10. Def Leppard High ‘n’ Dry 1981 (Vertigo)
Heavy Metal
I’m rock steady, still shaking and ready for the taking.
Overview
Back in the early 1980s this album along with the Scorpions’
Love at First Sting and Van Halen’s
1984 were the first three heavy metal albums that I ever bought. I wasn’t much of a metal fan back then at all, but now and again I always liked to indulge in metal and these three albums still to this day always have very fond memories for me. Anyway concerning the Def Leppard album, their previous release
On Through the Night (on last year’s list at 11) was a great debut set from a very young band and in any other year besides 1980, it would’ve made the top 10 as it was that good. On
Through the Night had been a great example of a young metal band foraging through their hard rock, heavy metal and glam rock inspirations from the 1970s and then presenting them in a cohesive exciting style. Added to this the band’s attractive visual style and their almost nostalgic but unique melodic metal style, instantly made them one of the leaders of the NWOBHM. So by the time of their second album
High ‘n’ Dry just a year later, the Sheffield based band were probably faced with a couple of interesting options for their future progression. Firstly they could’ve opted to tweak up on their charismatic debut and give us more of the same by just refining the whole thing further, as the sound on their debut was still rich enough for the band to build on from. But of course they chose their other option and that was to exploit their position as one of the leaders of the NWOBHM and go in for a much bigger stadium rock sound. This was a style that with the right marketing and management, was an almost instant guarantee to conquer the US market and sell there by the bucketload and filling out arenas. But much like Iron Maiden, Def Leppard knew that some refining was needed to properly embrace that desired stadium rock sound and much like Judas Priest before them, who had substituted the dark metal majesty of their
Stained Class album for the more friendlier commercial metal of
Killing Machine (
Hell Bent for Leather in the US) Def Leppard were also contented to do the same for their second album
High ‘n’ Dry. In vocalist Joe Elliot they already had a frontman with an impressive pair of vocal chops to carry their newer sound across and so now they just needed the right material to accommodate his vocal prowess. The vital ingredient though for this new direction for the band, surely had to be the meticulous Robert John “Mutt” Lange on production duties, as his production touch and polished sheen was a sure sign of selling by the bucketload especially in the US. His last two album’s had been AC/DC’s
Back in Black and Foreigner
4 two albums that had simply sold millions for these two bands.
High ‘n’ Dry on its release was possibly one of the finest examples of a polished British metal album that was specifically designed for the US market and indeed it did break the band big in the USA and whilst not selling like either AC/DC or Foreigner it still reached the US top 40. The album would set the band up for their huge explosion with
Pyromania which would arrive in just two years time and launch the band into the realms of mega-stardom. The band also benefitted from the fact that their two singles “Let It Go” and “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak” received heavy rotation on the then new MTV which would become a vital ingredient for a band’s commerical success in the 1980s.
Verdict
Anybody listening to the band’s debut album
On Through the Night and then immediately listening to
High ‘n’ Dry, will automatically notice just how much more stripped back and basic
High ‘n’ Dry sounds compared to the debut.
On Through the Night had been a raw and cohesive effort, whereas
High ‘n’ Dry is quite simply a heavy melodic metal album made to shine in a stadium rock setting and with the meticulous Robert John “Mutt” Lange on board to produce the album, it was guaranteed to get the five star production treatment and it’s no surprise that the album is not exactly a world away from AC/DC’s
Back in Black in style and sound. The album material was stadium metal in its purest form and was achieved without ever really sacrificing the band’s metal muscle for pop sensibilities in the way that Judas Priest had done with
British Steel. The album starts with the pounding and ‘it means business’ lead off track “Let It Go” and this track pretty much lays out the stall for the rest of the album. This is then followed by the equally intense “Another Hit and Run” one of the best songs on the whole album, as is the instrumental “Switch 625”. But probably the biggest highlight has to be the commercial ringing overtones of “Lady Strange” one of the album’s best known songs and then of course there is one of my favourites “Mirrror, Mirror (Look Into My Eyes)”. The pivotal track on the album is surely the power-ballad “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak” which would not only define the type of singles that the band would put out, but would set the trend for the future power ballads that would be embraced by a large number of glam metal bands throughout the decade. Some of the lesser tracks on the album include the title track “High ‘n’ Dry (Saturday Night)” while not being a poor track as such, its mid-tempo grooves just don’t feel as accomplished as the faster tracks. “You Got Me Runnin” is kind of let down by its medicore softer middle and “On Through the Night” is a hard-charger that doesn’t bring anything new to the table and strangely enough it’s the title track of the debut album, but didn’t actually appear on the debut and finally “No No No” smacks of being last minute filler. The twin guitar attack of Steve Clarke and Peter Willis is just as vital here as the production skills of Robert John “Mutt” Lange and of course Joe Elliot’s ripping vocals meld the whole thing together. Overall
High ‘n’ Dry is not a metal classic, but it still remains a vital release in the Def Leppard discography and serves as a dry run for the seminal
Pyromania. Finally on
High ‘n’ Dry Def Leppard would virtually alienate their core UK fanbase, as fans of the band saw their new direction as a complete sell-out for the US market and the band from this moment on, would never quite achieve the same fame and popularity in the UK as they would do in the US until the release of
Hysteria many years later.
Joe Elliot-Vocals
Steve Clark-Guitar
Pete Willis-Guitar
Rick Savage-Bass
Rick Allen-Drums
Production- Robert John “Mutt” Lange