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Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen is pumped - about the band's new live collection, that is! © Scott D. Smith/Retna Ltd./Corbis

"I supposed we could've called it Def Leppard Comes Alive!, but somebody's already used that," jokes guitarist Phil Collen about the band's upcoming live album, Mirrorball. "Joe Elliot and I were talking for ages about what to call it. At one point, he suggested Mirrorball, which I liked. So I was at the NAMM show and I started talking about the record and referring to it by that title. Then everybody started to want to call it Def Leppard Live, and I was like, 'Too late, guys. The name's already out there.' Beside, it's more than just a live album when you think about it."

Mirrorball is a bulging affair, to be sure - two CDs of rousing live performances (all the hits and more), along with a bonus DVD of assorted goodies. In addition, the set contains three new studio tracks, Kings Of The World, It's All About Believing and the can't-get-it-out-of-your-head-if-you-tried number one radio smash, Undefeated.

With a release date of 30 May in the UK and 7 June in the States, Mirrorball comes on the heels of a 48-city Def Leppard summer tour (starting 15 June in West Palm Beach, Florida and wrapping 15 September in Auburn, Washington, with warm-up shows in Belfast and Dublin on 7, 8 June, respectively, and a headline appearance at the Download Festival in Donnington Park, UK on 10 June). "All in all, it's shaping up to be a crazy-busy time for me," says Collen, who also just wrapped up recording a new disc with his side band, Manraze (we'll have more on that CD in the coming months).

And if that weren't enough, he and co-Lep guitarist Vivian Campbell recently completed work on Dreamin' With Def Leppard (due out 28 June), a collection of the band's classic tunes rendered as lullabies. Wait a minute…Dep Leppard as children's music? What are we, f-f-f-Foolin'? "It's not as odd as it sounds," says Collen with a laugh. "Well, actually, it is kind of odd until you hear it – and then you go, 'OK, I get it now.' It's really quite special."

MusicRadar sat down with Collen the other day to talk about Mirrorball and Dreamin' With Def Leppard. In addition, near the conclusion of the interview, we spoke about Collen's one-time partner in riffery, the late Steve Clark, who passed away 20 years last January. "I think about Steve all the time," Collen says softly. "It's good to know he hasn't been forgotten by all the fans who loved him, as I most surely did."

Mirrorball is a very cohesive live album. I was a bit surprised to see that it wasn't recorded during one show – it's culled from a few dates.

"That's right. We record every night we play – we've been doing that for years – so there was a lot of material to go through. The main thing we did was listen back to shows and focus on how good the audience was on any given night. Was the crowd really rockin', you know what I mean? You can focus on your own playing here and there, or if Joe's singing particularly well. Luckily, we're pretty consistent. I'd put us at 85 percent on a live scale. Sometimes there's a rough night, but nothing too horrible. There's a couple little guitar mistakes that I hear, but I don't mind."

You didn't punch in any guitar tracks?

"No. Nothing. No redoing of guitar parts, vocals, nothing. I can't speak for anybody else, but I didn't touch a thing. What I played live is what you hear on the album."

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