Hysteria [VINYL]

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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. Of course this meant that instead of an album production taking a month or so, it could take anything up to a year. Of course with Hysteria we completely annihilated that barrier… it took three years! 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. All songs published by: In the U.K./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. Thanks to Jan Garner, Ralph Simon and Clive Calder at Zomba for their help and encouragement. (on inner sleeve)

Def Leppard - Hysteria | Releases | Discogs Def Leppard - Hysteria | Releases | Discogs

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* 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. 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!)

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. 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.

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Hysteria was recorded at: Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum, Holland [...]. Windmill Lone Studio 2, Dublin, Ireland [...]. Studio Des Dames, Paris, France [...] CD / 2-DVD Super Deluxe Edition inc 4 books (Story Of / Ross Halfin Photo Book / Discography / Hysteria Tour Programme) Tour Poster 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 But you don’t work with people for three years without getting close to them, personally. I have to say they’re the most down to earth, nicest people you could ever meet. When I came to work with them in Holland they’d just come off a major, highly successful, Pyromania tour in the US. Yet they were the most normal guys you could ever meet. I love it when people in this business don’t change with success… that’s how it should be.

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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. 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.* To be fair though, during the first year of recording the band used a different producer, Jim Steinman. After 8 months they parted ways and I was brought in for what I thought would just be finishing off recording vocals and final mixing. But it soon became clear that a lot of the record still had to be recorded. I did my best re- recording guitars to beef up the sound and improve certain parts. We plodded on for quite a while but in the final analysis it was really Mutt they needed.

Def Leppard – Hysteria - The Singles (2018, Vinyl) - Discogs Def Leppard – Hysteria - The Singles (2018, Vinyl) - Discogs

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. 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.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. And Joe, what can I say? We’d have Foosball tournaments. Joe would look at me like my son, Thomas, does today. “Who the hell are you? You can’t play foosball!” Well, I’m sure Joe will remember things differently but sorry… I have to admit it. I was the Foosball champion. Enough said, okay? I don’t wanna talk about it any more, Joe!. ☺️ 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. The assorted Nuclear, Lunar and Orgasmic Mixes of the various singles couldn’t be more 1980s if they came hand-delivered by Max Headroom driving a Sinclair C5. In terms of 80s touchstones worth getting nostalgic about, the 12-inch remix is down near the bottom of the list.