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Songs from the Sparkle Lounge

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Songs from the Sparkle Lounge
Studio album by
Def Leppard
Released25 April 2008 (2008-04-25)
Recorded2006–2008
Genre
Length39:12
LabelIsland, Universal Music Enterprises (US)
Bludgeon Riffola/Mercury (UK & Europe)
Producer
  • Ronan McHugh
  • Def Leppard
Def Leppard chronology
Yeah!
(2006) 		Songs from the Sparkle Lounge
(2008) 		Mirror Ball – Live & More
(2011)
Singles from Songs from the Sparkle Lounge
  1. "Nine Lives"
    Released: 27 April 2008
  2. "C'mon C'mon"
    Released: 14 July 2008
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic link
Billboardlink
Rolling Stone link
Kerrang!
Classic Rock
NOW link
Mojo link
The Observerlink

Songs from the Sparkle Lounge is the tenth studio album by the English hard rock band Def Leppard. It was released on 25 April 2008 in Europe and 29 April in North America.[4][5]

History

In an Interview on Rockline radio, two band members, Joe Elliott and Vivian Campbell stated that the title of their latest studio album would be Songs from the Sparkle Lounge, saying that "Until someone comes up with a better name this will be the final title upon release".[6] They also mentioned the possibility of previous Def Leppard album producer Mutt Lange being involved with a few songs for the album,[6] but in the end this collaboration did not turn out to be possible due to scheduling conflicts. However, Joe Elliott has stated that the band and Mutt Lange still plan to work on a few songs together in the future.

In an interview with Billboard.com, Joe Elliott stated that the album title is a reference to a backstage tuning room at shows where the band would work on new material. "It was a mini (drum) kit, mini amps, a tape recorder and sparkly lights."[7] Vivian Campbell also commented on the origin of the "Sparkle Lounge" in an article from Goldmine, mentioning that that room was rife with both brainstorming and "little Christmas lights, little fairy lights."[8] Elliott also stated that they would not be performing any previews of the songs, as they did not want them appearing on websites such as YouTube prior to the release of the album.

Members of the band have described the tracks from the album as written in the style of Hysteria, with the production style of High 'n' Dry. The album's first single, "Nine Lives" features country singer Tim McGraw.

Joe Elliott has stated at the band's official site that the concept of this album is that it sounds more like "early 70's AC/DC" and much like Led Zeppelin's song "Rock and Roll".

The title of one of the songs in the track list, "Give It Away," was changed to "Gotta Let It Go."

On 25 April 2008, Def Leppard's record label opened a website with teasers of every song on the album.

The band performed "Love" with Taylor Swift for their 2008 CMT Crossroads episode Taylor Swift and Def Leppard. Their performance of the song was not included in the actual episode, but is included as a bonus performance for the episode's DVD released exclusively to US Wal-Mart stores by Big Machine Records on 16 June 2009.[9] It was the only post-1995 song of Def Leppard's catalogue that was performed for that project.

The album debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, selling about 55,000 copies in its first week of release.[10] It is the band's shortest album to date.

Reception

Songs from the Sparkle Lounge received mixed reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received a score of 47, based on 8 reviews.[11] Alun Williams of About.com gave the album 4.5 out of 5 stars and said "This album is so instant: huge hooks, big choruses and awesome production!"[12]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Go"Phil Collen, Joe Elliott3:20
2."Nine Lives" (featuring Tim McGraw)Collen, Elliott, Tim McGraw, Rick Savage3:32
3."C'mon C'mon"Savage4:09
4."Love"Savage4:17
5."Tomorrow"Collen3:35
6."Cruise Control"Vivian Campbell3:03
7."Hallucinate"Collen3:17
8."Only the Good Die Young"Campbell3:34
9."Bad Actress"Elliott3:03
10."Come Undone"Elliott3:32
11."Gotta Let It Go"Campbell3:55
Total length:39:12
UK and iTunes bonus track
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
12."Love" (piano version)Savage4:22
Japanese bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
12."Love" (piano version)Savage4:22
13."Nine Lives" (Def Leppard version)Collen, Elliot, McGraw, Savage3:33

Deluxe edition bonus DVD

  • "Behind the Curtain"
  • "The Sparkle Lounge Commentary"
  • "Nine Lives" music video

Chart positions

Year Chart Position
2008 Billboard 200[13] 5
2008 UK Albums Chart[14] 10
2008 Ireland Albums Chart 32[citation needed]
2008 New Zealand Albums Chart 26[citation needed]
2008 Germany Albums Chart 43[citation needed]
2008 France Albums Chart 118[citation needed]
2008 Canadian Albums Chart 7[citation needed]
2008 Swiss Albums Chart 26[citation needed]
2008 Sweden Albums Chart 26[citation needed]
2008 Norway Albums Chart 15[citation needed]
2008 Finnish Albums Chart[15] 27
2008 World Albums Chart 8[citation needed]

Personnel

Additional personnel

References

  1. ^ "Melodic Rock Reviews". Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  2. ^ "Rock Eyez Reviews". Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  3. ^ Thomas, Stephen (29 April 2008). "Songs from the Sparkle Lounge – Def Leppard". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
  4. ^ "Songs from the Sparkle Lounge (Ltd.Deluxe Edt.): Def Leppard: Musik". Amazon.de. 9 September 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
  5. ^ "News". Defleppard.com. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
  6. ^ a b Rockline Radio highlights Archived 26 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine, DefLeppard.com News
  7. ^ Songs from the Sparkle Lounge Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Radio Luxembourg
  8. ^ Lindblad, Peter (9 May 2008). "Def Leppard Ready for More 'Hysteria'". Goldmine.
  9. ^ "CMT Crossroads: Taylor Swift / Def Leppard (Walmart Exclusive) (Music DVD)". Walmart.com. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  10. ^ Katie Hasty, "Madonna Leads Busy Billboard 200," Billboard.com, 7 May 2008.
  11. ^ "Def Leppard:Songs from the Sparkle Lounge (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. CNET Networks, Inc. Retrieved 19 March 2009.
  12. ^ Williams, Alun (29 April 2008). "Def Leppard – 'Songs From The Sparkle Lounge'". Classicrock.about.com. Archived from the original on 5 May 2008. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  13. ^ "Allmusic (Def Leppard charts and awards) Billboard albums".
  14. ^ "aChart.us". Acharts.us. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
  15. ^ "Suomen virallinen lista". Pop.yle.fi. 5 August 2010. Archived from the original on 30 June 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
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