None of the songs on The Randy Rhoads Years are the same versions that appear on the original two Quiet Riot albums. At the request of the Rhoads family, longtime Quiet Riot vocalist Kevin DuBrow remixed all the tracks, except the previously unreleased "Force of Habit" as its multitrack master tapes had been lost.[2]
Lead vocals were re-recorded on all tracks except "Force of Habit" by Kevin DuBrow. In one case, he rewote the lyrics with ex-Rainbow drummer Bobby Rondinelli. This track, "Last Call for Rock 'n' Roll" was formerly titled "Mama's Little Angels" on Quiet Riot. The drums on all tracks but "Force of Habit" were re-sampled, and the guitar tracks were played through Carlos Cavazo's Marshall amplifiers to duplicate the sound that Randy Rhoads achieved in Ozzy Osbourne's band. According to DuBrow, Rhoads was never happy with his guitar tone while in Quiet Riot, but very satisfied with his tone while with Osbourne as he could afford better equipment by then.[2]
The song "Trouble" was sped up as DuBrow felt the original was too slow. DuBrow also added wah-wah to one guitar solo, playing the pedal himself through the original guitar tracks. Again, Rhoads could not afford a wah-wah pedal at the time of recording, but wished he had played the solo with one. "Afterglow (Of Your Love)" from Quiet Riot II was stripped down, leaving just Rhoads' acoustic guitar in an "unplugged" arrangement. DuBrow used triangle samples to disguise background noise that could not be removed from the track. The sole live track, "Laughing Gas", featured an extended guitar solo that was spliced together from two separate recordings. It featured pieces of Rhoads' later songs "Goodbye to Romance", "Dee", and perhaps his best known song, the hit "Crazy Train".[2] It also features parts of the "RR" solo outtake that was lost and found during the mixing for the 2011 Expanded Legacy Edition for Blizzard of Ozz[3] and was put on the reissue as a bonus track.
The package features only six of the Japanese album tracks in remixed or re-written versions. The rest of those songs remain unreleased outside Japan. The rest of the album is filled out with unreleased songs.
Track listing
1 "Trouble" – 4:28 (Kevin DuBrow/Randy Rhoads) Original version from Quiet Riot II
2 "Laughing Gas (Randy Rhoads Guitar Solo)" (Live At The Great L.A. Club The Starwood July 6, 1977) – 9:43 (DuBrow/Rhoads) Previously unreleased
3 "Afterglow (Of Your Love)" (Acoustic) – 3:22 (Steve Marriott/Ronnie Lane) Original version from Quiet Riot II
4 "Killer Girls" – 4:18 (DuBrow/Rhoads/Ron Sobol) Original version from Quiet Riot II
5 "Picking Up the Pieces" – 3:12 (DuBrow/Rhoads) Previously unreleased
6 "Last Call for Rock 'n' Roll" – 4:18 (DuBrow/Rhoads/Bobby Rondinelli) Original version titled "Mama's Little Angels" from Quiet
7 "Breaking Up Is a Heartache" – 2:52 (DuBrow/Rhoads/Kelly Garni/Drew Forsyth) Previously unreleased
8 "Force of Habit" – 3:10 (DuBrow/Rhoads) Previously unreleased
9 "It's Not So Funny" – 3:46 (DuBrow/Rhoads) Original version from Quiet Riot
10 "Look in Any Window" – 3:34 (Rhoads) Original version from Quiet Riot
