
From Planet Rock.
Def Leppard are planning to issue a rare recording of an early concert in 1980 as part of a new “celebratory release.”
Planet Rock’s very own Joe Elliott said the previously unheard live performance was recorded at Oxford’s The Apollo (now the New Theatre Oxford) on 26th April 1980, just a month after the release of their debut album ‘On Through The Night’.
When it sees the light of day as an accompaniment to ‘On Through The Night’, which turns 40 next year, it will be Def Leppard’s first live album to feature guitarist Pete Willis, who was replaced by Phil Collen in 1982.
Alongside Willis and Elliott, the Def Leppard line-up at the Oxford concert also featured drummer Rick Allen, bassist Rick Savage and late-great guitarist Steve Clark.
Revealing the plans for the live release, Joe Elliott told Trunk Nation: “We thought about this about a year and a half ago. And there’s gonna be a celebratory release.
“I don’t know how much of this I can say right now. I might be breaking protocol. But I will say this much: there’s a companion piece to ‘On Through The Night’, there’s a brand-new, just-mixed live performance from the Oxford Theatre from 1980, which has never been heard ever.”
Explaining that it will be a true reflection of the show “warts and all”, Joe continued: “It is what it is. It’s us live in 1980. We were discussing off-mic about lip-syncing or overdubbing … You can’t expect a 59-year-old me to go in and clean up a 20-year-old vocal. You know what I mean? So, it is what it is.
“But I tell you this much: the band… As I said in the liner notes, when you peer through the curtain of uncertainty that my voice was back in those days, there is a fantastic band onstage. And the two-armed Rick Allen with Sav was some rhythm section to come, considering he was 16 years old and Sav was 17, I think — maybe 18. And Pete and Steve were 17 and 18 years old. It was some band.”
According to setlist.fm, the band played the following songs at the show:
When the Walls Came Tumbling Down
It Could Be You
Rock Brigade
Satellite
Medicine Man
Let It Go
Answer to the Master
Sorrow Is a Woman
Good Morning Freedom
It Don’t Matter
Lady Strange
Overture
Rocks Off
Encore:
Hello America
Wasted
Def Leppard in 2018 © Press
Speaking to Planet Rock at Download Festival in June, Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen said the band commenced work on their new album in 2018.
“We started it last year, actually. We started recording it last year on tour,” Phil told Paul Anthony.
“Like on the Tesla album (2019’s ‘Shock’, which Phil produced and co-wrote) we’d be in room like this (a portacabin) doing guitars… we’ve actually started the new Def Leppard album in a similar way, we’ve got the odd track on the go and that’s it really, it’s just how far you go.”
Reflecting on how the recording process differs to 2015’s self-titled ‘Def Leppard’, Collen added: “The last album we actually went in to do one or two songs and within a week we had 12 songs and it was like, it shocked us ‘this is an album already’ and it ended up more than that.
“Yeah, that came together really quickly and we didn’t even plan that. So, I think (this album) is going to be a different thing, there’s a bunch of songs already on the go.”
Explore eil.com & 991.com sister – the world’s best online store for rare, collectable & out of print Vinyl Records, CDs & Music memorabilia since 1987.
EIL.COM Favourite Music Update Rare CDs, CD Singles, Rare Records, Vinyl Records, Albums and Music
- Def Leppard - Promises - UK - CD single - £6.99, $8.60, €7.83 (New Item) (arrived 31-Jan-2023 11:18)on February 3, 2023 at 11:22 am
DEF LEPPARD Promises (Part 2 1999 UK 3-track CD single including Back In Your Face & World's Collide, picture sleeve)
- Def Leppard - Retro Active - stickered p/s - EX - UK - vinyl LP - £125.00, $153.75, €140.00 (New Item) (arrived 28-Sep-2022 10:34)on February 3, 2023 at 11:22 am
DEF LEPPARD Retro Active (Rare 1993 UK 13-track LP compilation album from the legendary British rock group, featuring touched-up versions of B-sides & previously unreleased recordings from the band's recording sessions between 1984 & 1993, including Two Steps Behind [Electric & Acoustic Version]. Complete with the illustrated credits inner, the picture sleeve retains the original circular hype sticker & shop hype sticker attached. The sleeve is in superb Excellent condition with minimal edge wear & the vinyl is clean & grades Excellent with just the odd faint paper scuff not affecting play. A really nice example of this hard to find 90s vinyl pressing)
- Def Leppard - Def Leppard - Sealed - 180gm Vinyl - US - 2-LP vinyl set - £74.99, $92.24, €83.99 (New Item) (arrived 02-Jun-2022 09:06)on February 3, 2023 at 11:22 am
DEF LEPPARD Def Leppard (2016 US limited edition 14-track double LP pressed on 180gram Heavyweight Vinyl, their eleventh studio album including the singles Let’s Go, Dangerous, Man Enough and We Belong. Housed in a gatefold picture sleeve, and remains factory sealed from new!)
- Def Leppard - On Through The Night - Spaceship - UK - vinyl LP - £50.00, $61.50, €56.00 (New Item) (arrived 14-Jun-2022 11:33)on February 3, 2023 at 11:22 am
DEF LEPPARD On Through The Night (1980 UK first issue 11-track vinyl LP on the 'spaceship' Vertigo label with the A1/B1 matrices, their debut album and one of the first in the NWOBHM movement, including Wasted, Rock Brigade and Hello America,glossy picture sleeve with lyric inner. The sleeve shows minimal wear and the vinyl has just a couple of faint scuffs to indicate play)
- Def Leppard - High 'N' Dry - RSD 2022 - Sealed - UK - picture disc LP - £39.99, $49.19, €44.79 (New Item) (arrived 19-Jun-2022 14:25)on February 3, 2023 at 11:22 am
DEF LEPPARD High 'N' Dry (Record Store Day 2022 UK/EU Picture Disc LP, released in this special limited edition format for the very first time. This was their second album, originally released in 1981, and the first produced by long-term collaborator Robert ‘Mutt’ Lange. Housed inside a die-cut display picture sleeve, factory sealed)
Be the first to comment