Pyromania (album)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Pyromania | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Studio album by Def Leppard | ||||
| Released | January 20, 1983 | |||
| Recorded | 1982 at Park Gates Studios in Battle, East Sussex, England and Battery Studios in London | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal, hard rock | |||
| Length | 44:57 | |||
| Label | Mercury (US) Vertigo |
|||
| Producer | Robert John "Mutt" Lange | |||
| Professional reviews | ||||
|
||||
| Def Leppard chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Singles from Pyromania | ||||
|
||||
Pyromania is the third studio album by British heavy metal band Def Leppard, released in 1983. It broke the band across North America and in Japan, and would sell over 10 million copies in the US alone. It featured new guitarist Phil Collen and was produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange.
The album was partially recorded with original guitarist Pete Willis, whose rhythm guitar tracks and backing vocals appear on all songs. Midway through the recording sessions, Willis was fired for excessive alcohol abuse and replaced by Phil Collen, who contributed guitar solos and other parts that had not yet been recorded by Willis. On the original LP release, Willis is visible in the background of the photograph of singer Joe Elliott, while Collen is given his own personal photo as the new full-time member of the group.
The album is noteworthy for Lange's intensive production process. During his tenure as guest moderator on audiophile website Gearslutz.com, the album's engineer Mike Shipley noted the following in a thread on the album's production:
"the tape was constantly going over the heads 20 hours a day for 13 months to the point where it started to shed so bad huge chunks of the oxide started to litterally [sic] fall off the tape. I had to make copies of the multi track and chop in small pieces as the tape started to deteriorate...... somewhat nerve wracking .... but using the full transfer always sounded muddy so we kept going back to the original master or rather what was left of it , and trying to finish before it totally disitegrated!!!!! [sic]"
Three songs from Pyromania, "Photograph", "Rock of Ages", and "Foolin'", became Top 40 singles in the US, benefiting from their popularity on the 24-hour music channel MTV.
The song "Rock! Rock! Till You Drop" is featured in the 2001 movie Rock Star. In 2004, it was ranked 384 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[1]
A Deluxe Edition of Pyromania was released on June 8th, 2009, includes a digitally remastered version of the album, plus a live Bonus CD "Live LA Forum - September 11th 1983".On this edition disc one is misprinted disc two on disc label and vice versa.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
| Side one | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Rock Rock (Till You Drop)" | Steve Clark, Rick Savage, Mutt Lange, Joe Elliott | 3:52 | ||||||
| 2. | "Photograph" | Clark, Pete Willis, Savage, Lange, Elliott | 4:12 | ||||||
| 3. | "Stagefright" | Savage, Elliott, Lange,Phil Collen | 3:46 | ||||||
| 4. | "Too Late for Love" | Clark, Lange, Willis, Savage, Elliott | 4:30 | ||||||
| 5. | "Die Hard The Hunter" | Lange, Clark, Savage, Elliott | 6:17 | ||||||
| Side two | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Foolin'" | Clark, Lange, Elliott | 4:32 | ||||||
| 2. | "Rock of Ages" | Clark, Lange, Elliott | 4:09 | ||||||
| 3. | "Comin' Under Fire" | Lange, Clark, Willis, Elliott | 4:20 | ||||||
| 4. | "Action! Not Words" | Lange, Clark, Elliott | 3:49 | ||||||
| 5. | "Billy's Got a Gun" | Clark, Savage, Willis, Elliott, Lange | 5:56 | ||||||
[edit] Deluxe Edition Bonus CD
| Live from the Forum, Los Angeles, September 11th, 1983 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Intro/Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)" | ||||||||
| 2. | "Rock Brigade" | ||||||||
| 3. | "High 'n' Dry (Saturday Night)" | ||||||||
| 4. | "Another Hit And Run (Extended)" | ||||||||
| 5. | "Billy's Got A Gun" | ||||||||
| 6. | "Mirror Mirror (Look Into My Eyes)" | ||||||||
| 7. | "Foolin'" | ||||||||
| 8. | "Photograph" | ||||||||
| 9. | "Rock Of Ages (Extended)" | ||||||||
| 10. | "Bringin' On The Heartbreak" | ||||||||
| 11. | "Switch 625" | ||||||||
| 12. | "Let It Go (Phil Collen Guitar Solo Intro)" | ||||||||
| 13. | "Wasted (Steve Clark Guitar Solo Intro)" | ||||||||
| 14. | "Stagefright" | ||||||||
| 15. | "Travelin' Band (featuring Brian May of Queen)" | ||||||||
[edit] Personnel
- Joe Elliott – lead vocals
- Steve "Steamin'" Clark – guitars
- Phil Collen – guitars
- Rick Savage – bass
- Rick Allen – drums
- Pete Willis – guitar backing tracks and backing vocals on all songs, though he was no longer a member of the band by the time the album was released
[edit] Additional musicians
- The Leppardettes – backing vocals (This is likely a joking reference to Def Leppard themselves.)
- John Kongos – Fairlight CMI programming
- Booker T. Boffin – keyboards (a pseudonym for Thomas Dolby)
- Tony Kaye - keyboards[2]
[edit] Production
- Robert John "Mutt" Lange – producer
- Mike Shipley – engineer
- Brian "Chuck" New – assistant engineer (Battery Studios)
- Craig "Too Loud for Boys" Thomson – assistant engineer (Park Gate Studios)
[edit] Additional personnel
- Bernard Gudynas - front cover illustration
- David Landslide - back cover photograph
- Andie Airfix @ Satori - album sleeve concept and design
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- (1983) Album notes for Pyromania by Def Leppard [Vinyl back cover]. London, England: Vertigo (VERS 2).
