Retro Active

This post-Adrenalize compilation bookends guitarist Steve Clark’s brilliant tenure with Def Leppard after his tragic death in 1991, and offers a fascinating alternate glimpse of a band at their commercial peak. “Desert Song” and “Fractured Love” are sultry Hysteria outtakes. There are foot-stomping covers of The Sweet’s “Action” and Bowie guitarist Mick Ronson’s “Only After Dark.” And there's also a soaring Adrenalize B-side (“She’s Too Tough”) and a supercharged re-recording of “Ride Into the Sun” from the Lepp’s 1979 debut EP.