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Retro Active

Retro Active

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Artist: Def Leppard
Label: Island / Mercury
Category: Music

List Price: $13.98
Buy New: $9.97
You Save: $4.01 (29%)



New (43) Used (49) from $1.79

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars 45 reviews
Sales Rank: 28480

Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5

MPN: 518305
UPC: 731451830525
EAN: 0731451830525
ASIN: B000001E21

Release Date: October 5, 1993
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

Tracks:

  • Desert Song - Def Leppard, Clark, Steve [1]
  • Fractured Love - Def Leppard, Clark, Steve [1]
  • Action - Def Leppard, Scott, Andrew
  • Two Steps Behind - Def Leppard, Elliott, Joe
  • She's Too Tough - Def Leppard, Elliott, Joe
  • Miss You in a Heartbeat - Def Leppard, Collen, Phil
  • Only After Dark - Def Leppard, Savage, Rick
  • Ride into the Sun - Def Leppard, Clark, Steve [1]
  • From the Inside - Def Leppard, Elliott, Joe
  • Ring of Fire - Def Leppard, Clark, Steve [1]
  • I Wanna Be Your Hero - Def Leppard, Clark, Steve [1]
  • Miss You in a Heartbeat - Def Leppard, Collen, Phil
  • Two Steps Behind - Def Leppard, Elliott, Joe

Similar Items:

  • Adrenalize
  • Slang
  • Euphoria
  • X
  • On Through the Night

Editorial Reviews:

Album Description
Japanese-only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD) pressing of this classic 1993 compilation album from the Rock legends. SHM-CDs can be played on any audio player and delivers unbelievably high-quality sound. You won't believe it's the same CD! Universal. 2008.


Customer Reviews:   Read 40 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars Good songs and cool cover   November 21, 2008
Very good cd and I have to admit the cover, which looks like a skull if seen from a distance, intrigued me. I have been a fan of DL since Pyromania and I never forget to mention to young listeners ( I am a DJ for internet radio station Gorean's Portal Radio) about the trials and tribulations the band members have gone through as well as Rick Allen's Unique method of drumming.


4 out of 5 stars Everything I (used to) love about Def Leppard   August 2, 2008
Just when I thought it was safe to ignore anything Def Leppard released post-Hysteria, I ran across Retro-Active, the band's 1993 collection of b-sides, covers, and alternate versions. I was a little wary of this collection at first, since the only tracks that I was familiar with were the ballads, but as soon as I heard the opening Desert Song I was transported back to when Def Leppard was the biggest band in the world.

There are some really impressive rockers on this album, including Ride into the Sun and She's Too Tough, which bring you back to the old school Def Leppard sound. The Hysteria b-sides I Wanna Be Your Hero and Ring of Fire are as good as anything you would find on that album, and the spirited cover songs (Sweet's Action and Mick Ronson's Only After Dark) are more interesting than anything on the band's recent covers album). I'm not sure we really needed two separate versions of the ballads Miss You in a Heartbeat and Two Steps behind, but even I have to admit that as ballads go, those are pretty good ones.

The quality of Retro-Active doesn't change my opinion of the watered-down albums Def Leppard has released over the past 20 years. In fact, it just makes me depressed that a band that is capable of putting such impressive songs together - as b-sides! - can't figure out how to make a rocking album that honors their past history instead of running as fast as they can in the other direction.



5 out of 5 stars Remembering Steve Clark   May 22, 2008
The ONLY downside to this entire CD is that with the exception of Desert Song, Fractured Love, & Two Steps Behind....each of these tunes had original releases as B-sides. For the most part, those songs have been tweaked here and there for reasons only the band can answer. I am a Leppard fan through the Adrenalize album. Aside from the song Promises, Euphoria and each release afterwards has gone farther away from the Leppard I grew to love. When Love & Hate Collide was even a track which had it's start long before it was released and the "demo" version contained the "last" recorded Steve Clark guitar solo from the studio.

This release culminaates alot of loose ends for the Lepps when it came to the legacy of Steve "Steamin" Clark. As others above have said, it is MORE than worth the price and is probably the last of the "old" Leppard sound. I love this disc because it pays homage to a guitar-man who had a short time on Earth to share his gift of passion and music.

In short, if you LOVE the old Leppard you will MORE than enjoy this everytime you play it.

Rock ON!!!! R.I.P. Steve, you ARE missed.

:)

Shawn




4 out of 5 stars This Should Have Been Adrenalize   May 2, 2008
It's amazing to think that instead of releasing Adrenalize they could have released these songs along with "Tear It Down" and had the album out in 1990 instead of 1992. "Ring of Fire" and "I Wanna Be Your Hero" were much too good to just be B-Sides for Hysteria. "Desert Song" and "Fractured Love" are also great as is "She's Too Tough". This really is more of a complete album than a rarities collection and these songs stand up to anything else they've released. If you're a Def Leppard fan you need to own this album.


4 out of 5 stars Def Leppard remembers what it means to rock   December 1, 2007
For those of us who remember Def Leppard from the early 80's, they were a METAL band - kind of a mix of Iron Maiden and AC/DC. Then Hysteria came out and they drifted more into a rock direction (although back then we still considered that metal). The 90's and so forth would see them slide even more from their hard-rockin' guitar-based roots, reaching a pop nadir with X.
However, Retroactive showed they could still do guitar-based rock while trying new things. Songs like "Desert Song" and "From the Inside" sound like nothing they'd done before, yet still had the Def Leppard magic. They were, in fact, progressing as a great band should - this is what Slang should've been (but instead, Slang was Def Leppard almost completely rejecting their own sound for a second-rate grunge alternative wannabe sound). Suffice to say, Retroactive shows a band that can rock, with some of the Def Leppard polish (but not as highly produced as Hysteria or Euphoria), and a batch of good and diverse songs. The only weak point(s) of the CD for me are the cliche ballads (Two Steps Behind and Miss You In A Heartbeat - both offered in multiple versions here!), which are weak and sound like they could be by any second-rate hair metal band, not even having the Def Leppard ballad sound. (I Wanna Be Your Hero is a good Def Leppard ballad track).
Anyway, if you like any Def Leppard album from the 80's or just classic hard rock/metal, you should like this.


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