Recently anointed as the worst album in history, Duran Duran’s covers set, Thank You, often sounds as much like a surrealist prank as an exercise in self-delusion.
On paper, Def Leppard’s latest record seems tantalisingly similar. The doughty Sheffield hod-carriers of pop-metal have long wanted credibility, and the prospect of them assaulting this rock snobs’ playlist — the Faces, Bowie, the Kinks — promises untold perversion. Disappointingly, the tracklisting is the funniest thing here, since the Leppard’s graft nullifies the comic possibilities of this glam-rock selection. A version of Roxy Music’s Streetlife is typical: prosaic and blustery.
A missed opportunity, really.
(Mercury)