DEF LEPPARD: 'Getcha Rocks Off' (Vertigo)
Indie available more widely thru Vertigo. Lacks the panoramic apple pie vision of Van Halen and the discipline of Sammy Hagar, but could do well in UK via ethnic credibilty. As Silverbum would say: "It's culture, but is it art?"
(Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 15/09/79) 
'If Def Leppard hadn't been... thrown into the wacky whirlpool of showbiz heavy metal they would still be making  naive but hard-edged youthful rock songs. They once had the power to penetrate but unfortunately their complete trust in the business has rendered them useless...'
Harsh words indeed from our Mancunian correspondent Mick Middles, lifted from his review of Def Leppard's 'Hello America' in the Sounds singles page last week.
Harsh words that hit the nail square on the head.
For, loathe as I am to base a feature around the increasingiy tedious, subject of 'young bands versus the r'n'r system', to a certain extent these sentiments echo my own and deserve — nay, demand — to be expanded upon.
In a mere eight months the Def Ones have rocketed to prominence from obscurity and at the moment I feel like I'm standing on an observation platform watching their tail flares flicker as they shoot further and further up into the sky, waiting for them to be swallowed up by the stratosphere and disappear completely.
In June last year I wrote my first piece on the band: Gross Halfwit and I jumped on a train to their home town of Sheffield, booked into a cheapo hotel and made contact with singer Joe Elliott. He met us in the hotel bar, we hopped into his battered Escort van travelled to the night's venue, the Crookes Workingmen's Club, stopping off for a photo session in a fish and chip shop along the way.
The gig itself was sparsely attended but tremendously impressive. Photographer and journalist drank far too many scotch and cokes, interviewed the group, returned to the hotel to find ourselves locked out and spent most of the night on the pavement. It was fun.
February this year finds me struggling with my second Leppard story: I travel up with Phonogram press person Barbara Salisbury and 'official' photographer Robert Ellis and we check into the Hallam Towers, best hotel in the whole of the Steel City. I shower, watch a little TV and have a meal in the salubrious lobby restaurant (a succulent Dover sole). We take a cab to the Top Rank and see the evening's gig. Def Leppard put in a professional enough performance, but the set doesn't really catch alight until the encore, 'Getcha Rocks Off'.
By which time I've come to the conclusion that even though this particular trip has enjoyed better organisation, has been less hectic and generally more relaxing than its predecessor, it hasn't been half as much fun.
I'm sorry to hear that," says Joe Eliiott during the post-concert interview, "sorry that you didn't have such a good time." "What do you think's gone wrong then, Geoff?" asks bass player Rick Savage (or 'Sav' as he's known), Elliott's companion in conversation.
I air my feelings, my thoughts, my grievances. What it basically boils down to is a diluted version of the Middles message: that, since signing a major deal, Def Leppard have begun to sink slowly into the rock industry quagmire; that the frontrunners of the New Wave of heavy metal seem quite content to make the same mistakes as their BOF predecessors.
"You mean that the business has taken over from the band?" Eliiott attempts to clarify the situation.
In a nutshell, yes.
"Well..." A long, pensive pause. "I suppose the way I used to get in contact with you has gone down a bit" (Eliott used to phone me at home quite regularly in the 'early days', giving me snippets of news and suchlike) "but that's not because I've thought, sod you, I stood on you so's the band could get up here and now I don't need you any more... it's not like that at all. It's just that I've — we all have — been very busy.
"We haven't had a day off since we joined Phonogram. We've been touring, writing new songs, revamping old ones, recording, doing something for the good of the band..."
"I think we care more now than when you first saw us," interjects Sav. "And in any case when you get a contract you've got so many people to meet in the record industry, people who think they've got to do a certain job for you, that everything starts being conducted more on a business and less of a, well, personal level."
"You've grown up with the band," stresses Eliiott, "you've seen us as an acorn and you may see us blossom into an oak tree in ten years time, I don't know. The thing is, maybe with us it's been different — with bands like Rush and UFO you've probably gone straight into the business side, you haven't seen the change.
He's got a point.
"Having said that though, we're really no different now to what we were. We're not on great ego trips and six buckets of heroin a day. We have people backstage to meet us — we were an hour-and-a-half late going home last night because of the kids in the dressing room, we didn't want to chuck them out. In many ways we're still fans ourselves and it upsets me to think that you've been getting such a bad impression recently."
Not that it's all sweetness and light. Traditionally bands have 'problems' with their record companies and Def Leppard's are familiar ones. While I can sympathise with their difficulties it annoys me that they've a little control over the manner in which they're — uh — marketed.
For instance, when I bring up the subject of the dumb white, silver and gold 'boot' emblem on the back of their first Vertigo single 'Wasted', Eliiott admits that he doesn't much like it either and that it was 'the management's idea'.
Similarly the band wanted Hipgnosis to mastermind the cover design for their forthcoming album 'On Through The Night' but this was nixed because Storm Thorgerson and co. had handled most of 1Occ's sleeves and for some peculiar reason Phonogram don't find them 'visually appealing.'
And potentially most damaging is the campaigning behind the current 'Hello America' 45. Says Elliot: "We wanted 'Rock Brigade' to be the single and when it turned out to be 'Hello America' we were a little annoyed but we thought, well, OK, maybe Phonogram know best, maybe it's an equally commercial song.
"However what really did get us uptight were the advertisements in the music press. They didn't state that the B-side 'Good Morning Freedom' isn't going to be on our album and, worst of all, they didn't make it clear that it's a re-recorded version of 'Hello America' that's on the A-side, that it's not the same as the song Nick Tauber produced for the flip of 'Wasted'."
Have you complained? Have you made your feelings known?
Elliott shrugs his shoulders. "Yeah, but we don't really want to fall out with the record company. Right now our prime consideration is to be as successful as everybody else on Vertigo, like Dire Straits, Thin Lizzy and Status Quo, and if we start being awkward..."
"The impression I get with a lot of record companies," chips in Sav, "is that a lot of the people who work for them seem to be frustrated musicians who think they know best for the group. But to be quite honest, in the case of Def Leppard, there are only five people who really know what's best — that's the five members of the band!"
Be that as it may, until Def Leppard sell their souls for total control there're always going to be these niggling problems to endanger the smooth flow of their future. They've had a flying start, they've won both 'Best New Band' and (astonishingly) 'Best Single' categories in the Sounds poll and are at present in the middle of their own extensive UK tour.
I wish them a lot of luck and look forward to the release of their album in a couple of weeks' time. It's just that... I wish to God that it was coming out on Bludgeon Riffqla records. Don't you?
(Geoff Barton, Sounds, 01/03/80)
Def Leppard are going out on their first headlining national tour with Magnum in support and a third local band featured at each venue.
 The dates are;
St. Albans City Hall April 5
Wolverhampton City Hall 6
Liverpool Empire 7
Manchester Apollo 8
Sheffield City Hall 10
Hanley Victoria Hall 11
London Lyceum 13
Bristol Colston Hall 14
Birmingham Odeon 15
Blackburn King George's Hall 17
Bradford St. Georges Hall 18
Glasgow Apollo 19
Newcastle City Hall 20.
Standing venues including the London Lyceum are one price at £3 a ticket. Seated venues are priced £3, £2.50, £2.
The Def 'uns are in the singles charts currently with 'Hello America' and their first album 'On Through The Night', is released by Phonogram this week.
(Sounds, 22/03/80)
DEF LEPPARD
'On Through The Night' (Vertigo 9102 040)****
Two sides to every story.
Shamelessly ligging backstage after the Judas Priest show at Hammersmith Odeon last Friday I suddenly found myself confronted by guitarist K.K. Downing who said: "I thought you were much too hard on Def Leppard in that feature the other day, Geoff(referring to the cover story of our March 1 issue). You should be encouraging them, not criticising them, not complaining about their record company making decisions without their consent. You've got to give and take in this business, you can't fight it every step of the way, it's just not practical. It read as if you begrudge Def Leppard their success, as if you'd rather they stayed playing the workingmen's clubs for the rest of their lives. . ."
Meanwhile, a little earlier that day, a Sounds person who'd heard tracks from 'On Through The Night' and who shall remain nameless said: "How disappointing. The whole thing reeks of record company domination. It's as if Phonogram have said to the band, 'Well chaps, you've got to sell lots of albums in the States and this is how you should do it. . .'
"And I find my self sitting uncomfortably in the middle of the two extremes.
On the one hand K.K.'s right of course, there's nothing more sickening than a slew of set 'em up, knock 'em down sideswipers and, more to the point, battling a record company and gaining a 'difficult' reputation gets you nowhere and does you so much harm you might as well have not signed up in the first place.
On the other it's disturbing to find the Leps, like a tiny trawler beneath a tidal wave, so swamped by the 'business'.
For a start, the album cover — depicting an out-of-psrspective truck carrying a giant guitar out of planetary orbit and into outer space — is tackier than a half-eaten sherbert lemon and packs about as much impact as a slap in the face with a stale chapati.
 For another, producer 'Colonel' Tom Allom has give the band such a smooth, sanitised sound I can scarcely believe that he's the same man who sat at the boards for 'Unleashed In The East' and made it ROAR! so threateningly.
For yet another, it's disturbing to note how many versions of the album's songs have been previously available. 'Hello America' turns up for the third time and any self-respecting Def Leppard fan will also already possess renditions of 'Wasted', 'Getcha Rocks Off and 'Overture' in his/her collection.
And not only that, but —
Hang on. Before you get the idea that there's been a proof-reading mistake at the beginning and that you're really reading a two star review, I must mention that, while it may not be a mutha, 'On Through The Night' is nevertheless a pretty good album.
The Def Ones' biggest talent is their songwriting and this is the LP's biggest plus point: catchy tunes abound and although the wondermash appeal of the songs may well affect the record's long-term durability there's no doubting that it only takes a single run-through for you to treat new acquaintances like old friends.
Most interesting tunes for me are the two newest, 'It Could Be You' and 'It Don't Matter'. The former has a 'Rocks Off' blisteroso speediness (which can't be anything but a good thing) and the latter is as chopping and dorkish as a Kiss number (which can't be anything but a great thing). If these are indicative of the direction Def Leppard are moving in at the moment then I'm with them all the way, my taste buds are slavering and I'm hungry for more.
There are nine other tracks besides these two and all should be familiar. Judas Priest (with the 'Take On The World' — type 'Rock Brigade'), Rush (with 'When The Walls Came Tumblin' Down' and 'Overture') and Thin Lizzy (with duelling shamrock-style guitar breaks) influences abound, but 'influences'they remain, Def Leppard rarely encroaching into the realms of rip-off.
For my money the LP's most exciting moment is 'Getcha Rocks Off' which is live, raw and gives the listener a much-needed kick in the teeth. But what it's doing as the second track on side two when it cries out to be the album closer I'll never know.
Whatever, 'On Through The Night' will undoubtedly be a very successful album. I could go on a little more and say that I have my doubts about the assertiveness of singer Joe Elliott's voice, I could mention that the band would do well to make more of their dual lead guitar capabilities and not be content to ape Gorham/Robertson heyday Lizzy all the time, but I think I've gone on enough.
And in any case I feel in dire need of a vinyl pick-me-up. Vardis will do. So will the Tygers Of Pan Tang. Or Mythra. Or Girl. But not Def Leppard.
Not at the moment.
(Geoff Barton, Sounds, 22/03/80)
Def Leppard/Tygers Of Pan Tang
Newcastle
I've got to say even though he's a mate, it rankles me to hear Bob Weir of the Tygers Of Pan Tang yelling "Are you ready to ROCK Noocassell" in his best Ted Nugent when he lives five miles down the road. But that aside, in the space of a few months the Tygers have evolved from a bunch of lads messing around in a local club to being a real band.
I still don't go for the musical mayhem they stromtroop out, you understand, but everything's starting to make a lot more sense now. They've really only got one song and one guitar intro that Rob disguises with flangers, echo boxes and dozens of other doo hickiees, but it doesn't seem to matter anymore. Within the limited territory they've carved out for themselves, the Tygers get better with every performance. Except this one.
Adhering to the non-acceptance of prophets, the crowd aren't quite as receptive as they might be, so the band don't give out quite as much as they have been doing on the other dates. After all, blowing it in front of your peers is likely to be a lot less comfortable than fluffing it in the company of strangers.
Strangely, Def Leppard suffer the same problem. Despite a near as dammit full house, they're still having to prove themselves on this tour. Judging by the time it took the audience to get off and banging, I'd be very surprised if Leppard are the favourite band of many of tonight's attendees. No, for most of them it's just another heavy metal night out. They'll be back tomorrow to see Saxon, but the gig they're really looking forward to is Rush.
The Def 'Uns age is probably a contributing factor. Even HM fans must have inhibitions about letting it all rip when the kid playing the guitar looks as though he could still get half fare on the bus. But by far the most telling way that Leppard's youth holds them back is in their lack of any real identity. The 'Barron Knights Of HM' jibes are legitimate enough, but instead of one number sounding like Lizzy and the next like Priest and so on, it's as though they've tipped all their influences into a bag, stirred them up and shaken them out in a different order so that each song has traces but doesn't sound like any one band in particular. Just the whole lot, put through a mincing machine.
Leppard are exceptionally competent musicians for their age, no doubt about it. But while the first (Zeppelin, Purple) and second generation (UFO, Priest) of heavies had years to develop their personalities, the Defs were tossed in the deep end and haven't managed it yet. The absence of a direction that they could truly say was their own indicates that it could have been too much too soon. They're bright, down to earth, Northern lads, so I hope for their sake Leppard can hold it all together.
(Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 26/04/80)
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