The Randy Rhoads Years

Quiet Riot

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 26, 1993)
• Original Release Date: October 26, 1993
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B000003337
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #116,988 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There aren't enough words to describe this album, August 11, 2000

By	"kingofrock379" (New York) - See all my reviews

This is a great album, and as one of the other reviewers said it is great that Kevin Dubrow took the time to put out this tribute to the late great Randy Rhoads. Even though his playing is nothing compared to his later works with Ozzy, and the lyrics are kind of cheesy, and the overall sound of the band is pop metal doesn't mean that it's not good. To be totally honest even if Randy Rhoads wasn't on this album i'd still be inot it. I think that Kevin Dubrow has an amazingly powerful voice and the rhythm section at that time which featured Kelly Garni on bass and Drew Forsyth on drums was very powerful and solid, and Randy's playing was top notch.

The album begins with the song Trouble. This song was originally on Quiet Riot 2. The first 2 Quiet Riot albums were only released in Japan. There was also another album that was recorded but never released. Trouble is a great song and probably the best on this compilation. Randy's solo is great as usual. The next song is amazing also. It is a live version of Laughing Gas which features an extended solo from Randy and was recorded at the legendary L.A. club The Starwood. It's also cool because he plays parts in the solo that he used in Ozzy. In the middle of the solo he plays parts from Dee and Goodbye to Romance, and when the band comes back in they play the beginning of Crazy Train. The next song is Afterglow (Of your Love.) It is a great song. It's all acoustic except for the solo. It was originally from Quiet Riot 2 but this is a different version. Killer Girls is an upbeat pop metal song. It's a pretty good song. Again like every other song features amazing guitar work by Randy Rhoads. The next song Picking Up the Pieces is as pop as you're gonna get on this album. It was taken from the album Quiet Riot 3 which was never released. It is definately one of the best songs on this album. It also features Randy Rhoads playing bass after Kelly Garni quit the band. Last Call for Rock and Roll is another unreleased song. It was originally written for QR1 but never made it on the album. Breaking Up is a Heartache is the next song. This song like Picking Up the Pieces was on QR3. It also features Randy on bass. The solo in this song is also great because it is prett much the same solo that Randy used in the rare Ozzy song You Looking at Me Looking at You which was the b-side to the original Crazy Train single. On the next song Force of Habit Randy is playing the riff from Suicide Solution during the verse. The next song It's Not So Funny has an amazing solo. It's great because Randy double tracked it. It sounds amazing. This song is also similar to their post Randy songs. The last song on the album Look In Any Window was written by Randy. It is another amazing song with amazing guitar playing. I hope that one day there will be a Randy Rhoads Years Volume 2 becuase there is still many amazing songs that haven't seen the light of day. I suggest this album to anyone, especially guitar players and pop metal fans. I also reccommend the Ozzy albums Blizzard of Ozz, Diary of a Madman, and Tribute because they feature Randy's amazing guitar playing.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great compilation of the early Quiet Riot days, May 27, 2004

By	Jesse "if it ain't metal, it's CRAP" (Winsted, CT) - See all my reviews

Well there are a good amount of people that don't realize that Randy Rhoads is the man that started Quiet Riot when he was 16. Metal Health was not the first album by this band. This album has some tracks from the first 2 Quiet Riot albums which were only released in Japan. Randy was a great guitarist in the '70s before joining Ozzy. I think the songs on this compilation are better than anything Quiet Riot went on to release throughout the '80s and beyond. Kevin DuBrow's voice is much more solid in these recordings. Songs like "Trouble" and "Killer Girls" were remixed and sound better than the originals. "Last Call For Rock & Roll" was originally "Mama's Angels" from Quiet Riot 1 and was re-made with new lyrics and basically turned into a completely different song that is only available on this album and I must say it's a great tune. If you want to hear some of the earlier works of Randy Rhoads and how Quiet Riot started out, this is a compilation well worth purchasing.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A REAL TREAT FOR RANDY RHOADS FANS, March 22, 2008

By	G. A. Casas "bert_casas" (Miami, Florida) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've always admired Randy Rhoads playing ability, but never actually heard the earlier Quiet Riot material, because it wasn't released in the US. I finally managed to track down cd quality bootlegs of QR1 and QR2 and can compare them to this album. Like some of the other reviews here have already stated, there are songs on here newer than QR 1 & 2, which is very cool. They were of the caliber that had they been released at the time, they probably would have a minor hit. I especially enjoyed the original version of Slick Black Cadillac. I happen to like it better than the version which appeared on the Metal Health album, which recorded by different musicians alltogether. In comparing this album to the actual earlier recordings, I like this one better, because the sound is dramatically improved. The older albums weren't mixed very well, and the bass is very muddy sounding. The drummer was also not particularly good. I'm a drummer, so maybe I'm a little critical, but the drummer overplays is erratic and plays inconsistently. I get the impression he didn't ever play the song the same way twice, which for a drummer is a bad habit.

The vocals were rerecorded sometimes with completely different lyrics. This point has been controversial, but honestly in my opinion this is a good thing because some of the lyrics in the originals, were absolutely terrible. Wholesale changes were made to a couple of songs, but again, the newer versions sound much better. They even changed some of the choruses and moved the refrain parts around. Again, it made the songs much better because the originals weren't that great. So in this respect, I'm glad they did take liberties with the vocals.

For me the most pleasant surprise was hearing Randy apparently channeling Glen Buxton. I had read once that Randy Rhoads was a huge Alice Cooper fanatic, which is cool because I am also a fanatic of that band. I can really hear the influences of Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce, the guitarists of that legendary band. The song "Look in any Window" is so heavily influenced by very early Cooper Albums like "Pretties for you" or even "Freak Out Song," which I point out was sadly taken out of print for many years. The entire guitar sound both rythym and lead, sound like early Cooper. I love it! There is "Alice Cooper" sprinkled in virtually every song he ever recorded, so it was especially cool to see how this was such a huge part of his overall style so early on.

My last comment is those who make harsh assessments of this album. These guys were 17 to 19 years old when they were recorded. Except for Randy, they all were just learning their instruments and begining to develop writing styles. Randy was going to be a star no matter what, but I feel that had they had better lyrics, they could have been huge.