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Article - Rediscovering Randy Rhoads: The early years

Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 7:39 pm
by Randy Perry
Rediscovering Randy Rhoads: The early years - by John Stix
Source: Guitar gor the practicing musician - Dec. 1993



"I was really against this for a long time because of what I thought were Randy’s wishes. He felt the work that he did later with Ozzy was so much better. He said, ‘I don’t want the fans to have that early music.’ Naturally a musician improves as [he] goes along. He felt it was going to get better and better so he didn’t want them to have that."

"I said ‘no’ immediately when original Quiet Riot members Kevin DuBrow and Kelly Garni approached me to reissue. They said, ‘Will you at least be fair because we have brought up the sound to a much better level? Would you just listen to it?’ I said in all fairness that I would. I listened and still said ‘no. I don’t think the songs are that good.’ I never did, from the very beginning. I always complained about that to Randy. I think I made him feel a little badly in that respect. But I said ‘The songs are not as good as they should be. You should get better song.’

They called me later and said, ‘We found something that we thought might interest you. Maybe it will change your mind.’ This was a solo that Randy played live [Laughing Gas]. It isn’t on the albums. We want you to hear it because we think that would sell the album.’ So I listened to it and it was that good. It reflected a lot of memories from way back. I thought at least that will show the fans that there was a definite talent, even in those early days. So I was very pleased with that.

Then they impressed me with the fact that I knew from what the fans had been telling me; that was, they had been buying expensive bootlegs of bad quality copies of those two early Quiet Riot albums. That’s just a shame. I hate to hear that. They said, ‘This would stop that if you would let us reissue. They could buy a quality recording that is much improved.’ So with those three things I finally decided to change my mind and let them put the reissue out. I did insist that I write something in the beginning that explains that this was very early music and that you have to understand a musician improves as he goes along." - Delores Rhoads

Who’s going to argue with Mrs. Rhoads? The good news is you don’t have to. This is not the Japanese Quiet Riot record that her son had once told me was not worth looking into. Instead, what the just-released Quiet Riot: The Randy Rhoads Years shows is that before joining Ozzy, Randy Rhoads was a player already possessing musical personality. His talent and vision were already in place. There is no doubt this talent blossomed with Ozzy but Randy had the goods there to begin with - and now, for the first time, it’s here so all of us can hear.

To explore the record itself and Randy’s relationship with the music and the players in Quiet Riot, we sought out Quiet Riot vocalist Kevin DuBrow, whose dream project this has been for years, and Kelly Garni, who was both Randy’s friend and Quiet Riot’s original bass player. Their insights into Randy Rhoads and the music on this disk will, we hope, provide you with the most complete exploration of Quiet Riot: The Randy Rhoads Years.

- John Stix