Def Leppard Euphoria
Standout tracks: Paper Sun, It's Only Love, Kings Of Oblivion
Now that the world is one musical melting pot, free of prejudice or dress-code, it's worth remembering that there is still a strain of rock fan who curses the day Kurt Cobain drew breath and believes dance music to be the devil's own soundtrack. It is these people - the disgruntled, the dispossessed, the stonewashed denim-clad - who will buy Euphoria. Their loyalty will be rewarded too, for few bands this year will be as willing as Def Leppard to give their audience what they want.
After the wider musical remit of 1996's Slang (cod-funk; a touch of Eastern promise) this seventh album is a conciliatory exercise, targeting that percentage of the 15 million people who bought 1987's Hysteria and stuck around for the ride. With the return of former producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange as co-writer on three songs, including the first single and Animal-soundalike Promises, and the band's own production techniques mirroring Lange's, there's a whiff of cosy familiarity about the whole affair.
Demolition Man, with racing driver Dmaon Hill supplying extra guitar (don't ask), is the token riff-fest. Elsewhere, the band settle into two grooves: the plangent ballad and mid-tempo chugger. Of the former, the sunshiney refrain of It's Only Love is contagious enough to make Ronan Keating look up from his bank statements. In the cugging corner, Leppard placate lapsed Kerrang! readers with Kings Of Oblivion and Paper Sun, flashbacks to the "proper" heavy rock of 1983's Pyromania, the latter replete with cheeky lift form Led Zeppelin's Ten Years Gone.
The group have always insisted that their sound is closer to the '70s pop of T. Rex than any of today's heavy metal Goliaths; a sentiment borne out by Euphoria's - appropriate - light-headedness and, in particular, Back In Your Face's Glitter Band stomp and lyrical absurdities. Many will be dismayed that music like this is being made in 1999; those mocked by workmates for the length of their hair and the cut of their jeans will be delighted, and it is these people that Def Leppard are playing to. The rest should probably look away now. 3 stars (out of 5, stands for: "Good. Not for everyone, but fine within its field") - Mark Blake
from Q Magazine, July 1999 edition