Def Leppard-High and dry, 1981

Sometimes it doesn't take long for your opinion of a band to take. My opinion of Def Leppard changed in just over an hour as that is the running time of their 1987 release "Hysteria". I heard "Hysteria" once and that was enough to make think they had lost the special sound that was present in the previous three releases. I didn't completely write them off, but they never have redeemed themselves after that either. However I think that it's quite possible that over the years I have forgotten just how good those early albums were. I was listening to "High and dry" not long ago and it didn't take long for it to sink in that this band really was something special at one time. The first album was good and the next two were great. These guys were once a very good hard rock act, probably one of the best commercial hard rock bands going between 1980 and 1983. Commercial can also be read as accessible which is not a sin if it is done right and I think this band did it right during their first three albums. I often go back and forth between this album and Pyromania as to which is their best. Ultimately I might give "Pyromania" the slight edge, but this album showed a lot of maturity over the debut "On through the night". High and dry might even be their most rock album as it's far more raw than anything else they did. Some people forget that they came out of the legendary New Wave of British Heavy metal(NWOBHM) scene that emerged around 79-80 and stayed fairly strong until say 83-84. This scene also included Iron Maiden, Saxon, Venom, Raven and piles of others. The majority of the bands from that scene were heavier than Def Leppard yet Leppard and Maiden would be the only bands from the scene to really achieve mega success. I remember listening to "High and dry" on my walkman while I was laying on my bed as a freshman in high school and just thinking how great of an album was. I also remember seeing a local band called Spellbound cover "Let it go" from this album and they butchered it. I thought that band should have turned in their equipment for wronging such a great song. After 25 years this album is still solid. It's not perfect because very few albums are, but I can't come up with any major gripes right now. Favorite tracks are Let it go, Switch 625, You got me runnin', On through the night and Mirror, Mirror (Look into my eyes).