Def Leppard: The Story So Far: The Best of (2LP+7") [MERCURY]

Why you'll love it

This set packs sixteen hits onto two LPs and adds a bonus 7-inch with a remix of "Personal Jesus" and the festive "We All Need Christmas." Def Leppard have sold more than 100 million records, and Hysteria alone has sold over 25 million.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Bonus 7" single
• Printed inner sleeves
• Pressed in Germany
• Lyrics included

About the album

Sheffield has given the world steel, cutlery and, as of 1977, a band that would make glossy, stadium-sized rock out of the same raw materials. Joe Elliott, Rick Savage and company signed to Mercury, broke through with Pyromania and then spent years building Hysteria, a record so packed with singles that six of them land here.

Robert John Lange produced the big ones, and you can hear his layered harmonies all over "Photograph," "Animal," "Love Bites," "Armageddon It" and "Hysteria." "Foolin'" and "Rock Of Ages" bring the Pyromania swagger, "Let's Get Rocked" and "Make Love Like A Man" come from the chart-topping Adrenalize, and "When Love & Hate Collide" and "Two Steps Behind" show off their softer side. Steve Clark co-wrote many of the classics here, and Phil Collen's guitar drives the later hits.

Joe Elliott oversaw the set for the band's own Bludgeon Riffola imprint, and the 7-inch brings a proper bonus with it. Sixteen hits and a Christmas song is roughly the band's idea of a quiet evening in.

Also at Kops: more Def Leppard on vinyl · browse Metal

Tracklist

Listen

On Mercury / Bludgeon Riffola (cat# 6791036), the 2018 compilation.