On February 11th, DEF LEPPARD issued a Deluxe Edition of their 1996 album Slang. This collection features the original release re-mastered, as well as bonus material including five unreleased songs and 14 rare versions of demos and various mixes. The double CD includes a 26 page booklet with photos and liner notes from vocalist Joe Elliott, which gives insight into the band during this '94 - '95 time period. A preview trailer is available below:

Guitarist Vivian campbell recently spoke with Death And Taxes about the release and heading back to the studio. An excerpt from the interview is available below:

Q: So, why the decision to reissued “Slang” over many of your other classic albums?

Vivian: "Well, it’s very simple really, we don’t own the other albums. Ownership reverted back to us sometime in the last couple years for the masters to Slang. But the band’s original recording contract means that the earlier classic albums all the way up through Adrenalize, the one before Slang, are owned in perpetuity by the label unfortunately. So we never get those back."

Q: I was also curious about the aesthetic of the album. This was the first album in the band’s catalogue that didn’t have the same classic logo and comic book art-style of the records before it. Were you doing this to separate yourselves from the past, or from current trends in ’96?

Vivian: "Oh yes, it was all done very consciously. The kind of record we were making, they way it was presented, the packaging, all of that was coming from the same line of thought. We knew we were going to be crucified no matter what, we were almost apologetic. It was like, 'I’m sorry to make you listen to our new record.' It was really a bizarre time, we were damned if we did and we were damned if we didn’t.

Sonically, the underlying brief for the writing and recording of the album was, 'It can’t sound like a Def Leppard album.' You can ask the other members of the band and you’ll get five different opinions, but my personal opinion of Slang is that we went a little too left field. I think we could have been a bit more Def Leppard in terms of the songwriting. There’s no backing vocals to speak of on the record, which was a big Def Leppard trademark. There’s no real sense of that melody, the hooks that Leppard records of the past had. I felt that being the new guy, I didn’t rock the boat too much. I was just glad to be there, but I think we went a few degrees too far left. We could have addressed a little more melodic structure and production value. But like I said, either way we knew we were facing an uphill struggle. It’s nice that it will get a second run and be judged by a different generation."

Go to this location for the complete interview.