Band : Def Leppard
Album title : Mirror Ball
Label : Frontiers Records
Distributor : Rough Trade Benelux.
Release Date : 17/06/2011
Release : CD

I’ve been a Def Leppard fan since their humble beginnings in the early eighties with their already good debut album ‘On Throught The Night’, but of course their real breakthrough started when they released their second album ‘High’N’Dry’, and even more with the highly praised ‘Pyromania’ album.

It’s true they polished their sound quite a bit, probably because they found that to achieve a break through in the USA, they should sound a bit more commercial.  So in the production the drums were pushed a bit – or quite a bit – forward, sounding fuller, heavier also, but not forgetting that the guitar sound was also important.  Next to that the vocals had also great importance, sounding like somewhere in the background there stood a little choir. 
After the release of the ‘Adrenalize’ album however, my interest faded.  To be honest to this day I still find their first four albums the best they ever released.  I picked the band back up with ‘X’,  an album that in itself was not bad, but did not reach the shoulders of the ‘Pyromania ‘album for instance.  After ‘X’ I again lost interest.

So it was with great anticipation that I went home with this package (2 CD’s + one DVD if you’ve got the full package, but I missed the DVD).    Since their formation in 1977, this album ‘Mirror Ball’ is the first ever life recording (besides some unofficial bootlegs) that Def Leppard have released;
And was it worth the waiting?  The first time I played it, my spontaneous reaction was, that I didn’t like the album.  It showed, to me, not the atmosphere of a live record, however, almost all of the trademark songs that made them their reputation, are there. I changed my opinion though, when I played it a second and a third time.  Of course it’s quite understandable that a studio sound cannot be reproduced for a 100 % in a live situation.  Yet they’ve done their utmost best.  And the more I played the album, the better I found it.  Quite remarkable is the version of ‘Bringing On The Heartbreak’.

So after I first rather false impression, I was completely won by this album.  But, mark my words, to render the atmosphere you’ve got to play it loud !

98/100

Erik Morren.