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| Artist: Def Leppard
Label: Mercury
List Price: $13.98
Buy New: $6.35
You Save: $7.63 (55%)
New (52) Used (23) Collectible (1) from $4.86
Rating:  169 reviews
Sales Rank: 1119
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 001100402
UPC: 602517660373
EAN: 0602517660373
ASIN: B0015D3Z80
Release Date: April 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 26-30 of 169
 Def Leppard is Back!!! May 4, 2008
D. Lembo (New Jersey USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I am a long time, loyal Def Leppard fan. While they can do no wrong in my eyes, I have stated in the past that I wasn't overwhelmed with some of the material previously written. BUT- OMG, they have totally outdone themselves on this one! Songs From The Sparkle Lounge is one of the best Def Lep albums ever! Over the past 27 years, Def Leppard music has been my drug of choice. I can't help but smile when I hear one of their songs. And since Tuesday, I have been doing quite a bit of smiling. The CD starts out real strong with "Go" and doesn't falter. As far as ballads go, I have to say I don't mind a Def Leppard ballad. Joe's voice turns me into a puddle when he sings them and "Love" is no exception. I love the Queen-like drama to this one. I also love the fact that each song showcases a specific band member's personal style and yet becomes Def Leppard as a whole. If you even like Def Leppard a little, you should not pass this up! Songs From The Sparkle Lounge
Great return May 8, 2008
Juz Man (Hobart, Australia)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Def Leppard have just delivered their best album since Slang.
Euphoria and X had a handful of throw away tracks. Some Best Of's and a covers album followed. All they needed was a Live album in the mix and their decline would have been complete.
Yeah! was an album they needed. A change of direction, something fun. If it was crap who cared, it's covers. It wasn't crap so that was a bonus. It seems to have breathed new life into the band. Giving them a fresh start perhaps because Songs From The Sparkle Lounge shows a renewed energy lacking for many years.
I'd gotten used to the three year album turn around (since 93) so we've missed a cycle with no new material studio album in 2005 (after 2002's X). Yeah! Shouldn't count. This is a welcome `return to form' - yes that term will be thrown around by many-a-reviewer.
11 new songs here. 8 of them under (or around) the 3:30 mark. Only two over 4 minutes. That's a change. I like the album title. It too is a change. The title X was a cop-out, Euphoria was a tad ancient.
Go - What a great opener. Frantic guitar work, nice anthem-like harmonies
Nine Lives - Tim McGraw (country? gag) might have one of the hottest females in the world as his wife but can the guy rock? Yes, it seems he can. Wasn't sure about this one when I heard about it but it's a great song. Would it have been even better without TM - Yes, but certainly would have garnered the publicity. Smart.
C'mon C'mon - might have a cliched title and you know you're going to get a lot of c'mon's in the chorus but it's a great catchy song. Sounds a bit like Back In Your Face (from Euphoria) but much better. Leads into
Love - which is a Rick Savage written ballad. Not as good as Goodbye (one of his from Euphoria) but a nice track. Good balance of softness and rock. Sounds a lot like Queen's Jealousy (from their Jazz album - "Oh how wrong can you be?")
Tomorrow - `s chorus stats: "I wanna break down, I'm gonna shake down" which to me sounds a tad cliched perhaps. That style of singing two identical lines but changing one or two word's been done a hundred times. Good catchy track regardless - given the subject. Rock's nicely.
Cruise Control - is a slower rock number. Continues Vivian's high quality writing output. Though far from classic, it's a good track. This song, however, starts a run of three songs that perhaps have a lesser creative quality than the rest of the album. While good tracks they lack a bit of punch.
Hallucinate - is face paced, standard rock fare. A nice track. Second of the three.
Only The Good Die Young - sounds like a track from the Euphoria era. Perhaps the poppiest track here. Pleasant enough. Perhaps my comment about Vivian's output is a bit stretched here though. Got me thinking of Billy Joel which isn't a good thing. Not that it sounds anything like his song. Third in the run.
Bad Actress - is different from any other Def Lep song. Super fast paced. Very good. Nice to hear something completely different from the boys. Nice work Joe.
Come Undone - is standard fare. Nice mid range rock.
Gotta Let It Go - is a different kind of closing track that what we've become used to. Could easily have been the opening track if they were looking for a track that gave the listener a taste of what was to come without revealing all.
This album is what Euphoria tried to be and what X should have been. Will it be a hit? Probably not. Should it be? OF COURSE!!!
BUY IT!!
"I'm Back In Your Face.... Like I've Never Been Away" May 8, 2008
Frank J. Moore (Portland, OR)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I've been a Leppard fan since 1982 and must say Sparkle Lounge is the best album they've released since Adrenalize by a LONG shot (not counting Greating Hits comps, etc.).
After a string of sub-par recordings I'd lost faith that I'd ever hear a really good (new) record from Def Leppard again. Save for a few songs from Euphoria I actually disliked the majority of the band's output the past 15 years.
FINALLY, Sparkle Lounge has renewed my faith. Is this as hard as Hign N' Dry or will it be as popular worldwide as Pyromania or Hysteria? No, but times have changed and the days of DL (or any other 80's rock band) selling 15 million albums is over. But the songs on S.L. are really, really good. It has a bit of Euphoria / Adrenalize feel to it, but much more 70's-ish in it's approach. At times you can hear obvious similarities to Queen, ELO and dare I say it's even a bit Beatles-esque in places.
And guitars, guitars, guitars... all over the place. Phil Collen's work is superb. The only negative thing I have to say (and I say this about almost all music now-a-days) is that Vivian's guitar sounds like it's been tuned down somewhat and is a bit too dark (modern) for my 80's whammy-bar tastes. Other than that this album is a homerun for a band whose batting average has been below the Mendoza line since 1993.
Is this album going to change the nay-sayer's views about the band? Of course not. If you didn't like Def Leppard in 1983 you're not going to like them now. However, if you did like the band in 1983, but forgot about them after Hysteria you may wish to jump back on the bandwagon... Sparkle Lounge is excellent.
A Step Back in the Right Direction May 14, 2008
Darrin E. Matteson (Aurora, IL)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
So the "Sparkle Lounge" sounds more like Liberace's living room than anything one might associate with Def Leppard. But in reality, the "Sparkle Lounge" was where the band would get together while on tour to work on new material. This album is the fruits of those musical labors.
Simply put this is a step back in the right direction after the terrible misstep of 2002's "X" which left some fans (including this one) wondering if in addition to being "def", the Lep might also be eunechs.
2006's cover album "Yeah!" showed some promise, but being a covers album it was tough to discern whether the Lep had regained their swagger or if they were just aping the swagger of the bands/musicians they were covering.
Luckily, "Songs from the Sparkle Lounge" confirms that the Lep has indeed regained their swagger and attitude. With only one slow song, Love the album is considerably more uptempo and rollicking than the band has been since 1999's "Euphoria" album. If anything the material is considerably stronger than that on "Euphoria" making this possibly their strongest album since the passing of guitarist Steve Clark.
The music is catchy and upbeat, the harmonies are there, the driving guitars are there, and you can even hear Lep tipping a hat to the likes of ELO and Queen on "Love" which, with its grandiose strings and tight harmonies, is one of the band's best slow songs in quite awhile.
The one weak point-- the lyrics. Granted, Def Leppard's lyrics have never been within the realm of deep or profound and the one album in which they did go deep (1996's "Slang") was not well received because it was largely not what the fans had come to love and expect of the band. The lyrics are traditional Def Leppard, simple and to the point but the low point on the album is "Bad Actress" which musically is a solid song but the lyrics are so cheesy and lamer than any of the recent ill-fated Kentucky Derby horses that it really takes away from a song that had the potential to be so much better.
Returning to good fun hair metal that put them on the map in the eighties was a recipe for success and this album is a true return to form of what this band is truly capable of. Fans of the "High 'n' Dry" through "Hysteria" era should be quite happy with this album.
Excellent Hard Rock CD that hits it Right On The Money! May 14, 2008
Jeff Laplante (Virginia)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Def Leppard has again created an excellent collection of hook filled modern rock songs. For a long while, Def Leppard has been trying to erase the stigma of being a metal band. They have not written anything that even sounds like metal since 1983's Pyromania CD. That was 25 years ago! Yet still people come to this site and give a 1 star review saying that it sounds nothing like Pyromania. I just don't get it. They are a different band now and have been for over 20 years. Since re-inventing themselves with 1987's Hysteria, Def Leppard have been much more interested in the art of songwriting and they have shined at that consistently throughout all of the 90s up to now in 2008. They have been writing radio-friendly, commercial songs with stellar sound production, amazing and cutting edge vocal harmonies, and great musicianship for many many years. That is who Def Leppard is. So, don't expect metal because you won't get it. This is great Modern Rock! That's right - Modern. Def Leppard don't want the stigma of being an 80s band either. Anyone who has heard their recent material will tell you that they have succeeded at that.
While 1996's Slang was experimental rock, 1999's Euphoria was a bit of a step back to their arena rock sound with a modern touch. 2002's X was a modern rock CD with many pop elements. All of these CDs had excellent songs. That is the one constant.
Now, we get to 2008's Songs From The Sparkle Lounge. While X was a modern rock CD with a pop edge, Sparkle Lounge is a modern rock CD with a Hard Rock edge. When trying to find a comparison to this CD, I simply can't. It really is a Brand New kind of Def Leppard album. Sure there are moments that remind me of Hysteria, Adrenalize, Slang, and X. But overall, they are keeping it fresh and modern...they are not stepping backwards at all.
This really is a Def Leppard CD that everyone has to have. If you liked Hysteria because of the excellent production and amazing songs, you will love these songs. If you liked Slang because it was experimental and new, you will love the freshness of these songs. If you liked X because of the songwriting, you will love these songs. If you hated X because it was too poppy, you have to hear these Hard Rock songs. I can go on and on. The only group that won't like it are the people who are still waiting for the band to regress 25 years to High and Dry and Pyromania. I feel bad for those people.
The main thing that sticks out on this CD is that every song is Great! In terms of structure, melody, harmonies, guitar solos (absolute killer solos by Viv and Phil), varied styles, Def Leppard is as good as ever!
My one negative about this CD is that it is too short. The songs are all between 3 and 4 minutes. I would have loved if they expanded on a couple of the songs and added some more parts. The CD has 11 songs on it. In knowing that all the songs were going to be short, I would have hoped the band would give us more of them...like 15 or 16. For that reason, I give the CD 4 and 1/2 stars. I rounded up to five for this review since amazon does not allow half stars.
In conclusion, pick this CD up and make up your own mind. It definitely isn't one that you want to ignore.
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