Def Leppard announce 'Drastic Symphonies' album with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Listen to 'Animal'
Def Leppard have joined forces with The London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for a new album called ‘Drastic Symphonies.’
Released on Friday 19th May 2023, ‘Drastic Symphonies’ features deconstructed and rebuilt orchestral versions of Def Leppard’s biggest hits and some of their hidden gems.
The Sheffield rock legends have intertwined the audio from the original tapes and performed them alongside The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The album includes new vocals and guitars alongside the symphonic arrangements, and at times Joe Elliott is duetting with his younger self.
As a taster for the album, Def Leppard have premiered their stunning new symphonic interpretation of their 1987 anthem ‘Animal’, which you can listen to here:
“Def Leppard has always enjoyed veering off the expected path - working with the likes of Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift & Alison Krauss for example,” says Joe Elliott.
“So, when the offer to revisit some of our back catalogue with the Royal Philharmonic was presented to us, to a man we all jumped at it. Although we’re far from the first band to ever do this, working directly with an orchestra at Abbey Road on some of our more orchestrated songs seemed too good of an opportunity to pass up.”
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra parts were recorded at London’s world-famous Abbey Road Studios in March 2022.
‘Drastic Symphonies’ is produced by Def Leppard, Ronan McHugh and Nick Patrick, who has previously helmed RPO orchestral albums featuring the music of Elvis, Roy Orbison, Beach Boys and Buddy Holly. The arrangements are by Eric Gorfain (Neil Diamond, Ryan Adams, Christina Aguilera).
Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen says, “When the offer of doing an orchestral album with the RPO was suggested we were honoured. But we didn’t just want an orchestra plonked over our previous recordings.
“We decided to create something special where we would have something classic but present it in a brand-new way that would involve making everything work in the context of ‘Drastic Symphonies’. Recording new parts, remixing previous sounds, taking some of our instruments out so the orchestra could breathe and literally making a new album. It was an amazingly inspirational process culminating in the live recording of the RPO at Abbey Road studios in London. An absolute team effort that took a good part of a year.
“It’s a new Def Leppard album, it’s a greatest hits plus album, with some rarely heard songs, it’s a live RPO album and we think it’s perfect. We’re so proud of how ‘Drastic Symphonies’ turned out and can’t wait to share it to the world.”
The album will be available on CD, 2LP black vinyl, limited 2LP coloured vinyl, limited 2LP picture disc, CD/Blu-Ray (Atmos) and digitally.
Def Leppard’s ‘Drastic Symphonies’ track-listing:
Turn To Dust
Paper Sun
Animal
Pour Some Sugar on Me (Stripped version)
Hysteria
Love Bites
Goodbye For Good This Time
Love
Gods Of War
Angels (Can’t Help You Now)
Bringin’ On the Heartbreak
Switch 625
Too Late for Love
When Love & Hate Collide
Kings Of the World
The vinyl and Atmos versions will also feature an exclusive bonus track:
Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad