There’s not much music on this one, it’s more a photo review this time. Enjoy!
QUIET RIOT – “Slick Black Cadillac Live” 1983 Kerrang Flexidisc
The reason I have this (scored from Discogs!), aside from it just looking cool, is that it’s hilarious! The version of “Slick Black Cadillac” is the same great version that was later released on the remastered edition of Metal Health. However…it has recorded messages from the band members as well! These messages are directed to the UK readers of Kerrang! (who gave away this flexi-disc), and are dubbed directly over the song.
After Kevin DuBrow mentions the upcoming December gigs they’ll be playing, each member gets to say a word. Rudy in particular strikes my funny bone. “Hi, this is Rudy Sarzo, and I play the bass!” He’s just so…excited! As for Kevin? “When I see you I wanna hear you scream ’til your throats bleed!”
Flexi-discs are obviously fragile and are only good to play a handful of times. They have a bit more background noise than normal 45’s, but have the bonus of looking cooler than the average 45! This one is single sided, and came taped inside an issue of Kerrang! Not all flexi’s are clear like this one, so I consider this a fun conversation piece.
A while ago I talked about the rarities/remix compilation album, The Randy Rhoads Years. I recommended that album, but I am also lucky enough to own CD copies of the first two Quiet Riot albums. Over 13 months ago (!) I promised you that we would take a closer look at Quiet Riot I and Quiet Riot II. That day has come! LeBrain never breaks a promise to his readers.
In a 1993 Guitar for the Practicing Musician interview, Kevin DuBrow complained that producers Derek Lawrence and Warren Entner “didn’t know from guitars”. Quiet Riot I is ample evidence for that. Randy’s guitar is but a shadow of what it would later become under the wing of Ozzy Osbourne. Where later on, Randy would fill songs out with catchy, intricate licks, on QRI he tends to stick to riff-solo-riff song structures.
And this is one awful sounding album. The vocals of Kevin DuBrow are shaky, and the recording is muddy. There are very few standouts among its 12 tracks. Even the Small Faces cover “Tin Soldier” is rendered lackluster. You can hear Randy doing some neat tricks on the guitar, but it’s buried in the mix.
Lyrically, “Mama’s Little Angels” is beyond awful:
“As soon as mommy’s at work, Out come the paint cans, We start to spray it on the wall. That’s getting boring, Go get the bats! Gonna have us some indoor ball! …Well Randy’s up to bat, gonna hit me a home run! Sorry ’bout that, outside! Ball one!”
Whooboy.
“Look In Any Window” is better on the Randy Rhoads Years CD. Here, DuBrow is singing a completely different, annoying vocal melody. Shame, because this is QR’s slant on Alice Cooper, very much up the alley of “I’m Eighteen”. I’ll stick with the remixed/re-recorded version, thanks.
The best song on Quiet Riot I is easily the Dave Clark Five classic, “Glad All Over”. I remember growing up, Bob had a Randy Rhoads guitar book. It was loaded with transcriptions of his Ozzy classics, as well as “Glad All Over”. We had never heard of “Glad All Over”. To this day I don’t know why that seldom-heard song was included in a Randy Rhoads guitar book! Kevin’s vocalizing here is hilariously screamy. I love it. Randy’s solo is Nuge-tastic, with a little intricate lick at the end. Great stuff.
So that’s QRI. Quiet Riot II is marginally better in the songwriting department. The band wisely included only nine tracks on the second album. A few of these are standouts: “Slick Black Cadillac” would be re-recorded effectively by another lineup on the Metal Health album. To hear that song played by Randy Rhoads, the guy who co-wrote it, is cool. His take on the guitar is different from Carlos Cavaso’s, although Carlos obviously did copy some parts. If only it were better recorded, this version could easily supplant the hit Metal Health version.
Another familiar song is “Afterglow (Of Your Love)”, also originally by Small Faces. This song was rendered in an acoustic form on The Randy Rhoads Years. On QRII, it is full-on electric. I prefer the electric version, I just wish it sounded better. There are other decent songs on QRII, such as the melodic “Eye For An Eye”, “Trouble”, and “We’ve Got the Magic”. By the second album, Quiet Riot had gotten better at writing melodies. They had work to do on stitching catchy melodies together into complete songs. Most songs on Quiet Riot II have some really good parts, but are not necessarily great all the way through. The dead production does not help the situation.
Even though Rudy Sarzo (Tateryche) is pictured on the sleeve and credited, he did not play bass on Quiet Riot II. Kelly Garni played bass, as he did on the first LP. To this day, I don’t know if the CD copies I have are promos or bootlegs. While I don’t know of any promotional CD test pressings, these are definitely high quality for bootlegs. They even have the hilarious mis-transcribed lyric sheets that usually accompany real Japanese CDs. So, I really don’t know!
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.
RECORD STORE TALES Part 14: Record Shows, Parties, and Quiet Riot
Guys from record stores do know how to party. The only true allnighters I ever pulled happened during the years at the record store. Everything else I called an allnighter, I actually slept for a couple hours.
But trust me folks…guys from record stores play the best music when they party. One night in London (Ontario) we stayed up for what seemed like forever, playing the dumbest fucking drinking games. My drink was Captain Morgan’s (spiced) and Coke. However we were playing this stupid fucking card game. I think it was called Kings in the Corner or something? Each card was a rule? 2 of anything meant you take two drinks, 3, meant you take 3 drinks, etc. And then on some cards, like 6, you’d GIVE 6 drinks to someone else. And a joker meant you took a shot of Wild Turkey. Here’s the photo of my first shot of Wild Turkey from that very night.
r-l: Me, Tom, Meat
Like I said, we knew how to party. From that night forward, when I got loaded, my nickname became “Jim”. And as I took a shot, they’d say, “Here comes Jim!!” Anyway, who gives a crap about that? There’s loads of people who partied harder. We party better.
The best stimulant imaginable is music, and I heard some of the best music ever at those parties. The first time I ever heard Kyuss was at the party at Tom’s place in London. He didn’t start with Kyuss, though. He started with some bootleg Black Sabbath video from 1970. It was taped in some…well, it probably was a highschool cafeteria. That’s what it looked like. It was awesome. It was easily in the top five times I ever truly had my mind blown.
During “Black Sabbath” itself, Ozzy got this crazed look in his eye! You could see it! Then he just started going mad on stage, thrashing about, that leather jacket of his flailing about him. Ozzy’s said before he has another person inside him when he gets crazy, someone they call “Him”. Maybe what they captured on tape that night was an appearance by “Him”? Who knows?
The cool thing though is another of my top five mind-blows of all time happened that night too. Kyuss. I made a nice bed on the floor out of pillows and blankets and stuff, and I passed out in front of the stereo. I woke up a short time later, as some of the guys were heading out (walking) to catch last call at the local pop shop. I just kind of laid there listening to the music…I was falling in and out of consciousness to this heavy, drony music. It was awesome. I didn’t know who it was.
I was told the following morning that it was Kyuss. Tom told me he left the Kyuss / Queens of the Stone Age split EP in the player. From that I pieced together that the song I must have heard was “Fatso Forgotso”. I still remember how it rolled over me like a wave that night.
We had to be up fairly early the next morning, as we were hitting a record show in London. If you don’t know what a record show is, I’ll take a moment to explain. If you do, skip the next paragraph
A record show is usually held in a large room like a conference room in a hotel, for example. Dozens of vendors gathered their best, their overpriced, their rare, and their shelf warmers for you to pick through and haggle over. They are a record store dude’s dream, and his VISA card’s nightmare.
Just to give you a taste, here’s some of my best finds.
At the show in question, I actually found the first two Japanese Quiet Riot albums with Randy Rhoads.
Elsewhere, I found a great book about Alice Cooper called Billion Dollar Baby that we’ll talk about another time. I later found out it was worth many times what I paid.
LP of Faith No More’s incredible Angel Dust album which came with an exclusive remix of “MidLife Crisis”.
Oh, this isn’t a find, but we did see Greg Goddovitz (Goddo) at one. He was wearing socks and sandals.
We had a greasy breakfast (sausage, eggs, toast, OJ) and headed out. I remember it was freezing. Then you get to the hotel, pay your admission (usually somewhere in the neighborhood of $8 or so) and go in. And then you’d be sweating your parka off in this crowded room full of long-hairs, skullets, and mohawks. Guy to girl ratio: About 4-1.
Anyway, as I mentioned, I found these two Quiet Riot albums with Randy Rhoads. I want to post a more detailed blog about this later on, because I truthfully don’t know if I bought a bootleg or a promo. As far as I know there has never been a CD release of these two albums. Yet, that doesn’t exclude that Sony might have pressed some sample copies as a prototype before deciding not to proceed. Or perhaps they were threatened to be sued, who knows? Metal Health was released on Pasha/Columbia which later was absorbed by Sony. My CDs are marked as Sony promos. Everything about the CDs screams “official” except that I am certain they didn’t officially release a CD anywhere at any time.
Regardless, they sound great and I paid what was then a fair price for a bootleg, which would have been $30 for a new, mint bootleg. I would have been willing to pay up to $35 for a good sounding bootleg and they would always let you sample it anyway. So I consider this one of my best scores. I’ve never run across any other copies, bootleg or otherwise, since then. It was meant to be.
We drove back to Kitchener tired as hell but it was worth it. I’m sure there are people out there who don’t understand how you could pay $30 for a bootleg CD when you can just download it for free. And I’m sure someone else could explain it to you better than I can, because I don’t really have a good reason why it’s worth it.
Except I fucking love music, and when you fucking love music, especially when it’s one of the first bands you ever liked, that’s what you do.
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