QUIET RIOT – Quiet Riot ‘QR 88’ [Rock Candy remaster]

Rock Candy Records have remastered all the ’80s recorded Quiet Riot albums some time ago, and as repeatedly requested, we will present all of them here on this blog, now with a fresh, better quality rip.
Now it’s time for the band’s last album from the decade; “QR“, also known as “Quiet Riot 88” or “Quiet Riot IV“.

The general consensus of opinion about Quiet Riot’s career trajectory is that they started off taking a rocket ride to the stars – first ’80s LP Metal Health sold in excess of ten million copies – only to embarrassingly crash and burn just a few short years later.
Commercially speaking that was a true account of the situation, but on a musical level many agree that the band’s output was inversely proportional to their chart decline, getting better and more inventive as time moved on.

The band’s reached their rock bottom following the release of ‘Quiet Riot III’, when their outrageous front man Kevin DuBrow was summarily fired from the line-up. They intended to carry on under a new moniker and looked to modify their sound, whilst searching for a replacement vocalist.

They quickly settled on ex- Rough Cutt singer Paul Shortino, developed a chest thumping bluesy hard rock style and met with their record company about recording a new album, only to be told that contractually, and for commercial reasons, they would have to continue using the Quiet Riot name.

Despite the odds stacked against them the band’s final album (curiously self-tiled) originally released in 1988, was a spectacular statement drinking from the same bluesy well as Whitesnake, or ’80s Deep Purple, mixed with Rough Cutt and early Winger melodies.
Paul Shortino’s vocals are both impressive and effective, whilst the songs are little short of spectacular, leaving nobody in any doubt that had this project been launched as a brand new entity they might well have gained a new lease of life to rival their original success.

“Stay With Me Tonight” rocks and sports an inspired lead guitar work, “Calling The Shots” has a classic commercial riff, “Run To You” is a killer midtempo, and “In A Rush” pumps a monster groove.
For more melodic hard rock listen the catchy “King Of The Hill”, or the AOR ballad “Don’t Wanna Be Your Fool” with orchestrated keys and clean guitars.

“QR” includes some of the finest songs composed by Quiet Riot (or Banali / Cavazo in this case), however, production isn’t the best in their discography. Rock Candy has done a good job (handled by Jon Astley behind the desk) trying to obtain the best from the original tapes. Surprisingly, this remaster is pretty quiet, similar to vinyl LP.
It’s a really good record that should have appeared under a different moniker, but sports the Quiet Riot name on the cover.
Highly Recommended

01 – Stay With Me Tonight
02 – Callin’ The Shots
03 – Run To You
04 – I’m Fallin’
05 – King Of The Hill
06 – The Joker
07 – Lunar Obsession
08 – Don’t Wanna Be Your Fool
09 – Coppin’ A Feel
10 – In A Rush
11 – Empty Promises

Carlos Cavazo – guitars, backing vocals
Frankie Banali – drums
Paul Shortino – lead and backing vocals
Sean McNabb – bass, backing vocals
Jimmy Waldo – keyboards, backing vocals
Jimmy Johnson – bass on tracks 1 and 9

BUY IT !
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/qr-quiet-riot/19940247
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