Vault: Def Leppard Greatest Hits

Japanese pressing includes an exclusive bonus track. Mercury. 2006.

To have resisted Def Leppard's radio power in their heyday, you'd have to have been a critic--and even some of us could hardly argue with the likes of "Photograph," "Animal," and "Bringin' on the Heartbreak." Vault covers a decade and a half of hits by the one-time wonder boys of the new wave of British metal, but perhaps inevitably concentrates on singles from the multiplatinum Pyromania and Hysteria. It offers little meaning beyond fun fun fun, but there are hooks here that Noel Gallagher would punch a paparazzo for. --Rickey Wright