Def Leppard Pyromania (Vinyl LP) * * *

Their star firmly in the ascendency after 1981's High 'n' Dry, Def Leppard reconvened with estimable producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange to work on 1983's Pyromania, with former Girl guitarist Phil Collen replacing founding member Pete Willis during the sessions. The new line-up gelled immediately in the studio, emerging triumphant with an exuberant state-of-the-art rock record long on confidence and crammed with killer hooks.

Kicking off with the swerving guitar riffs and roaring choruses of the self-explanatory "Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)," the supercharged Pyromania alternated between Def Leppard's trademark high-octane rockers ("Stage Fright," "Comin' Under Fire," the prowling "Die Hard The Hunter") and polished, radio-friendly pop-metal hybrids such as "Photograph," the scarf-waving "I Love Rock'n'Roll"-esque anthem "Rock Of Ages" and the yearning power ballad "Foolin'".

After "Photograph" bagged the stalwart Yorkshire rockers their first US Top 20 hit, the mainstream capitulated. "Foolin'" and the undeniable "Rock Of Ages" both peaked inside the US Top 30, and Pyromania itself proved virtually unstoppable, hitting No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and eventually moving a phenomenal 10 million copies in North America alone.