Post by Erik Rupp on Aug 22, 2009 3:38:26 GMT -5
Quiet Riot - Terrified (1993)
After years of struggling (and even breaking up for a time) Quiet Riot finally burst onto the music scene in 1983 with the mammoth hit album Metal Health. In 1984 they followed that up with a moderate hit in Condition Critical. After that it was a steady spiral downward, fueled both by the poor quality of the QR III album and Kevin Dubrow's big mouth and bad attitude.
Dubrow ended up getting fired, the band (now led, more or less, by producer Spencer Proffer) released a self-titled album that sounded more like a combination of Journey and Deep Purple than Quiet Riot, and within a few months of that album's release the band broke up.
Then a funny thing happened. Kevin Dubrow and Carlos Cavazo put the band back together in the early 90's. This was a humbled Dubrow, and now the band had a new focus. Frankie Banali soon joined and they completed this album, Terrified.
Terrified is arguably their best album (despite the generally poor audio production). Songs like "Cold Day In Hell," "Loaded Gun," "Terrified," "Rude Crude Mood," and "Little Angel," not only held up well against their best material from the 80's, it was as good as (if not better than) anything they had ever done - including the Metal Health album.
The songwriting is slightly more sophisticated and mature than their 80's material (although, keep in mind - this is still Quiet Riot we're talking about here), and the band's performances are more nuanced than anything they had previously put on tape. In particular, the closing instrumental, "Resurrection," is eye opening to just how good Quiet Riot could be musically.
It has been suggested by some that had this album followed up Metal Health or Condition Critical that Terrified would have been a big hit (certainly much bigger than QRII, which was a huge commercial and musical disappointment). This was the album that fans of Metal Health wanted. It was the same kind of music, only showing some growth and added sophistication. Not a lot more sophistication - again, this is Quiet Riot, after all - but noticeably more than any of their previous albums (with the possible exception of the self-titled album from 1988).
Sadly, Terrified came out as a commercial THUD in 1993 (on the Moonstone Records label, a then brand-new offshoot of the independent Full Moon movie studio/production company). By that time only a handful of their old fans were interested, and radio had completely abandoned them. The album never stood a chance in the early days of the Grunge era.
But had fans of Metal Health and Condition Critical picked this album up they would have been VERY pleasantly surprised. Terrified is good. Really good. IF you like Quiet Riot.
That's a pretty big, "If."
4/5
After years of struggling (and even breaking up for a time) Quiet Riot finally burst onto the music scene in 1983 with the mammoth hit album Metal Health. In 1984 they followed that up with a moderate hit in Condition Critical. After that it was a steady spiral downward, fueled both by the poor quality of the QR III album and Kevin Dubrow's big mouth and bad attitude.
Dubrow ended up getting fired, the band (now led, more or less, by producer Spencer Proffer) released a self-titled album that sounded more like a combination of Journey and Deep Purple than Quiet Riot, and within a few months of that album's release the band broke up.
Then a funny thing happened. Kevin Dubrow and Carlos Cavazo put the band back together in the early 90's. This was a humbled Dubrow, and now the band had a new focus. Frankie Banali soon joined and they completed this album, Terrified.
Terrified is arguably their best album (despite the generally poor audio production). Songs like "Cold Day In Hell," "Loaded Gun," "Terrified," "Rude Crude Mood," and "Little Angel," not only held up well against their best material from the 80's, it was as good as (if not better than) anything they had ever done - including the Metal Health album.
The songwriting is slightly more sophisticated and mature than their 80's material (although, keep in mind - this is still Quiet Riot we're talking about here), and the band's performances are more nuanced than anything they had previously put on tape. In particular, the closing instrumental, "Resurrection," is eye opening to just how good Quiet Riot could be musically.
It has been suggested by some that had this album followed up Metal Health or Condition Critical that Terrified would have been a big hit (certainly much bigger than QRII, which was a huge commercial and musical disappointment). This was the album that fans of Metal Health wanted. It was the same kind of music, only showing some growth and added sophistication. Not a lot more sophistication - again, this is Quiet Riot, after all - but noticeably more than any of their previous albums (with the possible exception of the self-titled album from 1988).
Sadly, Terrified came out as a commercial THUD in 1993 (on the Moonstone Records label, a then brand-new offshoot of the independent Full Moon movie studio/production company). By that time only a handful of their old fans were interested, and radio had completely abandoned them. The album never stood a chance in the early days of the Grunge era.
But had fans of Metal Health and Condition Critical picked this album up they would have been VERY pleasantly surprised. Terrified is good. Really good. IF you like Quiet Riot.
That's a pretty big, "If."
4/5