Randy Rhoads Binge

[mcleanab]

Anyone else on a Randy binge lately?

Started with really wanting to hear the work on the less 'popular' (I guess that's the word I'm looking for) tunes on DIARY OF A MADMAN, and it always floors me when "S.A.T.O" comes on... that song, for a studio track, sounds close to the wildness of the live work. Randy sounds almost unhinged... it's fucking excellent. The most unhinged I think I've heard is the live tracks on the Legacy version of DIARY. Some of the licks in "Flying High Again" are so crazy...

I watched part of an interview (Sweetwater) with Rudy Sarzo talking about how if Randy had stayed in Quiet Riot and not had the influence of the music in the England scene, how different his work would have been... a very interesting thought... I like to think 'pop' versions of "Flying High Again," "No Bone Movies," and "Steal Away." You know, simple structures but blazing guitar. Rudy then talked about how on DIARY, you could really hear how much Randy was experimenting harmonically/melodically on songs like "Believer," "Diary," and "S.A.T.O." I can only imagine if he had kept going in that direction...

Then went back to the TRIBUTE album and just lost my mind on the first solo of "Mr. Crowley."

At any rate, just revisiting his work and standing, yet again, in awe. I don't even remotely see the comparison to Eddie other than some tapping. Both so outstanding, but very different.

Share your favorite moments if his work influenced you and would love to hear specifics!

EDIT: Oh yeah, the story behind the quick writing and recording of "You Said It All" is great too... another 'pop' tune that points to what could have been...

 

[NoodleFace]

I think Diary was Randy's finest work, but got overshadowed by how massively insane and big Blizzard of Ozz was. Hes the guitarist that got me into metal at a young age, so he'll eternally be my favorite guitarist.

I always loved Mr. Crowley. And it's been awhile so details are fuzzy, but pretty sure those solos were not worked out when they recorded and Ozzy made him stay in the studio until they were done. What we got was a masterpiece.

 

[watson503]

Hearing Randy as a kid is one of the main reasons I ever wanted to learn to play the guitar. I love the Blizzard of Ozz and Diary albums, Goodbye to Romance, Revelation, SATO, Little Dolls...both of those albums and Tribute will forever be all-time favorites.

Some live Randy and @ 6:05 -the Tribute album cover photo:

 

[USMarine75]

I remember listening to that album when it first came out.

Right off the bat the live version of I Don't Know was just killer.

 

[mastapimp]

I remember listening to that album when it first came out.

Right off the bat the live version of I Don't Know was just killer.

I'd rate this as my all time favorite live album. I was introduced to it by my guitar teacher back in the early 90s and he gave me photocopies of the tab book. Learned the Mr. Crowley solos for a high school talent show a couple of years later =)

 

[mcleanab]

Love it... keep 'em coming!

Yeah, DIARY is so wonderfully calculated and the live stuff we got is so wild... hearing the differences between TRIBUTE and the live DIARY LEGACY shows how much room they gave each other to play. Randy and Tommy especially...

 

[Rosal76]

I love Randy's style. He didn't overdo the neo-classical phrasings on his guitar solos like how guitar players are doing it now. It's like, part of the cake instead of being the whole cake and whatnot. Also, and absolutely no disrespect to how Black Sabbath performed Children of the grave, Iron man and Paranoid live but IMHO, I think Randy sounded better playing those songs live. Guitar solos included. The only other time I thought a guitar player played another guitar player's solos better live is when Marty Friedman had to cover the solos for Peace sells and In my darkest hour.

 

[mcleanab]

Anyone have any Randy inspired clips to share? I'd love to see how his work influenced folks of different styles...

 

[BenjaminW]

Randy pretty much crushed my original goal of wanting to play every Beatles song, and turned it into becoming a lead guitarist like Randy was.

Seven years after I’d discovered Randy, I can say that I’ve mostly got the skill necessary to play those solos that made me wanna be like him in the first place.

 

[Louis Cypher]

The Tribute album is just amazing. All the obvious tracks are stellar but it's tracks like Believer, Flying High and the 3 Sabbath covers that still after all these years drop my jaw. Plus his solo spot during Suicide Solution..... wow. Worth looking out for the live Quiet Riot album the Randy Rhoads years for an early version of the Tribute solo spot during the track Laughing Gas. Randy was an incredible player long before joing Ozzy.

Randy and EVH are the reason I wanted to play guitar and ill be forever grateful to them both for the music they gave us all

 

[nightflameauto]

I had a coworker try telling me last week that Randy played in Black Sabbath. I tried to correct him by telling him it was Ozzy's solo project but he insisted he had the albums where he was in Sabbath. I thought I was gonna have to shank a bitch.

Randy holds a special place in my black metal heart. His fluidity and melodic phrasing were always awe inspiring to me. I can put on the tribute live album and just sit slack-jawed to this day listening to the whole thing. So much talent. It's so sad he didn't get to go further.

 

[jaxadam]

Randy's one of the ones that started it all for me. Mr. Crowley, Crazy Train, the Tribute album all just do it for me.

My brother once told me a story that he heard from someone else that said when Randy was on tour, he would go take a guitar lesson with a local teacher. They would be like "why are you taking a lesson from me, you're Randy Rhoads" and he told them that you could learn something from anybody. How true it is or not, I still like the idea.

 

[Jacksonluvr636]

Yep, I binged about a month ago. Excellent guitarist and until you actually try to learn some of it you might be under appreciating his skill level.

He was a monster, stupid heavy riffs for the time and tuning and could shred.

What gets me is his double tracking leads making the dissonant sounds that nobody can replicate.

 

[Bdtunn]

I haven’t been for a while but thanks to this thread I am now!!

 

[Rosal76]

He was a monster, stupid heavy riffs for the time...

What gets me is his double tracking leads making the dissonant sounds that nobody can replicate.

+1.

One of my absolute favorite parts that he plays is on Revelation (Mother Earth) from the live Tribute album.

At 2:08 - 2:19.



Heavy riff from 2:08 - 2:15 and then the melodic part at 2:16 - 2:19. The transition gets me every time. I have the Ozzy/Randy Rhoads Tribute guitar tablature book and I wanted to learn just that part because I thought it sounded so cool.

 

[BenjaminW]

This is the shit.

 

[mcleanab]

And that Steve Vai said he was 'terrified' when he heard the guitar swoop in on his first listen of 'Crazy Train' is so awesome... I forgot how huge that sounded back in the day...

 

[Louis Cypher]

My brother once told me a story that he heard from someone else that said when Randy was on tour, he would go take a guitar lesson with a local teacher. They would be like "why are you taking a lesson from me, you're Randy Rhoads" and he told them that you could learn something from anybody. How true it is or not, I still like the idea.

Thats true. A number of people like Ozzy, Rudy Sarzo, Kevin Dubrow and I am sure Randy himself in the couple of Guitar World interviews he did confirmed it too

 

[WarMachine]

Been on a Randy binge since 1990. Just wanted to say that and that this thread needs stickied.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Randy is the flip side of the coin that Eddie resides on. Also, no mentions of Over the Moutain? Really guys? Sheesh, man.

I think Randy's legacy is lessened to some degree by the very little we have from him. What I mean is that for some, it is likely difficult to focus intently on Randy because you can only listen to the same four albums and a couple live shows so many times. That and his studio tone was somewhat lacking. I think his tone would've been better with a DOD 250 or Micro Amp, which YJM and EVH used respectively.