Search - Quiet Riot :: Rehab

Old Habits Die Hard in REHAB

Niko the Ruff Ryda | crunk | 04/08/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These guys know how to keep the riot rocking. Rehab is another great addition to the Quiet Riot legacy. New classics have arrived to add to their already impressive collection ... straight out of Rehab!

"

In Need of Rehab

Sampson Simpson | Canada | 10/08/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"There isn't a bigger Quiet Riot fan than me. I've been following the band since I was old enough to follow bands, and I have every album including the two with Randy Rhoads. As a fan I can tellthat Quiet Riot's big weakness has been and always will be songwriting. DuBrow was not the greatest songwriter. That's why their biggest hit was a cover tune.



I was suckered in by the hype surrounding Rehab. How this was nothing like old QR. How this was a heavier, more mature, bluesier QR. All that stuff.



All that stuff is true. But that doesn't mean it's good.



It's not good. It's bad. I don't mean "bad" in that 80's sense, like, "You know I'm bad." I don't mean "bad" as in the way kids say "sick" today. I mean "bad" as in, the opposite of good. As in, I've only managed to play this a handful of times, because I don't enjoy it.



Considering that all the right ingrediants were in place (killer stand-in bass player Tony Franklin, guest vocals by Glenn Hughes), this album strikes me as an abject failure. It's down to the songs. "Sucks To Be You" is plain awful. There are some pretty good moments here and there, as on all Quiet Riot albums. Rhythmically, "In Harms Way" and "Black Reign" are solid and and moving. But there's no meat on the bones, nothing that sticks to the skull like peanut butter and keeps you hitting the "back" button on your player. When you're done the album, you won't remember any of the songs clearly. Except perhaps "Evil Woman" which is (guess what!) a cover.



I won't point out the irony of the title, but I'm sorry, I can't help but speak ill of the dead. Kevin's wig is even more embarassing than any wigs he's had before it. You'll see. And the cover art is disappointing, with the classic QR logo gone, and the masked guy barely visible.



Sadly, since this album, DuBrow died of a cocaine overdose and drummer Frankie Banali has completely tarnished the Quiet Riot name by going back on his promise to honour DuBrow's memory by ending the band. Now Banali has a hack Quiet Riot going, with some ex-members, but no originals, and a clone singer named Mark Huff that he pulled from some Van Hagar tribute band. I'm serious! What a disservice to his friend DuBrow for a quick buck. Worse, the band is being mis-managed by an ex-softcore porn star named Regina Russell who is trying to re-write the band's history to make it look like Banali and bassist Chuck Wright are original members. (They're not -- the original lineup was Kevin DuBrow, Randy Rhoads, Kelly Garni and Drew Forsythe.) Sadly, Banali and Russell are alienating the very fans that made QR what it became with their cheap and reckless treatment of the band's history.



I can't imagine a sadder ending to a band than Rehab and the events that followed.



For the morbidly curious only. 2 stars."