Listen: Def Leppard’s Orchestral Reworking of ‘Hysteria’

Def Leppard has released the second single off their upcoming Drastic Symphonies orchestral album, a reworked version of “Hysteria.”

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The new version of  “Hysteria” comes shortly after ‘Drastic Symphonies’ lead single “Animal,” which was released in March. The New Album has taken some of Def Leppard’s best-known hits and reconstructed them with original audio from recordings, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to create a 15-track album.

‘Drastic Synphonies’ also features newly recorded vocals and guitars, with singer Joe Elliott duetting with his younger self at times.

“Def Leppard has always enjoyed veering off the expected path, working with the likes of Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, and Alison Krauss, for example,” Elliott said. “So when the offer to revisit some of our back catalog with the Royal Philharmonic was presented to us, to a man we all jumped at it. … Although we’re far from the first band to ever do this, working directly with an orchestra at Abbey Road on some of our more orchestrated songs seemed too good of an opportunity to pass up.”

Guitarist Phil Collen added, “We didn’t just want an orchestra plonked over our previous recordings. We decided to create something special where we would have something classic, but present it in a brand-new way.” That process included “recording new parts, remixing previous sounds, taking some of our instruments out so the orchestra could breathe and literally making a new album.”