Okay, so let's give this a go.

Since I have nearly everything, I'm going to cover it all, from the crappy demos to the highly polished studio stuff. First up, the 1978 demos (the titles are links to download the songs—which I'll only do for the demos and extreme rarities).

BEYOND THE TEMPLE

This is one of Def Leppard's earliest songs. It's quite different from most of their output. Musically, it's very much in the vein of what we call classic rock these days. The lyrics, though kind of lame, seem to tell a story, which is something that can't be said about most of their material.

Though the song isn't all that great, I think a great song could have been created from this mold. The main riff is solid, the verses as well. The chorus is weak and the lyrics are dumb. The mellow mid-section seems out of place, and while the following breakdown is cool, with the funky bass picking and the start of a solo, it seems unfinished. And Joe Elliot clearly struggled with some of the vocal rhythms, trying to shove too many words into too-small a place, basically.

Not a great song, but far from terrible. A good start for a young band.

GETCHA ROCKS OFF

A classic! This song was tailor-made for small dingy clubs, with the band sweating and bleeding rock and roll on stage in front of a frenzied crowd.

Not much difference in this version and the studio version that would appear a few years later. The mid-section is a bit longer, there's some additional lead work, and they clearly hadn't figured out the ending yet so it stops a bit awkwardly. But it rocks.

MISTY DREAMER

No one knows the real name of this song. It's mostly known as "Misty Dreamer," but many call it "Tomorrow Feels Like Yesterday." Like "Beyond The Temple," this one has a sort of classic rock feel.

First thing you'll notice is that the beginning of this song was reworked for "Sorrow Is A Woman," from On Through The Night. Nice riffs, good chorus, fantastic extended leads. I love this song!

OVERTURE

This song is in my top 5 Def Leppard tunes. It's awesome! I still wish a metal band would put a really heavy spin on this one.

Anyway, this song is raw, like the others. The intro is a little different and the guitars are more subdued, whether by design or recording quality, I don't know. The song is generally played slower, the leads a bit different, but it's largely the same as that found on On Through The Night.

WARCHILD

One of the more unique Def Leppard songs. No other song they ever recorded sounds like this. It's more suited for Black Sabbath than Def Leppard. I can see Iommi just ripping through that main riff. I wish I knew who wrote this one.

It's a simple song, but a great one.

WASTED

Another early classic. Again, suited more for the club atmosphere than a big stage. There are some lyrical differences, and the solo is different, but it's much the same as what turned up on On Through The Night. Just a raw version of an early classic.

Ok this should be a good one since this is the band that got me into wanting to play music. Rick Allen was a huge influence on me for playing drums at the time. This was also my first glimpse into Rock/Metal music as well.

I've heard those songs you posted a while back except for Beyond the Temple and Misty Dreamer. I'll be downloading all of those since I don't have them. I wish they would come out with some unreleased material box set or something.

Either way, so far good start. I'll be checking back for updates.

When I get home I am going check the links out, this is going interesting thread, especially since you are going back as far as the original demos!!! In 1978 had they even played any gigs yet, they still had to be teens when they recorded this demos.

BTW Eyesore have any idea who played drums on those demo recordings?

Thanks Eyesore - Listening to Beyond The Temple, haven't heard this one before but you can tell some work this would be a good song.

Yay, Def Leppard! At last a thread where I can actually comment on more than one or two releases.

Cool Def Leppard is a great band! Saw them live last summer. It was a longtime dream, so I'm glad that happened.

I like all of Def Leppard's stuff, but I actually prefer their commercial peak era of the late 80s.

Hey, Def Leppard sucks! hehehehehehe....


But seriously folks, I can dig it.

Thanks for the links to the songs and taking the extra time to share something with all us yahoo's.

Cool.. Early DL absolutely kills!!!!

I have more that I'll be posting.

Some of those earlier unknowns arent that great (Warchild is cool) but by '79 they would greatly sharpen their skills and in '79 they played alot of BBC shows and shows in Europe.

Awesome. I have some of those singles but I don't have them all. I always wondered if they were thinking of going in a more BS direction or maybe Deep Purple with the sound of some of those early songs.

Never heard their demo stuff - might have to give that a listen.

Right! So let's jump ahead to 1979. There are a handful of demos from that period, some of which later showed up re-recorded on On Through The Night.

Like those above, the song names are links to download the songs. Also like the other demos, these are WMA files. I don't have them in MP3 format.

Enjoy!

ANSWER TO THE MASTER

One of the best songs from On Through The Night, in my opinion. This demo is very similar to the version on the debut, though there are some changes, namely some of the drum work and the pre-solo section. The solo is slightly different as well.

GLAD I'M ALIVE

It's really unfortunate that this song was never included on a proper album because I think it's excellent! It's classic hard-driving rock and roll. Sure, maybe a little different from most of their material, but it—and other old demos—should have at least turned up on Retroactive, or some other b-sides compilation.

There is a live version of this song—which I'll post at some point—that is just killer. Definitely another song better suited for the club scene.

HEAT STREET

One of the worst songs the band ever recorded. Haha. It originally turned up on First Strike, the unofficial and illegally-released album of seven demos recorded prior to On Through The Night. There's really no secret why this song never officially appeared on an album. It's simply not very good. Not terrible, really, but definitely nothing special.

My favorite part begins at 2:43, from "on Heat Street" on. Basically the last ten seconds. It's the only time the music and lyrics gel.

SORROW IS A WOMAN

Another demo of an On Through The Night track. At this point the band was tighter, the songs more complete, and like the "Answer To The Master" demo, there's little difference on this demo. The only real difference is part of the first lead after the second verse is played differently.

WASTED

Some weird flange effect going on in this demo. Glad that never made the album. Haha. Some slight variations here, but nothing major. Not the best demo recording, but cool. Missing its balls.

WHEN THE WALLS CAME TUMBLING DOWN

One of my all-time favorite Lep tunes! And this a cool demo. The spoken intro that's on the On Through The Night version is sung in this demo. I like it better this way, actually. Not much else is different.

Up next: The Def Leppard EP

Have never heard that version of Waysted. Pretty ghey sounding.
Sorrow Is A Woman is one of the best DL songs ever.

This look and listen to early Def Leppard material is interesting, excellent job.

I will have to download these songs - looks like the same track list on the "unofficial" and illegally released "First Strike" which I have on MP3's....

Wow! Really... Thanks for the demos.

thanks Ken(again) good job !