My thoughts are with those in Boston tonight. Yesterday, T-Rev, Wes and I attended the The Toronto Musical Collectibles Record & CD Sale. T-Rev went specifically hoping to find Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake by the Small Faces, on vinyl, with the original round cover in displayable condition. He came home with that record for the price of $30.
I hit paydirt. I came with $200 and I left with $0 (there was a $5 entrance fee). I also left with seven (7!!!) Japanese import rock albums all with bonus tracks, five 12″ records, a 7″ single, and a rare book. Today I’ll show you the CDs, which I am most excited about! You can see the rest another day.
You can’t find Japanese imports anymore around here. And many of these are long out of print. I’ve been looking for the Pistols’ Filthy Lucre Live since 1996. Blackmore’s Rainbow is one that I’d seen before. The HMV store at Fairview Mall in Kitchener had one…in 1995. Rob Vuckovich used to try to goad me into buying it, but I couldn’t pay the $50 price tag for just one bonus track. $15 though? With obi strip intact? Hell yeah!
So here’s the list of Japanese imports and what I paid. I believe most of these have to be half of retail.
HAREM SCAREM – Live at the Gods. This is a Japanese exclusive live album. I paid $20, sealed.
SEX PISTOLS – Filthy Lucre Live. I’ve been waiting a long time. I love this album. Two bonus tracks: “Buddies” (“Bodies”) and “No Fun”.
SCORPIONS – Face the Heat. I paid $15, for 2 wimpy bonus tracks called “Kami O Shin Jiru” and “Daddy’s Girl”. Both are ballads, but for $15, no bother!
IAN GILLAN – Gillan’s Inn. This one was a bit more expensive: $30, because it had the DVD (that won’t play in this region). But it also has the bonus track “Eternity” that isn’t even on the Tour Edition.
CORROSION OF CONFORMITY – Wiseblood. I paid $20, has the bonus track “The Land of Free Disease”.
RAINBOW – Stranger In Us All. Bonus track: “Emotional Crime”. Paid $15.
WHITESNAKE – Good To Be Bad. Paid $20, sealed. Two bonus tracks: “All For Love (Alt mix/Doug solo)” and “Summer Rain (Unzipped)”.
TOM GREEN – Inside & Outside the Box – The Tom Green Show: The Complete Series (2005 VSC)
As longtime LeBrain readers know, I was named King of the 4-O’clock 4-Play by Craig Fee on Dave FM. I won a lot of stuff on that show. One of the best things I won was a pair of tickets to see Tom Green at Crysalids Theatre, 9/22/11 with my best buddy Peter. Tom was great, it was a celebration of the true spirit of stand-up comedy and he stuck around to take photos and sign stuff with everybody afterward. I don’t think Tom Green gets enough respect for being an innovator as a comedian. That’s why I felt inspired enough to write this review.
The most important thing to know about Tom Green: MTV ruined Tom Green! The MTV years, although peppered with some genius sketches such as “Undercutter’s Pizza”, was not at all what the original Tom Green Show was about.
This 3 disc set comprises Tom Green’s entire Comedy Network shows. In other words, the good stuff. The weird stuff. The offensive stuff. The stuff that Jackass ended up ripping off (particularly Bam Margera). Best of all though, this is the pre-fame stuff. Tom Green could still run around downtown Ottawa without people knowing it was for a TV show.
You will see herein:
* Tom throwing all of Glenn Humplik’s clothes out of a plane in an evil double-cross.
* Tom burning Glenn’s shirt.
* Will Ferrell proclaiming that he hates Glenn and wants to punch him.
* Tom turning grape juice into pee (for science)!
* The dead raccoon.
* Tom demonstrating how a bus cannot move if you place your face on the bus.
* Repainting his dad’s car with a huge portrait of two naked women (the “slutmobile”).
* “Scuba Hood”. He robs from the poor (fountains in malls, apparently) and gives to the rich (banks).
* Hanging his painting, “Tiger Zebra”, in the Ottawa Art Gallery, and then defacing it.
* and much, much more….
What you won’t see:
* You won’t see any bums on Swedishes. That’s MTV stuff and not even half as good as this earlier stuff.
What I still like about the Tom Green show is that it is seldom mean spirited. He picks on his friend Glenn a lot, which I can’t help but think that Kenny Hotz ripped off later on. Everything else was done in this pseudo-naive childish fashion, and that is why I can watch The Tom Green Show over a decade later and laugh like the first time I saw it. This DVD for me has rendered obselete all of his old VHS tapes that I collected religiously. That stuff is on here, and it’s as fresh as ever.
OZZY OZBOURNE – iTunes Festival 2010 (iTunes exclusive EP)
Jesus Murphy! How much live product does Ozzy need? Remember back in the 80’s when he used to moan and moan about record companies who wanted to release live stuff with his hits and Sabbath tunes? Well, for a guy who complained about it, he sure didn’t break the cycle.
This is Ozzy’s third live EP (after Live E.P. and Just Say Ozzy). For those keeping score, Ozzy also has four full length or double live albums, a live bonus disc to the Diary of a Madman album, and several live bonus tracks. But who’s keeping track? I guess it’s kind of cool that this EP was released three days after it was recorded on July 3, 2010…if you were there…or even knew it was happening…I guess.
Anyway this live EP was cool at least because it was the first live product available with Ozzy’s new guitar wizard Gus G. The band was rounded out by Blasko (bass), Tommy Clufetos (drums) and Adam Wakeman (keys). Hmm, didn’t two of those guys also play on the last Black Sabbath tour?
It’s entertaining enough, but any Ozzy live product in the last 20 years has felt like “just another live album” to me. Even with the new lineup on this one, I can’t feel too excited. At least I got one song that I didn’t have any live versions of: the new “Let Me Hear You Scream”. Oh, wait, hold on — another live version was on the Scream tour edition that was released a few months later! Jesus! This iTunes version sound like it has loads of taped backing vocals. Too bad.
“Mr. Crowley” is next, a fine version, nothing wrong with it, after all these years nothing can compete with the version on Randy Rhoads Tribute. Gus G plays the solo pretty much perfectly, but something’s missing. Maybe it’s that the song is tuned down for Ozzy’s voice. Ozzy reminds us that he wants to see “some fuckin’ hands”. Another Blizzard of Ozz track follows, “I Don’t Know”. Gus G gets to do some more original shredding here, as he puts his own spin on an Ozzy classic. This guy will be a guitarist to watch, as he grows.
“Suicide Solution” is the third of three tracks from Blizzard. I think it’s a shame that Ozzy keeps playing the oldies while leaving more recent songs behind him. On this EP, only “Let Me Hear You Scream” is newer than 1991. I for one would probably poop if I got to hear something like “Perry Mason” or “Trap Door”. At least Gus G breaks the world landspeed record with his solo.
One song I never liked, ever, is “I Don’t Want to Change the World” from No More Tears. This is the fifth version I own now. It’s just…I dunno…I hate the chorus. It’s too pop for Ozzy. It’s like Bon Ozzy, or something. Ozz Jovi.
My favourite track is last: “War Pigs”. Even though “War Pigs” is on pretty much every Ozzy live album ever made, this version is one of the most fun! I just love when Ozzy tells the audience this:
“Clap your fuckin’ hands, come on you fuckin’ assholes!”
That is just hilarious! I always laugh. When I put this song on mix discs, I always label it “War Pigs (‘You fuckin’ assholes’ version)”.
OZZY OZBOURNE – “How?” (2010 iTunes single)
The last thing I want to talk about is Ozzy’s studio version of John Lennon’s “How?”. This is also an iTunes exclusive, released in October 2010, shortly after the EP. It was released on what would have been Lennon’s 70th birthday, with the proceeds going to Amnesty International.
Causes and good intentions aside, I think this version is just as crappy as anything on Ozzy’s dreadful Under Cover CD. This is just…dull, boring, and not good. I don’t know who played on it or produced it because there are no credits. (Physical product! This is why I care!)
BON JOVI – “Because We Can” (2013 Island Records Japanese single)
There was a time I used to look forward to new releases by Bon Jovi. It’s been a long time since I felt that way. I thought the band bounced back (pun intended) with 2002’s Bounce, then they lost me immediately again with This Left Feels Right. I don’t like to give up on bands that I used to feel strongly about, so I decided to check out Bon Jovi’s newest single, “Because We Can”.
I chose the Japanese single as it had one more track than the European. I had not even heard the song yet. It is written by Jon, Richie and songsmith Billy Falcon, produced by Jon and John Shanks. (In other words, more of the same…) The single came with a small 6-panel fold out poster and lyric booklet in English and Japanese.
The light glare completely erased Dave Bryan from this photo!
Like many fans who have been hanging on long past Bon Jovi’s best before date, I found the song disappointing. Rather than growing, it sounds like Bon Jovi are returning to the mainstream modern pop sounds of Have A Nice Day or even Lost Highway. Bon Jovi’s never been the hardest rocking band, but they have written some great passionate rock songs in the past. “Because We Can”, by title alone, should be in your face and proud of it. Instead, it’s another faceless Pop Jovi song. I’m going to write my own Pop Jovi song called “Who Says We Ain’t Strangers Tonight Because We Got It Goin’ On”.
I hate the chorus, it would be embarrassing to be caught singing this one. There are some nice guitar licks flitting here and there, almost Brian May-like in sound, but barely audible. Everything is buried under a thick blanket of backing vocals, plastic drums and electronic sounds. You can barely make out Richie’s voice, and what passes for a guitar solo is really just a layered guitar melody. At least the Japanese single comes with an instrumental version, which will allow you to hear Richie’s simple and sparing guitar.
The third and final track is a 7 minute live version of “Keep the Faith”, from 2010 in New Jersey. Even this is slightly more laid back than the original 1992 version. But at least it shows that Bon Jovi can write and play challenging material while keeping it accessible. From the manic drum patterns to Richie’s smokin’ solo, this live version is everything that “Because We Can” should be. Richie really shines on this track; I hope he comes back. Bon Jovi without Richie ain’t Bon Jovi.
Based on this single, I won’t be buying the new album What About Now unless I find it cheap.
In 1994, Garth Brooks issued his 10 million copy selling compilation album, The Hits. On the front cover was an interesting notation: “limited time only”.
Now, I’ve bought discs that were limited edition before and were numbered to prove it. For example I recently picked up #5945 of the “Credo” single by Fish. Even so…that’s a lot of copies out there for a single by Fish. How many copies of a Fish single would be made anyway? And aren’t all singles limited edition? After all, they aren’t going to make more once they’ve run their course, no matter who the artist is. Onto the next thing.
And then of course you have some seriously limited edition items, like that recent Thin Lizzy Live at the BBC box set! I’m not sure how many copies were made, but everybody’s sold out, and now you have to buy it from people asking way too much. Over $250 USD on Amazon right now. Forget it! That is limited edition.
When Garth plastered “limited time only” all over The Hits, it quickly became a joke. We ordered 50 copies of them, and sold most during the first week. We ordered another 50 copies, as Christmas was coming soon. Those sold. We ordered 20 more after Christmas had passed, and continued to order them every week into the new year whenever we sold out. Some limited edition!
10,000,000 people bought it, and I’m sure 99.9% would have bought it without that “limited time” tag. With great pomp and circumstance, Garth then had the master tapes destroyed.
The master tapes to a freakin’ greatest hits album! Who cares?
It was really hard to take the phrase “limited edition” seriously after that. The next release that came out that truly was a limited edition was the Smashing Pumpkins box set The Aeroplane Flies High, but even that enjoyed a second run when the first printing sold out.
So: the lesson here folks is, when it says limited edition, be skeptical! Very few things are, and the ones that really are limited aren’t always advertized as such. Record labels want to make money, right?
Unfortunately, Garth didn’t put this one on his box set!
Lee Aaron: Canada’s “Metal Queen”. It is a name she will never live down despite the credible jazz career. Try as she did to distance herself from the Metal Queen tag, Lee’s seems to embrace it more recently, even throwing a funky jazz-tinged version into her sets, as a mash-up with “Mysterious Ways” by U2! And it works!
In the late 80’s, Lee (aka Karen) was less comfortable than today with being the Metal Queen, and her 1987 self-titled disc is possibly the best example of this. All shades of metal were dropped; what was left is a mainstream pop rock record co-written with professionals such as Marc Ribler and Joe freakin’ Lynn Turner.
Growing up in Canada, you basically had two mainstream choices in female rock singers: Lita Ford, or Lee Aaron. That was all MuchMusic would play. OK, sure the odd Joan Jett track too, after her resurgence with Up Your Alley. That was it. Otherwise the Pepsi Power Hour was pretty much devoid of regular female rock heroes. There were the odd flashes in the pain — Vixen, Madame X — but Lee and Lita were the only two to get regular play year in year out. Lee of course had the trump card labelled CanCon in her deck.
I got this album for Christmas 1987, and I was so disappointed. The sound — plastic, turgid, processed, synthetic, with hardly any guitars. The songs — commercial pop designed to get played on the radio and not a hint of metal to be found anywhere. John Albini (now blonde all of a sudden?) is still her guitarist and co-writer, but there’s much less guitar on this album. There are also some truly awful, awful songs on here, most notably “Don’t Rain On My Parade”. I won’t tell what that rains smells like, but it don’t smell good.
The single/ballad “Only Human” is a decent song, very soft, but not too far off from stuff the Scorpions would do later on! (Lee actually sang backup vocals on “The Rhythm of Love” by the Scorps in ’88.) The best track is actually the pop keyboard rocker, “Powerline”. The guitar is not as dominant as the keyboards, but it does at least have some guitar. It has Joe Lynn Turner’s melodic sensibilities and songcraft, hooks galore, and a smashing chorus.
But then you get tripe like “Goin’ Off the Deep End”, “Dream With Me”, and…ugh. There was just no way, as a 15 year old, I was going to let anybody catch me listening to those songs. People might have thought I’d stolen my sister’s Tiffany tapes or something.
Turns out that Lee, despite that powerful voice, just wasn’t cut out to be a Metal Queen. She’s doing great as a jazz singer, and I think that’s just fine.
Mick Fleetwood and Dweezil Zappa appear in this cheesey 80’s classic!
THE RUNNING MAN (1987, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, directed by Paul Michael Glaser)
It’s hard to believe that, as goofy as The Running Man is, it came so close to predicting what aspects of our society would be like in the future. We still have a few years before we hit 2019, perhaps we are right on track for our 2019 to match this version!
The Running Man is loosely (and I mean, very very very loosely) based on the novella by Richard Bachman, otherwise known to his “dear readers” as Stephing King. Where the King book involved a desperate man who needs money to buy medicine, and a game where he can travel anywhere in the world, the movie scales things back. Ah-nold, at his one-liner best, is Ben Richards, a former pilot who disobeyed orders and refused to fire on an unarmed mob. He is imprisoned but escapes, and is now about to appear on “The Running Man”, a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week television show (hmmm, Big Brother?) and fight for his life. The prize is a full pardon for your crimes, a loss means death.
This story was recently ripped off in a lil’ smash hit movie called The Hunger Games. Perhaps you’ve seen it, or a 13 year old girl wearing a Peeta shirt?
Society is now a police state (hmmm?) and the people are distracted by endless game shows on television (hmmm?). News is heavily censored and “edited for television” (hmmm?). Ben Richards’ crime of disobeying orders has been spun by the networks — they show a fake video of him firing on the unarmed crowd, earning himself the nickname “The Butcher of Bakersfield”. Now he will have the chance to win his freedom on The Running Man, but the odds are well stacked against him. By his side, also fighting for their lives, are two captured freedom fighters. These guys are hoping to use their capture to find the source of network transmissions. Then they could jam it, and broadcast the truth of what the world has become….
The Running Man is not a great film. It’s an 80’s Arnold film. If you’ve seen one, you know what you’re getting. Lots of action. Arnold must battle “Stalkers” on The Running Man. Much like the gladiators on American Gladiators, these stalkers will do everything they can to stop Arnold from winning. They include:
* Sub-Zero, as played by Professor Toru Tanaka (weapons include hockey stick blade and exploding pucks)
* Fireball, played by Jim Brown (flamethrower, jet pack)
* the opera-loving Dynamo (who has a punk-rock-looking suit that can fire electricity; sings)
* Buzzsaw (so named for his use of chainsaw and motorcycle)
* the retired Captain Freedom (Arnold’s friend Jesse Ventura)
The show is run by Damien Killian (subtle!), played by former Family Feud host Richard Dawson. Nobody could have played this role better than Dawson. While playing a game show host was not a stretch for him, Dawson was absolutely flawless in the role. Other famous names include Yaphet Kotto (Alien) as another Running Man contestant, Mick Fleetwood as former-musician-turned-freedom-fighter named Mic (I like to think Mick is just playing the future version of himself) and a very young Dweezil Zappa.
The blu-ray disc has enough bonus features to keep you going after the film has ended, including audio commentaries and featurettes. The audio is really nice, mastered in sweet, sweet 7.1 surround. When Arnold is in that little pod heading down to The Running Man’s play area, the sound was awesome. If you have 7.1 at home you need to check this out. I really enjoyed the sound.
If you like other cheesey Arnold Schwarzenegger movies such as Total Recall or Commando, add The Running Man to your collection. If you like movies with a stirring plot and dramatic acting, avoid at all costs. Regardless of your feelings on this film, do try to read the book. I have always felt that a remake of this film, following King’s book, is well overdue.
One day in the early 2000’s, I was at work, and had this album playing. This guy was in the store, that actually worked at the HMV. As soon as “Truth?” came on, he approached me.
“I can’t believe you’re playing this album. This is great. I don’t know anybody else who really knows this album at all.”
That’s the way Slang went for Def Leppard. It came out to disappointment from the types who want to hear the same album over and over again. (They were obliged on Euphoria). I really dug Slang, then and now. If anything, today I think it might be a tad ballad-heavy. I still love it, and I am excited that Def Leppard plan on releasing a deluxe edition with bonus tracks soon. In the meantime, I have my original limited edition 2 CD set that came with a bonus disc called Acoustic in Singapore.
“Truth?” is a thunderous opener, laden with modern sounding samples and rhythms. Even better is the hypnotic “Turn to Dust”. Although it moves slow, it has loads of exotic atmosphere and instrumentation. Neither of these songs sound like old Def Leppard. There are major changes, including acoustic drums, darker tones and a noticeable lack of shout-along gang vocals.
It’s still the same spirit though. There’s an obsessive attention to detail, layers of backing vocals, and tasty choruses. It’s just 1996’s version of those things. Listen to the title track, “Slang”, for example. It doesn’t sound like anything Leppard have done before, but you can see it as “Sugar” a decade later if you like.
“All I Want Is Everything” is another personal favourite, a great ballad but again unlike what Def Leppard has done before. It has a certain power to it, without being loud and obnoxious. It has a plaintive quality and a fantastic chorus.
Next is “Work It Out” , a contribution from “new kid” Vivian Campbell. It is absolutely loaded with cool guitar squeeks and squonks, no wankery, but a new kind of guitar heroism. These little adornments are there in the mix waiting to be discovered, under suitably thick drones of rhythm guitars. I love this song, which really proved to me that Leppard had successfully adapted their sound to the mid-90’s. A shame it didn’t sell.
Phil’s “Breathe A Sigh” is one that threw a lot of people for a loop. Either Spin or Rolling Stone (I forget which) compared it to TLC. Indeed, loops make up a large part of the percussion parts, and the band seem to be trying R&B on for size. What keeps it Def Leppard are the layers of droney guitars in the back of the mix, and the immaculate vocal choirs.
Interestingly, Slang was stacked with four singles in a row, “Breathe A Sigh” being the final single. This does not mean the album is out of ammunition. “Deliver Me” brings back the heavy. Leppard In Chains? Def Temple Pilots? Not one of the best songs, “Deliver Me” at least balances some of the softer material. Better is “Gift of Flesh”, a driving riff rocker with some slammin’ drums from Rick Allen. Phil wrote this one. I bet it would have been smokin’ live if they ever played it.
This fades directly into a lush but quiet ballad called “Blood Runs Cold”. I could imagine some old-timey fans running away in fear that their nuts would shrivel, at the sound of this one. I love this song, but I’m not sure it needed to be followed by yet another ballad, “Where Does Love Go When It Dies”. Although not a single, “Where Does Love Go When It Dies” was recently dusted off by the band as part of their recent acoustic medley. It is more upbeat than the previous song, and has a folky campfire quality. It also gives the album a sense of flow: an upturn before the dramatic closer.
“Pearl of Euphoria” is that dramatic closer, which returns the listener to the dark, powerful tones that we began with. Leppard don’t often reflect a strong Led Zeppelin influence, but you can definitely hear some “Kashmir” here. Not only is Rick Allen laying down a Bonham-esque groove, but some of the guitar bits flying in and out of the speakers remind me of the sound collage section in “Whole Lotta Love”. It’s a great closing song.
The Acoustic in Singapore disc was a limited edition run, but since the album didn’t sell well you can find them quite easily. This six song disc was recorded in late ’95. Both discs were co-produced by Pete Woodroffe. Some songs work really well acoustically. “Armageddon It” works surprisingly well, a fresh summery version. Some were acoustic originally, like “Two Steps Behind”. It’s cool to have but certainly not essential to your enjoyment of Slang.
Growing up in the 1980’s, Quiet Riot was the first “metal” band I liked. Back then, we were aware that Quiet Riot had two albums prior to Metal Health. These albums seemed unobtainable forever at best, mythical at worst! The first two, Quiet Riot and Quiet Riot II, were released in Japan only. Later on, I did manage to get both albums, so I have a unique perspective on this CD: The Randy RhoadsYears, by Quiet Riot.
See, here’s a nutshell version of the story: QR lead howler and co-founder Kevin DuBrow had wanted to re-release the Randy material for years. Randy himself was never happy with those albums, nor his guitar sound on those albums. In light of this, the late guitarist’s mother Delores was very guarded of Randy’s legacy. She knew that Randy felt the albums consisted of sub-par songs with horrible production. DuBrow eventually won her blessing to re-release some of the old Quiet Riot material, but on one condition only: Get the quality of the songs up to snuff so it doesn’t tarnish Randy’s legacy.
So that’s what he did, using all the means available, and the result is a highly modified collection of Quiet Riot songs with Randy Rhoads.
I can tell people out there who haven’t heard the first two albums that they do sound awful. That’s not a myth. Randy’s guitar is but a shadow of what it would become, and the songs are mostly pretty bad, especially on the first album. The second is much better (particularly in the songwriting category) but it is still hampered by poor production. So what could DuBrow do to get permission to do a re-release?
He started by picking out six of the better songs from the first two records: “Mama’s Little Angels”, “It’s Not So Funny”, and “Look in Any Window” from Quiet Riot, and “Trouble”, “Killer Girls”, and “Afterglow (Of Your Love)” from Quiet Riot II. All of these songs were heavily remixed, with completely re-recorded vocals, from scratch. DuBrow felt, probably correctly, that his original singing voice on those albums was too “boy-ish”.
DuBrow re-sampled all the drums, and re-recorded all of Randy’s guitar tracks through a Marshall stack. Randy had confided with Kevin that he was happiest with the way his guitar sounded live with Ozzy, so Kevin recorded the original, sterile guitar tracks through Carlos Cavazo’s amps. They used the Randy Rhoads Tribute CD as a guide.
On one guitar solo, Kevin knew that Randy wished he had used a wah-wah, but couldn’t afford the pedal at the time. Kevin played the wah-wah pedal himself, using Randy’s guitar tracks, a unique form of collaboration between two friends.
With the Small Faces cover, “Afterglow”, Kevin came up with a cool idea. “Unplugged” albums were on trend, so Kevin stripped all the drums and electric instruments off the track, leaving just Randy’s bare acoustic guitar. It is like stripping a layer of paint off old beautiful old wood: the bare guitar track reveals previously unheard warmth. Kevin re-sang the vocal, kept the electric guitar solo intact, and used a triangle sample to cover up places where the original drums had leaked into Randy’s mike. This painstaking work created from the ground up an incredible alternate version that Randy would hopefully have been very proud of.
None of these people are Frankie Banali.
One of Quiet Riot II‘s best songs is “Trouble”. Kevin felt that it plodded too much, so he slightly sped it up which also raised its pitch. He then re-sang it, and the result is a much better song. Suddenly “Trouble” is a rich sounding hit-worthy rock track.
“Killer Girls” had some minor tampering, a blast of guitar where previously there was nothing. It is “Last Call For Rock ‘n’ Roll” that is most changed. Previously titled “Mama’s Little Angels” on Quiet Riot, Kevin re-wrote what he thought was a juvenile lyric. (It was about trashing the house playing a game of “indoor baseball”.) Bobby Rondinelli, who was working with Kevin on a Quiet Riot album called Terrified at the time, helped him re-write the tune. Unfortunately, regardless of all this work, the song is still just a stock sounding track, nothing special, aside from Randy’s always classy if underplayed guitar work.
The rest of the album consists of unreleased songs. One of the most exciting is a live take of “Laughing Gas” which Quiet Riot never cut in the studio. It comprised an evolving, extended Randy Rhoads guitar solo. Within it, you can hear the kernels of ideas that later became Ozzy Osbourne classics such as “Dee” and “Crazy Train”. Even this “live” track is tampered with: Kevin re-recorded his lead vocals (even the “Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Randy Rhoads!” part) and actually spliced two different guitar solos together into one. You can hear the splice point between the two quite clearly. Of course this makes the solo no less jaw-dropping.
“Picking Up the Pieces” and “Breaking Up is a Heartbreak” are two of a kind. Kevin says these come from their “pop” period after the second album, just before Randy was off to work with Ozzy. They were getting more desperate for hits, and wrote these two melodic, radio-ready tunes. Both are excellent. Much like “Trouble”, these two songs are world-class. Kevin re-recorded the vocals and so on just as he did with the other tracks. At this time, bassist Kelly Garni had left the band and Randy played bass himself.
Lastly, “Force of Habit” is the only bare, untampered song. In the liner notes, Kevin says they lost the original master tapes, so he was unable to remix or re-record any of it. I think it’s an excellent heavy song on its own. In fact, Ozzy Osbourne must have thought so as well, since parts of this song later became “Suicide Solution”!
This work, and “Laughing Gas” in particular were enough to convince the Rhoads family to go forward with this album. If Kevin hadn’t done this, undoubtedly we would never have seen this release. On the other hand, this isn’t the way Randy recorded it, and Randy obviously had no input to how the tracks were mixed. This has polarized fans, some of whom thought Kevin was the great Satan, others just enjoying the album for what it is.
I enjoy the album for what it is. I like it a lot, actually. I do have misgivings about the tampering, but since I own the first two albums, that feeling has subsided. I can back up the claims that the first two albums are pretty poor.
Kevin had planned on a second volume, including such treasures as Quiet Riot’s metallic cover of “The Mighty Quinn”. He had also mentioned a home video, including the extended “Laughing Gas” guitar solo. Sadly DuBrow, will never get to complete these Rhoads reissues.
mikeladano.com 