Not that anyone cares by know but my review for X finally got posted this weekend:

http://www.culturedose.com/review.php?rid=10003698

Thanks to Island for screwing that one up

Nice review, Kevin, which I generally agree with. I think "Now" is the only song on it I'd regularly get the urge to listen to.

Thanks for reading! I'm sure GuessWho is plotting my demise, but thems the breaks

Actually, Mordred, that's a pretty kind review.

And Joe is kidding himself with those, "We're not Heavy Metal, and we never were," statements.

As someone who grew up in the late 70's/early 80's I can honestly say that Def Leppard WAS considered to be a "Heavy Metal" band when their first two albums came out. Both the fans and the media considered them to be Heavy Metal at that time (remember, what was considered Metal in the 70's and early 80's was a different thing that what most people think of now when they hear the term "Heavy Metal").

I don't even mind them adding more "pop" melodies. It's just the whole musical presentation - and the drum programming is all wrong for a Leppard album. It just doesn't work. And only one or two of the songs is anywhere near the caliber of their best work from a songwriting standpoint.

And keep in mind - I liked half of Slang and half of Euphoria, so I'm fairly open minded with Leppard.

Like I said, Mordred, that was a pretty kind review...

Well I didn't hate X, but I did give it a less than middling rating. I found two of the songs to be good, a few others were okay and the rest bugged me. 2 1/2 out of 5 stars still feels about right to me though.

The drum sound really pissed me off my first listen but I realized after a week of listening to nothing but X (while I tried to find time to write it up) that other than "Now" and a few other sporadic moments I stopped noticing it.

If you couldn't tell from the review, Elliots comments bugged me as well. Nothing like denying where you came from

IMHO, X is easily a better album than Slang, not sure whether I'd put it ahead or behind Euphoria though. That album had it's moments, but I don't find myself listening to it much at all either.

Mordred

Got this DVD yesterday

How is it? Do tell!

Won't be able to watch it till the weekend, but I did see a few segments. Besides the overall story of the album, they go through about half of the songs individually and point out certain guitar, drum or vocal parts, play it isolated on the soundboard and explain certain parts, what their goals were, etc. Joe and Phil also play PSSOM and Hysteria live during the interview. Full program is 100 mins in anamorphic widescreen

DEFinitely worth the $12 I paid!

Personally, I never considered Def Lep to be "heavy metal". Perhaps "hard rock" at most. Someone like Judas Priest back then -- I'd have called them "HM".

A newsgroup pal of mine recently interviewed Joe Elliot for something or other.

You can download the sequence of mp3s here: http://briefcase.yahoo.com/bc/radsmp...er=&.view=l&.s

In his own words:

"I realize I am in danger of some serious ribbing, but hey... Listen for my voice shaking in the early going, then the obvious surge in confidence as I complete the transformation into Super Audio Journalist!!! Enjoy, f***ers."

I'm only posting this
a) to max out his Yahoo briefcase, and
b) to seriously embarrass him!




<small>Currently, only the first three folders seems to open!</small>

All six folders are now working.

Your buddy needs to do more research on the bands he is interviewing . I never mind listening to Joe though.

beavismom, yes! In his defence, he earlier commented thusly:

"Again, believe me, I write CD reviews for a little regional magazine, and they think they are bringing me the world when they line these things up for me. They don't realize that I am:
a) introverted b) burnt c) hate anything that isn't Sabbath, Slayer, or damn similar.
I just haven't had the heart to ask them to tap somebody else and just let me do cd critiques. [....] I hate the amount of preparation that goes into doing an interview, it is very stressful, especially when you first have to work your eight every day in a f***ing oven. I picked the wrong summer to grow a ponytail!!!"