Def Leppard - Retro Active (Compilation) (1993)

Def Leppard - Retro Active (Compilation) (1993)

Tracklist front / back album covers

1. "Desert Song"   5:19

2. "Fractured Love"   5:08

3. "Action"   3:41

4. "Two Steps Behind" (acoustic version)   4:16

5. "She's Too Tough"   3:41

6. "Miss You in a Heartbeat" (acoustic version)   4:04

7. "Only After Dark"   3:52

8. "Ride into the Sun" (1987 re-recording)   3:12

9. "From the Inside" (with the Hothouse Flowers)   4:13

10. "Ring of Fire"   4:42

11. "I Wanna Be Your Hero"   4:29

12. "Miss You in a Heartbeat" (electric version)   4:58

13. "Two Steps Behind" (electric version)   4:29

14. "Miss You in a Heartbeat" (piano version) (hidden track)   4:09

Track notes

"Desert Song" was a previously unreleased outtake from the Hysteria album sessions (1984–87).

"Fractured Love" was also a previously unreleased outtake from the Hysteria album sessions.

"Action" was originally released on the "Make Love Like a Man" single; this version has re-recorded snare drums.

"Two Steps Behind" was originally released on the "Make Love Like a Man" single. The acoustic version here has added strings from the original and is the same version released on the Last Action Hero soundtrack four months prior. The electric version of the song had never been released previously.

"She's Too Tough" was released on the singles for "Heaven Is", "Tonight", and "Stand Up (Kick Love into Motion)", as well as the Japanese versions of Adrenalize before the drums were re-recorded for the version that appears here.

"Miss You in a Heartbeat" was released on the "Make Love Like a Man" single as well as the Japanese versions of Adrenalize. All three versions that appear on this album are new recordings and had never been released before.

"Only After Dark" had previously appeared on the "Let's Get Rocked" single, and extra guitars were added for this release.

"Ride Into the Sun" first appeared on the band's first commercial release, The Def Leppard E.P.. The song was then re-recorded and released on the "Hysteria" single in 1987, as well as some editions of "Love Bites" in 1988. This version is the same as the 1987 version but with rerecorded drums and a new intro.

"From the Inside" appears as it did in its original release on the 1992 single release of "Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad" and some single releases of "Stand Up (Kick Love into Motion)".

"Ring of Fire" was originally released on the 1988 singles "Pour Some Sugar on Me" in the US and "Armageddon It" in the UK. The song was only partially re-recorded and amended for this release.

"I Wanna Be Your Hero" was originally released on the 1987 singles "Animal" in the US and "Pour Some Sugar on Me" in the UK. The version here features a different intro and re-recorded drums.

Def Leppard Band Members / Musicians

Rick Allen – drums

Vivian Campbell – electric guitars, acoustic guitars, backing vocals

Steve Clark – electric guitars

Phil Collen – electric guitars, acoustic guitars, backing vocals

Joe Elliott – lead vocals, backing vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, jungle orchestra on "Fractured Love"

Rick Savage – bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, rhythm guitar on “Ring of Fire”

Ian Hunter – honky tonk messiah on "Ride into the Sun"

Michael Kamen – string arrangement on "Two Steps Behind" (acoustic version)

Robert John "Mutt" Lange – backing vocals on "Ring of Fire"

Fiachna Ó Braonáin – tin whistle on "From the Inside"

Liam Ó Maonlaí – grand piano on "From the Inside"

Peter O'Toole – mandolin on "From the Inside"

P.J. Smith – backing vocals on "Action"

Pete Woodroffe – piano on "Miss You in a Heartbeat" (acoustic and piano versions)

Def Leppard – producer

Pete Woodroffe – engineer, mixing, co-producer on tracks 2-4, 6 & 14

Janfred Arendsen – engineer

Albert Boekholt – engineer

Giles Cowley – mixing

Freek Feenstra – engineer

Nigel Green – engineer

Steve McGaughlin – engineer

Erwin Musper – engineer

Nial O'Sullivan – mixing

Ronald Prent – engineer

Robert Scovill – engineer

Mike Shipley – engineer

Retro Active is a compilation album by the English rock band Def Leppard, released in 1993. The album features touched-up versions of B-sides and previously unreleased recordings from the band's recording sessions from 1984 to 1993. The album charted at number 9 on the Billboard 200 and No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart.