On Through The Night

 

 

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Although Def Leppard had been around since 1977 (and even earlier than that in their original form, Atomic Mass), It wasn't until 1980 that they were actually able to release a full length LP. In 1979, the previous year, they released The Def Leppard EP, which featured a session drummer (Frank Noon, because previous drummer Tony Kenning left the band due to disputes.) Just after putting out the EP, a new permanent drummer was found, Rick Allen. Let's look at the line-up present for this release.

Rick Savage - Bass (Present on every Def Leppard recording.)

Rick Allen - Drums (Present on every Def Leppard recording (except for the Def Leppard EP. On the albums from 1980-1984, he still had both arms. From 1985 on, he only had one.)

Joe Elliott - Vocals (Present on every Def Leppard recording. However, he sounds A LOT different here than on other albums.)

Steve Clark - Guitars (Present on every Def Leppard recording until the year 1991, when he died of a drug/alcohol combination.)

Pete Willis - Guitars (Present on every Def Leppard recording until the year 1983, when he was thrown out of the band for an alcohol addiction. He does appear in some parts on 1983's Pyromania, though his replacement Phil Collen does most of the work on there.)

Now about the album. IS THIS REALLY DEF LEPPARD? It sounds NOTHING like their later albums. This sounds more like it's a part of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, with a slight psychedelic touch! However, that's a GOOD thing in every aspect. Now let's talk about the tracklist.

Rock Brigade kicks things off. It's a slow and heavy track, with a nice chorus, but it's a bit lacking overall.

Hello America was one of the band's earlier hits (though you won't find it on their horrific Greatest Hits album.) This is a lighter and more melodic track, but it's still hard rock. The keyboards in the chorus are awesome!

Sorrow Is A Woman, track three, is my favorite song here. It's slow and dark, but still hard and heavy. Another reviewer used the term "half ballad", which is a pretty good way to describe it.

It Could Be You is a fast paced and melodic hard rocker which is short and sweet. Another reviewer said it resembled Zeppelin's Immigrant Song, and there is definitely a slight resemblance.

Satellite is a good track, which is probably the most psychedelic thing on the album. It's well worth listening to.

When The Walls Came Tumbling down is a slower-paced hard rocker, one of the two things present that could be called an epic.

Wasted is a fast-paced hard rocker dealing with the pains of love and alcoholism. An alternate version of this song was the band's very first single.

Rocks Off is another lighter hard rocker, similar to Hello America (though it uses a fake audience, strangely enough. How come? We KNOW they're a good band.)

It Don't Matter is a fast-paced mildly psychedelic rocker somewhat resembling the stylings of Van Halen.

Next up is Answer To The Master, a slow and somewhat melodic hard rocker which proves to be one of the album's two weaker tracks, but it's still pretty good.

And the album is finished off with Def Leppard longest original song ever, Overture. It starts soft and slow, but then becomes a light and melodic hard rocker, with that psychedelic touch only early Def Leppard could do.

Early Def Leppard (1977-1981) is WAY different from later Def Leppard, but it's all for the better. On Through The Night contains the ONLY material from this era that was released on this CD. Other tracks from this era can be found only on bootlegs, and can be downloaded online in various places. This is arguably the best of the many 1980 NWOBHM debuts, 'cause it rocks hard, and rocks right. It's worth the purchase - enough said.

It's easy to forget that Def Leppard's debut album was much rawer and heavier than their most polished and commercial albums, this one sounds like a very different band, so much that you may not even recognize them at first. In 1979 the band had released a 3 song EP simply known as the Def Leppard EP but their first album would only come out a year later. 1980's On Through The Night sees the band wearing their influences on their sleeves proudly and with no shame. You can clearly hear the influences of AC/DC, Led Zeppelin here and there, Judas Priest and a few others, Def Lepp didn't rip-off these bands but it's safe to say that the band's early sound owed a lot to those bands. The band would not find their sound here, OTTN sees a completely different band that is younger, more aggressive and fueled by youthful energy and seems poised to take on the world. The band's debut album is quite raw and not as smoothly produced than later album, therefore this is a very different Def Leppard be warned.

Right from the first song you can sense that On Through The Night is quite a different Def Leppard album. A bit distant from Pyromania and Mutt Lange's production, OTTN was produced by Tom Allom. Joe Elliot's voice is far from what it would become and he doesn't sing as high, guitarist Pete Willis (who would later be replaced by Phil Collen and is a good guitarist in his own way) handles co-leads with Steve Clark. This Leppard has more in common with early Iron Maiden (Di'Anno era) and Judas Priest than the direction they would take in just a few years. You can sense that even if this first album has a sort of youthful quality to it that even back then the band were good musicians who knew how to play (Rick Allen is at his best here, being that he was only 16 at time of recording is even more impressive) and write good songs.

I won't go through all of the songs on the album but here are some of my personal favorite's selections. Opening track, "Rock Brigade" is a bit faster, heavier and more aggressive than the band's more successful material which is definitely not a bad thing. "Sorrow Is a Woman" is one of the highlights of OTTN for me, very melodic and a fantastic song. "It Could Be You" is a great song with a catchy chorus, very aggressive, this one sounds very early Maiden-ish to me which not a bad thing! "When The Walls Came Tumbling Down" is another superb song, one of the most appreciated songs from the album and an underrated song . "Wasted" is an excellent fast and aggressive rocker, very good song. "Answer to The Master" is another favorite, edgy and heavy, I would love to see Def Lepp play this one live (or more of this album for that matter)."Overture" is not only a very good song it's one of the band's longest tracks at 7:44, as good as it is, it's just ironic that "Overture" closes the album.

Those who are into Def Lepp's more successful period ("Pyromania" and "Hysteria" especially) may not find On Through The Night to their liking because it lacks more of the pop elements and fancy back vocals that "Mutt" Lange would make them popular for. This album is definitely less accessible and although I would not consider my fav Def leppard album it's still a very good one. However, if you're more into metal, the NWOBHM especially, this would be excellent for you because it's heavier and less commercial. I think most metal fans would be surprised with Lepp's Debut, in fact I bet they would never recognize the band that plays it. Following On Through The Night, Def Leppard would team up with producer Mutt Lange and further shape their own sound with their next album, High N'Dry (which is also a great album and less commercial, worth checking out as well). 4 stars/5, I wouldn't recommend this as your first Leppard album but it remains a great and underrated album, most people seem to forget about On Through The Night (Including the band themselves). As stated previously, if you're not big on Hysteria because it sounds too commercial, radio-friendly or too pop for you, this could be a nice surprise.

This is not a 5 stars album in my opinion but rather a very solid four showing a young band ready to take on this decade we call the 1980's and they did.

Def Leppard's "On through the night" (1980) was their debut as well as their best effort. It's hard to believe it's the same band that later released weak and popish albums like "Adrenalize" and "Slang". Back in the early days, Def Leppard showed hunger, enthusiasm and love for the music which can be heard from the opening riff of "Rock brigade" to the closing slow guitar picking of the epic-like "Overture". In between, Def Leppard gives you a fair amount of heavy metal rock guitars and melodic hooks. In "Hello America" there's straight ahead hard rock (with a slight touch of Beach Boys in the middle section where there's only drums and vocals), while the semi ballad "Sorrow is a woman" show the band's softer side. In "It could be you" the "tempo" change during the chorus manage to upgrade the song from average to good, and tunes like "Rocks off" and "Wasted" is sheer heavy metal. Def Leppard was also capable of bringing on the groove, something that's obvious when it comes to "It don't matter", and It's a real pity that Joe Elliot & Co, aren't interested in writing songs like the heavy "When the walls came tumbling down" anymore. I would say that this album is without doubt one of the finer from the time of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal.

Maybe the reason for the transformation from a promising heavy metal band to an uninteresting commercialized pop group, have something to do with the fact that Def Leppard started out with a different line up. Pete Willis (guitar) got fired and Steve Clarke (guitar) died from an overdose. Drummer Rick Allen lost an arm in a car crash and along the way came producer Robert "Mutt" Lange. Despite what Def Leppard have become, there sure was a time when this band really rocked!

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1.0 out of 5 stars Grade F
Run for the hills, stay clear of this cd, nothing on hear that even resembles the Leppard of the mid 80's and above. Read more

Published on Jan 18 2004 by Eric J. Weik

5.0 out of 5 stars Def Leppard? No way!
As you can tell by the title of this review, this album sounds NOTHING like Def Leppard. It is their debut album recorded in December 1979 and released in January 1980. Read more

Published on Mar 26 2003 by mike rotch

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW! What a debut....
This awesome debut was released in 1980. I prefer it over Hysteria.Anyways, the sound quality is'nt the greatest, BUT it's the music that matters. Read more

Published on Dec 30 2002 by viperax84

4.0 out of 5 stars From a time when they played with gusto and rocked hard...
THis debut is one of Leppard's best albums, even notoriously counting with a very low budget to produce it. But it's fresh, it's rocking, it's energetic. Read more

Published on Dec 26 2002 by Gergellor

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard Rock at its best
This is truely where it began for the boys from up north. 11 tracks of pure bliss no real filler so to speak in my top 5 of all time easy. Read more

Published on Oct 2 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars Def Leppard's Hardest Rocking Album Ever
ON THROUGH THE NIGHT captures Def Leppard at a time when all they wanted to do was rock, rock, rock. Read more

Published on Sep 24 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars Here is where it really started
And then there was Rock'n Roll. This is not Hip Hop. This is not Head Banging music. Ice Cube, Snoopie, or any of the Peanuts Gang won't appear here. Read more

Published on Sep 21 2002 by cybertext

5.0 out of 5 stars Call me crazy, but this is Def Leppard's BEST ALBUM
You might think I'm going out on a limb to say this is a better album than High 'N' Dry, Pyromania, or Hysteria. And in a lot of ways you couldn't be more right. Read more

Published on Aug 11 2002 by wrrc

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent debut
This is a great debut from one of the 80's best bands and one the best hard rock bands ever and still going. Read more

Published on Aug 3 2002 by ChiefSanch

5.0 out of 5 stars This CD Rocks
I've been a Def Leppard fan since 95 & this is the first time I've ever heard this CD. Like most people I was used to their Hysteria sound. Read more

Published on July 14 2002 by Lee

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