Finally!by SS70

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July 09, 2009: It only took what, over fifteen or twenty years for a really good remastering of Pyromania to come out. I mean, I know Leppard works at a sluggish pace, but this was ridiculous. However, you get a full reward for waiting: what seems to be a full concert from the L.A. Forum circa 1983. And make no mistake: on this night, the band was on fire from the second they hit the stage. In retrospect, that's what's best about Pyromania itself. The Leppards never back down for ten seconds. Sure, there are plenty of pop-rock hooks, but they're still part of the songs and the sonic attack. The hit songs are obvious in their appeal, but I found "Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)", "Stagefright" and "Billy's Got a Gun" to be special revelations, as I'd only heard them on dubbed cassettes or the like. Like it or not, this is Leppard at their tip-top finest. Hysteria is where they crossed the line into pop-metal in a big way, forever wrecking their true metal heritage. But on this package, for 2 CDs, you can find out what everyone was buzzing about back in 1983. Oh, a special tip of the hat should go to Pete Willis, who, even in his perpetually-drunken state of being, still laid down rhythm guitar tracks with the hammer of the gods. It's interesting to speculate what Leppard might have done had Willis been able to keep it together.