Released on the heels of the stilted, static Cahoots, the double-album Rock of Ages occupies a curious yet important place in Band history. Recorded at a spectacular New Years Eve 1971 gig, the show and album were intended to be a farewell of sorts before the Band took an extended break in 1972, but it turned out to be a last hurrah in many different ways, closing the chapter on the first stage of their career, when they were among the biggest and most important rock & roll bands. That sense of importance had started to creep into their music, turning their studio albums after The Band into self-conscious affairs, and even the wildly acclaimed first two albums seemed to float out of time, existing in a sphere of their own and never having the kick of a rock & roll band.
1987. Naive Sherrie Christian has just arrived in Hollywood from Tulsa looking to become a rock star.
Released on the heels of the stilted, static Cahoots, the double-album Rock of Ages occupies a curious yet important place in Band history. Recorded at a spectacular New Years Eve 1971 gig, the show and album were intended to be a farewell of sorts before the Band took an extended break in 1972, but it turned out to be a last hurrah in many different ways, closing the chapter on the first stage of their career, when they were among the biggest and most important rock & roll bands…
The 2005 double-disc set Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection is the second Def Leppard compilation to be released in the U.S. The first, Vault: Def Leppard Greatest Hits, appeared ten years earlier, and while the band was active in the decade separating the two albums, charting fairly consistently, it didn't have any major hits during that time, so the chief appeal of Rock of Ages versus Vault is that it covers more ground. Vault had 15 songs. Rock of Ages has 35, including all of the songs on Vault…
In 1997 Bob Dylan nearly died, and it seems like ever since, he's been out on the road trying to gather as many souls as possible, converting the world one by one with the fervor of a man who's been returned to his path by God himself. For the die-hard, the zealous, the purist, there are "field recordings" of virtually every show the man has done in the past several years … you could commit considerable time and energy sorting through them all, trying to find the best performances, the best setlists, the best sound. But for those of us who value time over money and trust the experts to handle the situation on behalf of everyone concerned, there is Rock of Ages, perhaps the most lovingly assembled and beautifully-packaged bootleg ever made…