Def Leppard - Adrenalize
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Free Music Notes for Adrenalize
Free Music Review: NOT a definitive album of theirs by a long shot
Hit: 3 Stars
Adrenalize(1992). Def Leppard's 5th studio album.
Def Leppard were for the most part one of those rare 80s hard rock bands which managed to meet a ton of success and at the same time run into a lot of tragedy along the way. They of course started out as a fully energized and inspired NWOBHM band on their debut On Through The Night(1980), which sported some awesome songs, but wasn't really their best IMHO. Then on High 'N Dry(1981) infamous producer Robert John Mutt Lange found them and over the years he gradually changed them from a hard rock act into big 80s pop/rock radio stars. Both the aforementioned High 'N Dry and their breakthrough album Pyromania(1983) kept the traditional hard rock edge that the debut album sported, yet at the same time there was a clear focus on solid songwriting and necessary polish that wasn't prevalent with OTTN. So because of this, I find High and Pyro to be their overall best albums.
Then after a major delay due to drummer Rick Allen's car accident which caused one of his arms to be amputated and a LONG recording process, Hysteria(1987) was unleashed upon the unsuspecting public (I say "unsuspecting" because apparently it took more than a year for the album to take off). Mutt Lange succeeding in weeding nearly all of the "hard rock" out of the band and polished their sound to the point of having an entirely processed feel to it. However, I still believe that Hysteria is a definite 5 star album due to the fact that Mutt Lange clearly knew how to write good memorable pop-oriented songs and this album had plenty of them. 7 HIT SINGLES in fact. Even the underrated songs on there were good! A highly engineered polish production for the album was backed up by excellent songwriting. Unfortunately, five years, one Mutt Lange no longer producing, and one death of a great guitarist Steve Clark later, the same cannot be said about Adrenalize.
The first problem I see with Adrenalize is the fact that Mutt Lange jumped ship this time. Now there's nothing wrong at all with the band wanting to write their own stuff considering this was the first time they've done this since OTTN, but their reliance on Mutt Lange to provide them with the right direction in previous outings really shows here. Their OTTN songwriting is miles ahead of most of the material on Adrenalize. The band did figure out how to manage production knobs as the polished sound is even tighter than Hysteria's. But Mutt Lange's "hands off" approach leaves Adrenalize to be a lost cause in the early 90s music storm, much like how Grunge music began to take over around this time and eat up all the late-booming hair metal acts.
HOWEVER, the 2 exceptions and sole reason that I still give this album 3 stars comes from two tracks on here: 'White Lightning' and 'Tear It Down'.
First there's 'White Lightning'. Hats off to the band for creating a dark and brooding (albeit highly produced) epic ballad that stands as one of their all-time best songs, despite the fact that most people will overlook it. It may not be as hard rocking as previous gloom-ballads from their heyday, but the guys really nailed the "'Love Bites'-meets-'Women'-meets-'Comin' Under Fire'" sound on the dot. Why can't the band's later ballads all be this good? Then 'Tear It Down' was actually a Steve Clark penned song and hardest thing on the album which the band performed live on the Hysteria tours before its studio release. One of the highlights.
Though there were a few big hits on here, the rest of the songs come off as "Hysteria-lite". For instance, 'Lets Get Rocked' sounds much like a watered down 'Pour Some Sugar On Me' with some whacked-out lyrics: "...I'm just your average ordinary everyday dude." ... okay whatever. I suppose Sugar was the same way lyrically, but it doesn't quite work as well on 'LGR'. Other songs like 'Personal Property' and 'I Wanna Touch U' sound good in general context, but put them next to similar rockers such as 'Armageddon It' and 'Rocket' and they pale in comparison. This is where Steve Clark's absence can be felt the most. So Adrenalize ends up living under Hysteria's shadow, never finding a way to live up to, much less surpass it. 'Make Love Like A Man' is actually a decent track, and I do like it better now than I used to. But most of the other songs are nothing but sappy ballads. And that's another problem with Adrenalize: WAAAY too many power ballads on here. Now I don't have a problem with bunches of ballads if they are well crafted. For instance, have a soft spot for Heart's 'Bad Animals' album, and even though it was made predominately of ballads, they were all GOOD songs. Here, there is only one good 'White Lightning', and all the rest are 'Love Bites' wanna-be love ballads.
replayability: Low (or medium if you happen to like it)
Despite all the downplay that I've stated, I do recommend that commercial DL fans (or more specifically the Hysteria/Euphoria fans) check it out and form their own opinion. Afterall, it was popular at the time and I see many people here find it to their liking. It's just that if you're more of a fan of their earlier harder and better stuff (i.e. Night, High, Pyro, Hysteria, and even Retro) then you may be disappointed like I was. I still keep it in my collection for 'White Lightning' and 'Tear It Down' but other than that it just collects dust. NOT MANDATORY, BUT WORTH A LISTEN.
Free Music Review: One star for Steve Clark's "Tear it Down", then...
Hit: 1 Stars
none for the rest. I grew to like 'Hysteria', though I got rid of it a long time ago, and don't/won't listen to ear candy/drivel like this anymore. I saw them on this tour, on 9/25/92 and on 7/8/93, both in Sacramento. They were good shows, but not because this album had any quality to it. They played 'Bringin' On The Heartbreak' at the first show, and 'Another Hit and Run' at the second show. These, and some of the 'Pyromania' songs were the highlights of these shows. This album was essentially the end of Def Leppard as the world had come to know them, but not because Mutt Lange parted ways with them. By 1992, DL were dinosaurs because Nirvana, and all they stood for, obliterated hair bands forever, and made rock unfun. Nirvana made it uncool to write songs that were essentially meaningless, and though DL wrote some good rock songs, when it comes down to it, they ARE meaningless, and so is/was their music. Unfortunately, Nirvana was really the end of rock. I'm not even a fan of Nirvana, but 'fun/dumb' rock looked stupid and pathetic after 'Nevermind' came out, and that's the way things have stayed since Kurt killed himself: half parodies/tribute/cover bands (including bands still touring long after their heyday, e.g. The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, etc.) and half new bands that are just rehashes of older (and better) stuff, pretending to be something they're not (I know because I just left LA and was in several bands that all fit this description). The End Complete...Free Music Review: Robotic mix proves career-killing for Lep queenies
Hit: 2 Stars
With the success of the T-1000 robots on the "Hysteria" sessions, uber-producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange recruited the upgraded T-2000 'bots for the "Adrenalize" record, and humbly decided not to produce. It is widely rumored that Lange's hands-off approach on "Adrenalize" was due to his infamous run-ins with the T-1000's during the making of "Hysteria." In any case, upgraded technology or not, the T-2000's phone this record in, taking care to polish the sound, keep the drums loud, while blasting singer Joe Elliott's voice deep into the mix. The results prove deplorable, and after the band were released from their freeze-dried chamber, cocooned for four years in plastic, ultra-cold shelter, they nearly sued Lange and Korg Robotics, the company who produced the T-2000s. Yes, they were that displeased with the music, but decided to tour anyway since, back then, they were still a high draw on the road.
Is there a lesson from all this? Probably not. But it's sad that the Lange/Leppard relationship had to dissolve so fast and so furious. All because of a few robots that were started by Atari in 1983 and are no longer manufactured.
If you witnessed this tour in '92 you witnessed history, yes???
Free Music Review: Maybe not their Best, but My Personal Favorite
Hit: 4 Stars
How could I give my favorite album only four stars? Well, I'm a Def Leppard fanatic, but I have to bow to the fact that the general population probably wouldn't list Def Leppard as the most talented band of all time.
This album is actually a change from the early Def Leppard rock vein. For this reason, however, I feel that this album can easily appeal to listeners outside of the Def Leppard fan base. Songs like "Tonight", "Stand Up", "Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad" could easily find appreciation in the soft rock crowd. Moreover, they are some of the first songs Def Leppard did (besides maybe "Hysteria") that actually deal with love and romance, and not just lust and sex.
But for the Def Leppard fans, there's plenty to rock out to here as well, with tracks like "Let's Get Rocked", "Heaven Is", "Make Love Like a Man", and "Personal Property".
The last two tracks (especially track 10) are a little weak, but I feel that the quality of the first 8 more than makes up for that. I would have loved it if the CD had more than 10 tracks, but what's there is good, and the price (this CD will probably cost you less than $3) is right.
If you're just dabbling in rock and roll and aren't ready for the hard stuff yet, Adrenalize is a great place to start.
Free Music Review: One of Def Leppard's best albums!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
I wrote a review for the original Adrenalize album and so I won't make this too long. I will say that this CD is very underrated and it deserves a lot more respect than people give it. This is REAL ROCK people!!! Songs like Let's Get Rocked, Make Love Like A Man, White Lightning, Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad (the 2nd best rock ballad ever next to Love Bites), Stand Up (Kick Love Into Motion), Tonight, Tear It Down and every other song is awesome!!! I love this CD and it will always be one of my fav's!!! Def Leppard ROCKS!!!!