Just Listening to…RIOT – Restless Breed
This remastered CD, complete with six spine-piercing bonus tracks, was a gift last summer. I never owned any Riot before, and frankly didn’t even know much about the band besides the track “Born in America”. A young pre-teen LeBrain said, “Who is this band? They stole their name from Quiet Riot and their song title from Springsteen!”
Yeah…no.
The gift-giver knew what I was missing and so sent me his remastered Restless Breed with Rhett Forrester on lead vocals. Riot was right in my wheelhouse. This is quintessential 80s, riding that fine line between hard rock and heavy metal, but leaning further towards metal. Solid riffs, memorable tunes, guitars out yer anus! It’s one of those albums that turns out to be exactly what I liked then, and still like now, even though I missed it for 37 years. The key, to me, is the powerhouse vocals of Forrester, who was murdered in a carjacking gone wrong in 1994. What pipes this man had! He could even make songs about a “Loanshark” sound cool. “Collecting payments overdue! Yai-yeah!” That gets a big “fuck yeah” from me.
I’m spinning Restless Breed for the first time in a couple months. “Loved By You” was the standout track last time. This time, it’s still the most obvious “hit” of the bunch. It’s extended to eight minutes on the bonus CD, called the Riot Live EP. Although it suffers from repetition, “Loved By You” is an easy song to love.
Thanks for the CD, guy. It certainly is Loved By Me!
Side one
1. “Hard Lovin’ Man” (Rhett Forrester, Doug Salomone) – 2:48
2. “C.I.A.” (Forrester) – 3:43
3. “Restless Breed” (Mark Reale) – 5:11
4. “When I Was Young” (Eric Burdon, Vic Briggs, John Weider, Barry Jenkins, Danny McCulloch) – 3:25
5. “Loanshark” (Reale, Forrester, Kip Leming) – 4:10
Side two
1. “Loved by You” (Rick Ventura) – 5:37
2. “Over to You” (Ventura) – 3:42
3. “Showdown” (Reale) – 3:49
4. “Dream Away” (Ventura) – 3:43
5. “Violent Crimes” (Leming, Forrester) – 2:30
2016 CD edition bonus tracks
11. “Hard Lovin’ Man” – 3:09
12. “Showdown” – 4:30
13. “Loved by You” – 8:02
14. “Loanshark” – 5:27
15. “Restless Breed” – 5:11
16. “Swords and Tequila” – 3:57
mikeladano.com 
Good choice! First Riot album I heard and I like it a lot.
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Me too! Never heard another before. Very happy with Mr Deke!
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He’s good people!
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Get more Riot Mike.
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Any recommendations? Are there more with Rhett?
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Wicked review Mikey!
Glad you enjoyed RIOT!
Guitars out your anus…hahahaha
2 Magazines went to Sausage Fest! Only one made it back!
haha..
ROCK N ROLL!
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I need to be clear — this is not a review! Just ramblings as I listened! A full review, deserving of this lovely gift of a glorious album, will come! I assure you it will receive the proper attention that this album deserves.
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Look forward to that Man!
Such a great album and I’m real glad your digging it!
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I am!! This has to be one of the best unexpected gifts I’ve ever had. So good…and you know how much I love bonus tracks.
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Cool man that made my day!
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Good album. Not my favourite of theirs but I’ve been enjoying it recently too. The title track is cool, very Bad Company.
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What’s your favourite?
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I prefer the Speranza stuff. Probably Narita. Do like Restless Breed though… want to get Born In America soon. Like these Just Listening posts BTW!
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Well thanks man! I appreciate that. Whitesnake Unzipped is the next one. I know you’ll be curious.
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I’ll admit, never listened to Riot. They kind missed the boat down here as I don’t really remember hearing much about them until these pages. Maybe I’ll stream this one to start.
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Or maybe Deke needs to send you some!
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I didn’t know that about Forrester, how awful! This is a great album though my preferences lean slightly more towards “Hot Down Under.”
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Is that one you’d recommend to me?
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Certainly, that album contains my favourite Riot song, “Swords and Tequila.” BTW, the album is “Fire Down Under” not Hot Down Under, my mistake.
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GOTCHA thank you. Swords and Tequila is on the live EP bonus tracks here too! Great song!
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Mr Books has Fire Down Under…..he will explain it all to ya!
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3 cheers for SuperDekes!
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That Deke is a stand up brother woooo!
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A tought: One thing I miss on these Lebrain Just Hear posts is your ratings. A score out of five from you tells us a lot!
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Wasn’t a huge fan, but many an adult beverage downed to “Swords & Tequila” in my youth! And that “Loved by You” track is absolute killer too!
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Hey Smithers! Thanks for the comment. Sounds like Swords and Tequila is the next one I need to snag.
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