not long after the recording, and before the world tour to support it started, Sheehan left the band, to be replaced by Gregg Bissonette’s brother, Matt. Sheehan of course went on to Mr Big, where his writing was one of the cornerstones of the band.
When this album was about to be released, the biggest questions about it were in regards to the musical direction that the band would take with their sophomore release. Would they stretch themselves beyond what they had done on “Eat em And Smile”, or would they look to not reinvent the wheel, and stick to what was safe and known?

The majority of the tracks here are credited as being co-written between Roth and Vai, which is as you would expect. But four tracks stand out as the most accessible commercially wise, and those four tracks did not have Steve Vai credited as a co-writer. The opening song “Knucklebones” is a fun sounding hard rock track with both Gregg and Matt Bissonette as the co-writers, and the drum and bass heavy instrumentation aren’t a surprise as a result. The single from the album, “Just Like Paradise” is one of three songs here co-composed with keyboardist Brett Tuggle, and the music video for this was plastered everywhere for a number of months on its release. It mixes the two best attributes of the band, Dave’s fantastic vocals and Steve’s electrifying guitar. “Stand Up” is such an 80’s track that it is hard to fathom when you listen to it all these years later. The synth and keyboard progressions are tied to that time and no other, with Tuggle obviously having a huge influence on what was going to dominate the song. It may not be new wave as such but it sure is pure 80’s. And “Perfect Timing”, the last of the songs written by this duo, may not be so obvious, but it is top heavy again on the keys and much more like pop song than a rock song.
“The Bottom Line” is treading a thin line between an early-styled Van Halen track, with Dave and Steve playing off against each other throughout the song. “Skyscraper” has the feel of earlier-in-the-decade new wave elements to the track. Then you have the acoustic ballad-type track “Damn Good”, which not only is a stop-the-momentum track smack in the middle of the album, it just seems to be out of place from the style that Dave suggested he was heading in when he quit that other band he had been in. On the other hand, “Hot Dog and a Shake” returns to the fun and lively Dave style that most of us love best, with a faster pace and return of Vai’s electric guitaring.
Given all of the elements that went into the split of Van Halen a few years earlier, where statements were made that because Van Halen wanted to use synths in their songs and a certain lead singe wanted to remain in a more focused hard rock vein, it’s an interesting development that this album actually seems to have gone further down that path as well. There is more prominence of keys and synths on “Skyscraper” than there was on “Eat em and Smile”, and while some of the songs are still in the uptempo vibe, there are those elements that make the listener reconsider just what the endgame really was and is when it came to the artist and his music in the back half of the 80’s decade.

What you may have been expecting from this album, and what you finally get out of it, are most likely two completely opposite things. I know that on its release, I had mixed emotions, and that may well have come directly from the opposite poles that my main musical listening intentions were at the time. Albums with heavy speed and/or melodic guitars and vocals was where 1988 was heading for me, and I guess that was what I was looking for. The lead single “Just Like Paradise” was, and is, a fun song, right in the David Lee Roth sweetspot, so I had guessed that this was typical of what the rest of the album would be like. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was in the style as I spoke of here in the middle section, a lot of mid tempo songs that concentrated more on the 80’s synths than the genius of Steve Vai’s guitar, as had been the case on the debut solo album. And as a result it fell off my radar fairly swiftly as other more aggressive albums began to find their way into my spectrum.
Listening to it now, I have different emotions. To be honest, it is more like a glam metal or rock album than a hard rock album, and if I had gone in listening to it as such at the time I reckon I would have enjoyed it more. Because the songs here might be harmless but they are enjoyable if you take in the fac that it is tied to the era, and has more to do with new wave and hair metal rock than heavy metal or hard rock, as it was promoted at the time. I’ve had it on rotation for two weeks, and have enjoyed it each time I’ve listened to it. Is t because I am less judemental of it now than I was at the time? That’s probably a fair statement. It isn’t a great album. It isn’t groundbreaking. But Dave is always enjoyable to listen to, and Vai and Sheehan and BIssonette are great musicians. It’s an album to listen to like elevator music, on in the background in a harmless way. Perhaps that’s not what he was looking for at the time, but it’s not a bad way to end up in someone’s collection for.

1187. Def Leppard / Pyromania. 1983. 5/5

As has been stated on other episodes of this podcast when it comes to retro-reviewing Def Leppard albums, for a band that was spoken of as one of the early leaders of the NWoBHM movement, they shirked that title at every turn, and rather than go down that path they chose their own, which mainly looked to try and crack the American rock market. And given the brilliance of their sophomore album “High N Dry”, which made a few inroads in that respect but perhaps not the break they were looking for, there was no doubt an even bigger push to have that occur with their follow up album.
Writing and recording of “Pyromania” was again not a particularly easy process. Recording took up most of 1982 as the band, along with producer “Mutt” Lange, searched for the sound that would propel them to the success they were looking to achieve. And while Def Leppard, even in their earliest form, could not be classed as heavy metal, the faster and heavier tracks from “High N Dry” still had the band labelled as such in many quarters. What can be seen on “Pyromania” is a band in transition. There are still the faster tracks here that showcase what the band had been like in their earliest days, bFor ut there are also the tracks here that, while not being pop songs as such, were beginning to develop more into songs that radio stations would be happy to pull up and play on rotation, which in 1983 was still the best way to sell albums.
Along with this, Pete Willis, whose alcoholism had caused some ructions within the group for some time, eventually found he had run out of chances. Towards the end of the recording process he had laid down all of his rhythm tracks for the album, but the band had lost its patience, and he was fired before the album was completed. In his place came Phil Collen, who with the support of Mutt Lange was encouraged to ‘just be a lead guitarist, jump around and have fun’ as he competed the album by coming up with his own lead guitar pieces to complement the songs and bring them all together. And when you listen to the album, you can hear that fun inspiration in the songs because of that. Some may say… well, I may say… that the greatness of the tracks here is that scintillating lead guitar work from the man who came in and gave the album the kick that pushes it into greatness.

For me, there is a common misconception when it comes to Def Leppard albums depending on the era you grew up in. Those who were early Def Leppard fans feel that this album is a diverse change from the first two albums, and that it signalled the real change in the band’s direction, whereas later fans feel that change didn’t occur until the following album “Hysteria”. If you were to play the first four albums back to back, I think you will agree that there is a maturing of the material and the production of each album, but that essentially the songs on “Pyromania” can be collated much more closely with “High N Dry” than with “Hysteria”.
There are the obvious singles here on “Pyromania” that have either been purpose-written to find their way onto radio airplay, or just naturally occurred that way. But none of those four songs could be accused of ‘selling out’ or drifting away from the overall theme of the album. “Too Late For Love” takes on that role lyrically and with a greater concentration of the chorused vocals that would come to define the later sound that the band took, but all three initial singles – “Photograph”, “Rock of Ages” and “Foolin’” are no less hard rock than the songs that came before them. “Photograph” was the song that really broke them in the US, and it had repeated playings of the music video on those video shows as well. The follow up “Rock of Ages” also did well, and perhaps drew in another section of fans because it wasn’t a typical radio friendly song of the day.
But the ore of the album is still, for me at least, that great hard rock style that Def Leppard had produced on their earlier albums. “Die Hard the Hunter” finishes off side one of the album in style, while the triumvirate that completes side two – “Comin Under Fire”, “Action Not Words” and “Billy’s Got a Gun”, are just superb, played and sung with a passion that still gives me goosebumps when I put the album on and listen to, and sing out loud, these songs.
The biggest change on “Pyromania” then was probably the production of Mutt Lange. Whereas “High N Dry” still had that gritty hard rock, almost live feeling about most of the tracks, a lot of that doesn’t exist in the same way here. “Stagefright” is the closest song here to being felt like it was a live song (probably for the faux crowd being inserted onto the track), and I can attest that a song like the opening track “Rock Rock til You Drop” sounds amazingly better live, because it is written to be a live song, but it doesn’t always come across that way here. Lange and no doubt the band was looking for a showpiece to present to the world, and that is exactly how it was prepared, and how it comes across.

The 1980’s decade was where Def Leppard found their way through numerous challenges and blockades to find the fame and sound that they wanted, and the success that it then brought. Nothing was easy about it, and they made lots of fans along the way, and probably lost a few as well.
“Pyromania” came to me by way of my high school metal music dealer, back in 1986, which was before the hype of “Hysteria” drew in every kind of music fan to say “DEF LEPPARD!!! WHOA!!!” And I can assure you that I adored this album at the time, and there were a LOT of bands and albums that I was getting into at the time, and for this to find its way above water level to keep being heard was a feat in itself. And I guess it was also fortunate that, given I didn’t first hear this until over three years after it was released, it didn’t have any new Def Leppard music to compete against it, given the length of time that came between albums. But what always impressed me, and allowed me to fall in love with this album, was that while it wasn’t the traditional heavy metal of Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath or the thrash metal of Metallica that I was gorging on at the time, nor was it soft core. These songs have a great hard rock base, solid drumming from Rick Allen, an awesome bass sound from Rick Savage, sensational guitars from Steve Clark and Phil Collen, and those amazing unique vocals from Joe Elliott, along with the harmony backing vocals that a lot of bands I was listening to at the time just didn’t have. They mixed all of that together to have songs you cold sing along to at the top of your voice, and play air drums and air guitar along to, and make them so catchy that as soon as the album finished, you just had to put it on again to hear them all again. The momentum of the album is never bogged down, each song carries itself and is both wonderful it itself and as a part of the whole.
Having had this on my stereo in the Metal Cavern for the past two weeks on constant rotation, I am still not sick of it. I have it going right now in the background as I record this podcast episode. And it has again raised in my head the question “what is my favourite Def Leppard album?” Because whenever I listen to “High N Dry”, I think it is that album. And now? Well. Honestly. How can you go past this work of art as the best that Def Leppard has produced?

1186. Deep Purple / Who Do We Think We Are. 1973. 3.5/5

Deep Purple the band had barely stopped to take breath over the three years leading up to this album being written and recorded. The infusion of Ian Gillan and Roger Glover to the group had brought the Mark II line up to the fore, and on the back of three triumphant albums in “In Rock”, “Fireball” and “Machine Head”, along with the euphoric live album “Made in Japan” which had been recorded on the Machine Head tour, Deep Purple was riding the crest of a wave that never looked like stalling. However, the pace that was being set for them was one that always appeared as though it would eventually be the straw that broke the camel’s back. As has been said on earlier episodes of this podcast, where the albums “Fireball” and “Machine Head” were given the 50 year treatment, the band’s management and record company were pushing the band to its limits. Forced to write and record those albums on minimal breaks from their touring schedule, and then straight back on the road to continue to bring in the dollars, you can imagine just how tired the band members must have been getting.
The album was recorded in two sessions. The first was in Rome in July 1972, and the second in Frankfurt in October of that year. From the first session, only one song made the final cut for the album, the single “Woman from Tokyo”. The band was then back on the road, including the tour of Japan where the live album was recorded and then subsequently released. The band then went to Frankfurt, but was struggling on all kinds of levels. They were struggling to come to any agreement upon which tracks should be used or even completed, and various members were not even speaking to each other through the process. Indeed, many of the tracks were only completed and recorded by having schedules arranged so that they could record their parts separately and therefore not have to be in the studio at the same time as the other members of the band. This of course all came to light after the album had been released, and is something that is often quoted by critics when they like to suggest that this isn’t up to the standard of the previous albums that this line up had released.

You couldn’t ask for a better start to this album, especially given the quality of the few albums that preceded it. “Woman From Tokyo” is a great opening track, written about touring Japan and combining the best parts of Jon Lord’s organ and keyboards, Ian Paice’s drums and Ian Gillan’s smooth as honey vocals. It was a mainstay of the setlists both prior to the sabbatical and then once again after the reformation. That Ritchie Blackmore guitar riff along with Roger Glover’s bass line throughout help to make this one of Deep Purple’s classic tracks. This then flows into the beautiful “Mary Long”, a superb track that not only is fantastic musically, but cutting edge lyrically. Ian Gillan was quoted about the meaning of the song, saying, "Mary Whitehouse and Lord Longford were particularly high-profile figures at the time. It was about the standards of the older generation, the whole moral framework, intellectual vandalism – all of the things that exist throughout the generations… Mary Whitehouse and Lord Longford became one person, fusing together to represent the hypocrisy that I saw at the time."
“Super Trouper” holds that kind of form and continues down the line of easy listening 70’s rock. “Smooth Dancer” tends to lift the tempo in the middle of the album, with a concentration of Lord’s keyboards, that go from jaunty piano bar through the verse and chorus, into an orgasmic (pun intended) solo in the middle of the song. It’s quite noticeable how this is his song to dominate and shine on. “Rat Bat Blue” pulls back that intensity again to the mid-road tempo the album hides in, lyrically moving in the Gillan/Glover styled ‘girl meets boy’ theme. “Place in Line” is very much in an old blues theme, carrying many of the same characteristics of AC/DC songs that are in the same realm. The turn has begun to come. “Our Lady” completes the seven track album in much the same way, in a slow mannered way that tinges itself in the same sort of style.
Does "Who Do We Think We Are” take on more of a blues feel, as many critics suggest? I guess in a way it does, as there are no out-and-out hard rock tracks here such that had been prevalent on earlier albums, and the back half of the album definitely in mired in this, which is perhaps the first time Deep Purple had moved in this direction for some time musically. There is little doubt that this grated with Ritchie in particular who at that time wanted to continue down the hard rock path, whereas Gillan was less inclined. This had been an issue since the “Fireball” album, and it continued to fuel the fire here, and it can be easily seen why tensions flared during the writing and recording process.

Having conducted my Deep Purple upbringing with the album “In Rock”, “Machine Head” and “Perfect Strangers”, this album has always been a bit of a mystery to me. The opening is fantastic, and over recent days having put the album on again at home and listened to it in the Metal cavern, it is still terrific to listen to, taking in every part of each band members brilliance and what they contribute to the album in that way. The songs however? Well, if I was to sit here and pick them apart, then I would certainly not rank it in the top echelon of Deep Purple albums. It was never an album I grabbed and put on, that always fell to those three I mentioned earlier, as well as a few modern albums. And for me it IS the lack of momentum in the album and the tracks, the fall back to a slower tempo and less aggressive approach throughout. And once you factor in the trouble that went into writing and recording, and how exhausted the band must have been, and how they were certainly pulling apart, then it probably isn’t hard to understand how they got to this point. It didn’t stop the album selling all over the world. For me though, despite a couple of songs that are still favourites to this day, it doesn’t stand up to the best the band has produced.
Ian Gillan left the band following this album, citing internal tensions, which was basically reaching the breaking point that had been coming for some time with Ritchie Blackmore. It is interesting though that in an interview held when they reformed once again in 1983, Ian stated that fatigue and management had a lot to do with it, that if the managers and record company had just afforded them a three month holiday in order to rest and recuperate, then perhaps the band would never have exploded. Of course, that would have changed the entire history of the band, and we may never have had the legendary album that followed this one in just a few short months time.