Now Playing: Quiet Riot (1988)
Topic: Quiet Riot
In a five year rollercoaster of a span, metal group Quiet Riot went from having a major best-selling, record breaking album in Metal Health in 1983 to the mess I am reviewing here; the self-titled 1988 release Quiet Riot. After a few solid, but largely uneven albums in between, there were tensions within the group and eventually lead singer Kevin DuBrow was cast out of the band and was subsequently replaced by singer Paul Shortino. It isn't often that a band can survive a change in lead singer, and Quiet Riot surely did not. DuBrow, basically the face of the band, was gone, and all of the charisma and energy the band once had, for better or for worse, completely vanished once his departure was made, and it is evident here on Quiet Riot.
This album is atrocious! It is amazingly bland and boring and the production is dull and muddled. I know Quiet Riot before the release of this 1988 bomb were never truly the most gifted of song-writers, but were capable enough for the most part to string together a few good, entertaining songs (even though their most popular hits are actually covers). Indeed, this would again be the case after they reunited with DuBrow in the 1990s, as Quiet Riot would regain its songwriting skill and its focus. Without DuBrow though, all of that presence is lost, leaving a wide gaping void in this record.
To be fair, Paul Shortino is a decent singer with some solid chops. He doesn't dazzle by any stretch, but he is servicable. Unfortunately for Quiet Riot, he doesn't exude or convey any sense of energy and it drains the life out of this dismal experience. DuBrow, even in the confines of a lesser song, can at least sell it with his genuine enthusiasm, but here, not only does Shortino lack energy, but the entire band sounds deflated.
Of this mess, I have found that there is only one song I like off this album - and honestly, I like it a lot. "Don't Wanna Be Your Fool" is a great, great song! It has an awesome 1980s sound with a great vocal performance from Shortino and some cool guitar licks from guitarist Carlos Cavazo. So, if you were ever interested, then I'd say just download this song off iTunes or something and skip the rest of the tracks.
I must say that I am a huge Quiet Riot fan, having listened to practically all of their albums, and this one, by far, is the worst. Without DuBrow, the album suffers enough, but the songs themselves (with the exception of the one I mentioned before!) are terrible. Not only does this album fail on a musical level, it also features a truly hideous album cover, one that indeed repulses the eyes, thus failing in the aesthetic sense as well.
Thankfully the rest of Quiet Riot and Kevin DuBrow came back to their senses and reunited to make the bands best effort, Terrified, in 1993.
Stay away from this album, stay far away, and leave it to decay in the damp, dank basements of music history.
TRACK HIGHLIGHTS:
"Don't Wanna Be Your Fool"
-Kurt L.
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Updated: Wednesday, 31 March 2010 11:15 PM EDT
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