Published on Dec 9, 2000
When Def Leppard entered the realm of superstardom, their early
works tended to be overlooked. It’s almost as if their history
started at
Pyromania, and anything before that was to occasionally be
dusted for posterity.
High ‘N’ Dry, Def Leppard’s 1981 sophomore release,
occasionally gets a little airplay thanks to the song “Bringin’ On
The Heartbreak,” but can anyone tell me the last time they heard a
radio station take a chance with anything else off of this album?
‘Nuff said. I don’t know why they don’t, for while this album is by
no means their masterpiece, it’s still pretty entertaining.
The last album to feature guitarist Pete Willis (who would be
replaced by Phil Collen on
Pyromania), this album also marks the beginning of the
band’s tenure under producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange”. For this
outing, it sometimes feels like Lange falls back to the way he
worked with bands like AC/DC; the richness of the layered tracks on
future albums gives way to just trying to polish the hard rock
sound of the band this time around. I’m not saying this is a bad
thing (though people who pick this up expecting to hear an early
version of
Hysteria will walk away shaking their heads).
Joe Elliott and crew come out of the gate strong with the track
“Let It Go,” one of the tracks I can quickly pinpoint as
“coulda-woulda-shoulda been” hit singles. Everything seems to click
for Def Leppard on this one, even down to the harmony vocals on the
bridge. The energy sags a little bit with “Another Hit And Run,”
which doesn’t quite live up to the power, but comes back in full
force with another one of those should’ve been hit singles, “High
‘N’ Dry (Saturday Night)”.
Two things do bother me about
High ‘N’ Dry, though. First, did we
really need two different versions of “Bringin’ On The
Heartbreak” (and did we need the Styx-like instrumental “Switch
625” to follow the original without a segue)? Second, I wonder what
the original version of “Me & My Wine” sounded like; all we’re
left with on this album is a remix “bonus track”. (For the record,
I’m working off my old vinyl copy of this release.)
The remainder of
High ‘N’ Dry, for the most part, is solid pop-metal, though
it’s not the top-quality material that Def Leppard would soon be
noted for. Oh, I still like “You Got Me Runnin'” (which reminds me
a lot of “Comin’ Under Fire” from
Pyromania), “On Through The Night” and “Mirror, Mirror (Look
Into My Eyes)”. But when they’re paired up with subpar (though not
by much) efforts such as “Lady Strange” and “No No No,” some of
their thunder is stolen.
I will say this about
High ‘N’ Dry: it’s a marked improvement over their first
disc
On Through The Night (which we still have to get to here) in
both songwriting and album sound. I’m sure the latter is thanks to
Lange’s master hand.
High ‘N’ Dry is the kind of album that remains in the
background, known by the long-time fans of Def Leppard, but waiting
to be discovered by many other people. Dig around your local record
store and try to unearth a copy of this. Even with the weaknesses,
it’s well worth your time.