DEF LEPPARD's VIVIAN CAMPBELL Talks To WRFX About 'Slang Deluxe Edition' (Audio)

February 25, 2014

DEF LEPPARD guitarist Vivian Campbell recently spoke to Arroe Collins of the Charlotte, North Carolina radio station WRFX about the deluxe edition of the band's 1996 album "Slang", the group's place in British music, "VIVA! Hysteria" and more. You can now listen to the chat using the SoundCloud widget below.

DEF LEPPARD released a Deluxe Edition of its 1996 classic album "Slang" across multiple formats through its own Bludgeon Riffola label on February 10.

The "Slang" reissue is available in three formats: a CD Deluxe Edition and Digital Edition containing the original 11 album tracks remastered and original rare bonus tracks made up of demos, alternate versions and mixes with a series of new songs recorded during the time the band was creating "Slang". Most of these additional bonus tracks have never been released. A special iTunes Digital Edition has everything from the Digital Edition, plus a further set of additional bonus tracks. A Double Vinyl Deluxe Edition is also available and features the original album, and its own set of exclusive songs.

The band released a special "Slang Video Collection" the same day exclusively on iTunes that features videos from singles "Slang", "Work It Out" and "All I've Ever Wanted".

"Slang" was first released in May 1996 and is considered the band's most underrated album. At the time of its release, the music industry was at the height of the '90s grunge scene and DEF LEPPARD with bands like NIRVANA, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS and PEARL JAM were dominating the airwaves. Despite this musical shift, "Slang" charted on the Top Five U.K. official chart and the Top 15 in the U.S. on The Billboard 200 chart. The album was also voted in the Top Ten Albums Of 1996 by the U.K.'s prestigious Q magazine.

As a testament to DEF LEPPARD's music transcending through time, "Slang" was recognized for its musical departure from the band's signature sound. The collection incorporated new sonic elements that gave the album a slightly darker introspective mood than their previous releases.

Guitarist Phil Collen tells Billboard.com: "It was an essential album for DEF LEPPARD. It was a drastic move, left-field for us. It was experimental. It went against the grain from what we normally were doing at the time. We felt like with 'Adrenalize' it started turning a little bit similar, so it was important to do something different at that point."

"Slang" debuted at No. 5 on The Billboard 200 and went gold, but was DEF LEPPARD's slowest-selling album in more than a decade.

"Y'know, I think we could've put out 'Sgt. Pepper's' or 'Dark Side Of The Moon' and I think it would have been the same because it was DEF LEPPARD and we had gotten lumped in with all the crap metal bands of the '80s that were kind of pale versions of us," Collen explained to Billboard.com. "NIRVANA had come along and everything had changed. What was very interesting was people said they didn't like it so much because it didn't sound like us, but we set up in a villa in southern Spain and pretty much recorded live, so it was actually closer to the mark than the other albums where we didn't play live and did the usual studio thing of putting one thing on at a time and building it from there."

"Slang Deluxe Edition" track listings:

CD / Digital Edition

Disc 1

01. Truth?
02. Turn To Dust
03. Slang
04. All I Want Is Everything
05. Work It Out
06. Breathe A Sigh
07. Deliver Me
08. Gift Of Flesh
09. Blood Runs Cold
10. Where Does Love Go When It Dies
11. Pearl Of Euphoria
12. Move With Me Slowly
13. Truth? (Original Version)
14. Burn Out
15. Worlds Collide
16. Can't Keep Away From The Flame

Disc 2

01. Turn To Dust (1st Draft)
02. Raise Your Love
03. All I Want Is Everything (1st Draft)
04. Work It Out (1st Draft)
05. Breathe A Sigh (Rough Mix)
06. Deliver Me (Rough Mix)
07. Black Train
08. Blood Runs Cold (Rough Mix)
09. Where Does Love Go When It Dies (1st Draft)
10. Pearl Of Euphoria (Rough Mix)
11. All On Your Touch (2012 Revisit)
12. Anger Me (Deliver Me -1st Draft)
13. Move On Up (Viv Demo)
14. Gift Of Flesh (Phil Vocal)

Double 180g Vinyl

Side 1

01. Truth?
02. Turn To Dust
03. Slang
04. All I Want Is Everything
05. Work It Out

Side 2

06. Breathe A Sigh
07. Deliver Me
08. Gift Of Flesh
09. Blood Runs Cold
10. Where Does Love Go When It Dies

Side 3

11. Pearl Of Euphoria
12. Move With Me Slowly
13. Truth? (Original Version)

Side 4

14. Burn Out
15. Worlds Collide
16. Can't Keep Away From The Flame
17. All On Your Touch (2012 Revisit)
18. Black Train

"Slang Deluxe Edition" audio samples can be streamed in the YouTube clip below.

slangdeluxeeditionbig

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