Def Leppard tries to make a better compilation...

Super Vault (2004.) Def Leppard's second hits compilation.



[Let me start this review by saying that you will NOT find a bigger Def Leppard fan than myself - THAT'S the reason I'm being so harsh in this review in some areas.]



Def Leppard was one of the greatest rock and roll bands of all time - in the eighties and early nineties, that is. The group's style of pop-flavored hard rock was tough to match, and it seemed that the group could do no wrong... until the mid-nineties. The group eventually abandoned their metal roots, becoming a POP BAND. The once-great band had finally fallen. It was in 1995 that they released their first hits compilation, Vault, which failed terribly on many levels - the songs were not in order, the tracklist overemphasized some albums and underemphasized others, too many songs were from the later (and less good years), and so forth. Now in 2004, in an attempt to recapture some of their former glory (ha ha ha), the band has released a second hits compilation - the dual-disc Super Vault. Is this an improvement over the old package, or is it another dismal failure? Read on to find out.



PROS:

-IN TERMS OF THE SHEER VARIETY OF MATERIAL REPRESENTED HERE, THIS COMPILATION PUTS THE OLD ONE TO SHAME. The old compilation only covered 1981-1995, and this one covers 1980-2004! That one had fifteen tracks, and this one has thirty-four - nineteen more! If you're gonna get one of the compilations, this is the obvious choice.

-IF IT WAS A BIG HIT, IT'S HERE. Def Leppard had no shortage of hits, and they're all here. Many of them missed a slot on the original Vault, and many of those "deprived" hits get their proper respects here.

-LOTS OF UNDERRATED SONGS. One thing I dissed the original Vault for is its lack of material from the earlier albums. This album somewhat succeeds at correcting this flaw. Many tracks from High 'N' Dry and Pyromania that were never hits are on here - and they deserve to be. It surprised the hell out of me (in a GOOD way) that the band chose to put Die Hard The Hunter on here!

-YOU GET A NEW SONG! The compilation features the previously unreleased track - Waterloo Sunset.



CONS:

-WHY ARE THERE ONLY TWO TRACKS FROM THE BAND'S DEBUT ALBUM, ON THROUGH THE NIGHT!? Lack of tracks from this album was my biggest complaint with the original Vault (that one had NO songs from this album), and I can't believe the band made the same mistake twice. The omission of Hello America is unforgivable - it's a much better song than Rock Brigade, and it was a much bigger hit, too. And what about Sorrow Is A Woman, When The Walls Came Tumbling Down, and The Overture? For shame, Def Leppard.

-THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE FOR THE SONGS NOT BEING IN THE ORIGNAL RELEASE ORDER! Yet another mistake made on the original Vault that wasn't corrected here. This makes for a very awkward listen that is bound to confuse fans new to the band.

-NONE OF THE BAND'S PRE-ALBUM MATERIAL CAN BE FOUND HERE. This sucks, since none of this material has ever been officially released on CD (The Def Leppard EP, for example.) The original version of Ride Into The Sun would have been a nice track to put on here.

-TOO MUCH EMPHASIS ON THE POP YEARS. I'm glad the CD focuses on the rock years, but there are too many junk tracks from the band's pop period. How the hell could they put Now on here instead of Comin' Under Fire? Even with all the emphasis on the pop years, one major pop hit from the nineties is missing - All I Want Is Everything. Why?

-THE UNRELEASED SONG IS A MONEYMAKING PLOY. Every band does this to sell their hits compilations, so that people who own most of this material will be shelling over cash for the sake of a single track. It should have just been released as a single.

-WHY RELEASE A NEW COMPILATION INSTEAD OF A BOX SET? The band desperately needs to release all of their albums together in a box set, with rarities as bonuses. Doing that would have been a much smarter move than releasing this compilation, and it would have made the band more money.



OVERALL:

This compilation is a major step up from the original Vault - but sadly, it ends up failing in most of the same areas that that compilation did. Your best bet would be to get all of the band's albums (start with Pyromania and Hysteria.) No compilation will ever truly do this band justice.

Good ... but why ?

This compilation is far superior to the previous Vault Greatest Hits CD.

It has a far broader perspective of the band's history and the new Waterloo Sunset cover has really grown on me.

I guess my only question is: Why ? I'm beginning to notice alot of bands releasing yet another "Greatest Hits" Van Halen, Motley Crue and now Def Leppard - these bands have 1 or even 2 Greatest Hits out there already. Are they really needed ?

I really like this CD but I wish they maybe would have chosen a different route (like remastered versions of their catalog or a live CD).

If you are a fan - this CD is a good investment. Remastered tracks from the past (Wasted, Rock Brigade and Rock Rock Til' You Drop) sound great. It just makes me want a little more.

Puting The Def into Definitive

This double disc best of is like having a Def Lep super hits jukebox. Thirty four tracks, rather neatly divided into two discs, packed to the gills and a nifty liner book with band members commenting on the songs (personal favorite, "Slang" was about phone sex!). This twin CD renders the old "Vault" superfluous.



I have no problems with the songs being nonsequentially listed. I don't want a history lesson, I want to rock. By opening the first disc with the still amazing "Pour Some Sugar On Me," you're put on notice that the music is out to party you hearty. What KIND of Leppard party depends on the disc you load into your player.



Disc One seems to lean more to the pop hit sound that was exemplified by "Pyromania" and "Hysteria." It also leans heavily on those titles; since songs from two albums comprise half of CD 1. But you also get "Bringing On The Heartbreak," the power ballad that put "High and Dry" over the top, and their killer cover of Sweet's "Action" from the odds and ends "Retro-Active." The harder rock and less known material comes forth on disc two. "On Through The Night," which was ignored on "Vault," gets two choice cuts on the second CD, and "High and Dry" rates three. Def Leppard's experimental side also shows here, with "Slang" and "Now" from their underrated 90's albums. "Die Hard The Hunter" was probably the closest The Leps ever came to copping to the Zeps, and it is a pleasant surprise to find that song as the closer to the set.



Disc Two is also the source of this collection's sole new song, a rather subdued but still distinctly Def cover of The Kinks' "Waterloo Sunset." The liner notes promise a covers album in 2005, and given their choice of influences (Kinks and Sweet...strange roots, guys!) I am very interested to see how Def Leppard enters middle age.