Charming and brutal

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Classic Albums: Def Leppard - Hysteria (2002) *** 1/2 (out of 4) With seventeen million copies sold and seven top singles, Def Leppard's 'Hysteria' gets this installment of the Classic Albums series. Everyone from the band as well as the sound mixers and producers are on hand here being interviewed about what was going on with the band during this time as well as the impact the final album had on them. As with other episodes, we're basically taken through the entire album song by song as we hear about various decisions that were made throughout the production. We learn about the first few songs completed and then we hear about some rather big tracks that almost didn't make the album. There's a discussion of how 'Love Bites' originally wasn't on there and how the producer Robert Lang had to fight for it. We also learn that 'Pour Some Sugar on Me' wasn't on the album and the band had to fight to record company to have it included. Throughout the 50-minute documentary many people mention that the group wanted this album to be like a greatest hits album meaning that every song was great and that the entire album would offer different sounds. There's also some discussion about the previous album, which was a hit in America but the British group still couldn't sell out small clubs in their own country. There's also talk about the accident, which caused the drummer to lose his arm and the new set-up he came up with to continue playing. Fans of the band or music in general should really be entertained by this behind-the-scenes look at the album.

OK...I admit it, I am a huge Def Leppard fan, but even if I wasn't, I would say this documentary is cool as hell! Band members actually dissect the recordings and you get to learn a lot about how the album and songs were made. Not only this, but there are some quite funny things that thank god, didn't make it on the album. There are some cool additional songs that didn't make it onto the originally aired program, and a lot of band history. The only thing I wanted from this was more history, less rehashing of acoustic renditions of the songs. I have heard those before.Another really cool bit is that Phil Collen actually explains how the guitar solo was recorded for the song Hysteria and other songs. I recommend this for any fan of 80's rock and any fan of Def Leppard!