Songs from the Sparkle Lounge

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Songs from the Sparkle Lounge
Def Leppard - Songs from the Sparkle Lounge.jpg
Studio album by Def Leppard
Released 25 April 2008 (2008-04-25)
Recorded 2006–2008
Genre
Length 39:12
Label Island, Universal Music Enterprises (US)
Bludgeon Riffola/Mercury (UK & Europe)
Producer
  • Ronan McHugh
  • Def Leppard
Def Leppard chronology
Yeah!
(2006)Yeah!2006		 Songs from the Sparkle Lounge
(2008)		 Def Leppard
(2015)Def Leppard2015
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
Source Rating
Allmusic 3/5 stars link
Billboard link
Rolling Stone 2.5/5 stars link
Kerrang! 4/5 stars
Classic Rock 7/10 stars
NOW 3/5 stars link
Mojo 3/5 stars link
The Observer link

Songs from the Sparkle Lounge is the tenth studio album and 14th album overall from 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 tracklist, "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 June 16, 2009.[9] It was the only post-1995 song of Def Leppard's catalogue that was performed for that episode.

The album debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, selling about 55,000 copies in its first week of release.[10]

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[12] gave the album 4.5 out of 5 stars and said "This album is so instant: huge hooks, big choruses and awesome production!"

Track listing

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Go"   Phil Collen, Joe Elliott 3:20
2. "Nine Lives" (featuring Tim McGraw) Collen, Elliott, Tim McGraw, Rick Savage 3:32
3. "C'mon C'mon"   Savage 4:09
4. "Love"   Savage 4:17
5. "Tomorrow"   Collen 3:35
6. "Cruise Control"   Vivian Campbell 3:03
7. "Hallucinate"   Collen 3:17
8. "Only the Good Die Young"   Campbell 3:34
9. "Bad Actress"   Elliott 3:03
10. "Come Undone"   Elliott 3:32
11. "Gotta Let It Go"   Campbell 3:55
Total length:
 39:12

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
2008 New Zealand Albums Chart 26
2008 Germany Albums Chart 43
2008 France Albums Chart 118
2008 Canadian Albums Chart 7
2008 Swiss Albums Chart 26
2008 Sweden Albums Chart 26
2008 Norway Albums Chart 15
2008 Finnish Albums Chart[15] 27
2008 World Albums Chart 8

Personnel

Additional personnel

References

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  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Rockline Radio highlights, DefLeppard.com News
  7. ↑ Songs from the Sparkle Lounge, Radio Luxembourg
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Katie Hasty, "Madonna Leads Busy Billboard 200," Billboard.com, 7 May 2008.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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