Hysteria [VINYL]

Product Information

The Hysteria album was a testing time for the band and all of us who worked on it. It’s hard to imagine what it feels like to work on an album for three years. Over such a long period even trends in music change. At one point we were trying to soften things up a little, guitar wise. Then suddenly Bon Jovi broke with You Give Love A Bad Name. We thought — shit, now we have to heavy things up again! Read now the brand new Billboard interview with the band and recording team on what it took to make Hysteria. Def Leppard’s ‘Hysteria’ Turns 30: An Oral History of the Album’s Painful Path to Victory There are many more stories about how this album was put together. I know the band will have loads of stories of their own. I’ve mostly talked about the technical side because that was my job and I wanted to explain why we took the approach we did. (And why it took so long!) Discs four and five are more interesting for the Leps diehard, containing an entire live show captured on their groundbreaking In The Round tour. While a recording that has gathered dust in the vaults for 30 years is never going to challenge Live And Dangerous for the title of Greatest Live Album Ever, it’s still a fine aural snapshot of a band in their imperial prime. But it also begs the question: where are the accompanying visuals? The tour was filmed –“We have lights, we have cameras,” Joe Elliott says during the intro to Women– but there’s no sign of any footage. A lot of people couldn’t believe we didn’t use real amps. But this is where Mutt taught the band and me that music production is about the song and arrangement first, then performance, followed lastly by the sound. If the song and the arrangement is great, and the performance is great, then the sound quite often takes care of itself.

Def Leppard – Hysteria (2017, 180 gram, Vinyl) - Discogs Def Leppard – Hysteria (2017, 180 gram, Vinyl) - Discogs

In the UK, during the 80’s, record production was getting more and more sophisticated. Most of the time we recorded each instrument separately, a big departure from what was going on in the late 70’s where bands tended to record live together. I think the reason was that in the 80’s it was all about making music production larger than life. Like Spielberg with the movies, everything was edited to the nth degree. You had to blow people’s minds. Recording Engineer Nigel Green discusses the groundbreaking, innovative wizardry devised in the studio long before the existence of Pro Tools, and gives Def Leppard fans an inside look with never-before-seen photos from the Hysteria recordings. Guitar – Air Commodore Phil "Felix, P.C. The Guru, Wambo, Tap" Collen, B.T.H.*, Wing Commander Steve "Steamin', Dreamy, Snikker, Mayhem, P.T.W." Clark, A.H.D.* They eventually emerged from the maelstrom with a stone-cold classic. Hysteria redefined state-of-the-art, from its meticulously sharp production to the monstrous drum sound that inadvertently gave every other 80s band permission to sound like they were triggering explosive charges in a ballroom every time they hit the skins.Guitar, Written-By – Air Commander Phil "Felix, P.C. The Guru, Wambo Tap" Collen, B.T.H.*, Wing Commander Steve "Steamin', Dreamy, Snikker, Mayhem, P.T.W." Clark, A.H.D*

Def Leppard Hysteria Vinyl - Etsy UK Def Leppard Hysteria Vinyl - Etsy UK

Hysteria was recorded at: Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum, Holland: Thanks to Bart, Bert, Inge, Joke, Ronald, Irwin, Jan Fred, Peter, Freek, Henk and Henk, Albert Boekholt, Albert Hartwig, Junior, Miriam, Petra, Ilse and Lex. Windmill Lane Studio 2, Dublin, Ireland: Thanks to Irene, Bronwen, Suzanne, Ann Fox and Mark Flannery. Studio Des Dames, Paris, France: Thanks to Marcel. On the Hysteria album Mutt was changing and adding things even at the final mix stage. On Gods Of War, Phil Nicholas (Mutt’s Fairlight programmer) found all the Thatcher and Reagan sound bites to sample into the Fairlight so we could use them on the final mix. All I can remember is the last mix took me and Mutt straight through the night into the morning and I had to catch a flight within hours to cut the second side of the album in New York. In all new interviews, the remaining band members — guitarist Steve Clark died in 1991 — and others involved in the album’s creation and marketing talk about the long road fraught with doubt, pain, joy, drama, misadventures and, ultimately, tremendous triumph. For the first time since Hysteria’s release, recording engineer Nigel Green discusses the groundbreaking, innovative wizardry devised in the studio long before the existence of Pro Tools…… Finally, we would like to thank everybody at Hoshino Industries (Tama Drums and Ibanez Guitars) for their help and support over the past couple of years.All the songs published by: In the UK/Ireland: Why Bother Ltd./Warner Bros. Music/Zomba Music Publishers. In Australia / New Zealand: Bludgeon Riffola Ltd./Warner Bros. Music/Zomba Music Publishers. In the Rest of The Known Universe: Bludgeon Riffola Ltd./Zomba Music Publishers.

Def Leppard – Hysteria (2022, Violet, Vinyl) - Discogs

Thanks to everybody at Phonogram: In the UK: Gillian Gould, Francesca Sayers, John Watson, David Simone, Tony Powell, Bob Fisher, and "Bad" Bernadette Coyle. Internationally: Lisa Anderson, Sian Thomas, Lee Kavanagh, and all at Phonogram Netherlands, France and Ireland who helped us along during this recording. Oh yes, thanks to the 40 odd Polygram/Phonogram folks who endured with us all at Mannheim, West Germany, August, 1986. Additional Advice given by: Martin Goldberg and Ann Waddingham, Prager and Fenton, London, England. Bruce Slayton and Victor Wlodinguer, Robbins, Spielman, Slayton and Halfon, New York, N.Y. James H.K. Harman, Theodore Goddard, London, England. Andrew Snelling and the staff at Barclays Bank, Earls Court Road, London, England.

On The Go

The intro to Pour Some Sugar On Me was changed even after the album was finished (and pressed!). It was just Phil Nicholas and me messing around with samples on the Fairlight, for an extended version of the song. Mutt came in and heard it and said, “Great, do it.” Without recording the album the way we had, we wouldn’t have been able to make changes like that. At the time this was considered a very unorthodox way to record. No one in the music business was recording the drums last. But there was a real method to the madness. It allowed Mutt and the band to explore new ideas freely. Finally, like I said, it was a great relief when Mike Shipley got involved. It took the pressure off me and his first few mixes gave us the formula we needed to finish the album. In the end Mike too had to leave after mixing for about 4 months. He and I ended up mixing six songs each.