• AllMyVinyl #127
• Band: Quiet Riot
• Album Title: Hollywood Cowboys
• Release Date: 9 Nov 2019
• Date purchased: 27 Aug 2019
• Location purchased: Bandwear.com
• Color of vinyl: yellow
• Number of discs: 1
• Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]

As a guy approaching his 60th birthday, I’ve known about Quiet Riot for a really long time.  I first heard of their existence back in 1982 or so, when I found out that Ozzy’s then guitarist Randy Rhoads (who was still alive in this time I’m talking about) had been in a band before – Quiet Riot.  The two albums Randy made with them weren’t available in the early 80’s in the states – they were only in Japan, and not accessible to this teen at that time of his life.  I’ll write more about those two albums later as I did eventually acquire both of them on vinyl.  Then in 1983, Quiet Riot became a band that was in front of my face with the release of Metal Health (another album I’ll write about later).   Quiet Riot’s full and complete history is a confusing mess.  I keep meaning to tackle it some day, and I probably will.  It will probably rival (dwarf) the complete history of Black Sabbath, which I’ve documented elsewhere.

Speaking of Black Sabbath, the first time I ever saw them live was 5 Nov 1983, and that was the first time I’d ever seen Quiet Riot as well, as Quiet Riot was their opener.  Sabbath was touring the Born Again album, and QR was touring Metal Health.  Jump forward QUITE a few years (2018), and I saw Quiet Riot again live – this time touring their “Road Rage” album (which I do not have on vinyl).  The only link between the 2018 version of QR and the 83 version was Frankie Banali who was there for NEARLY all of it in the intervening years (there was a brief dalliance with Bobby Rondinelli, but I need a full article to explain QR lineup changes).  That Quiet Riot show was awesome for me, because Frankie called me out BY NAME from stage and had me come to the front and gave me his drumsticks.  That was beyond badass, I can’t lie.  They were shredded, as he’d played about six songs by that point, and while intact, they bore several battle scars.  I still have them to this day.  I bring this up, because the singer at that point was James Durbin.  Quiet Riot’s singer history after the death of Kevin DuBrow is turbulent to say the least.  It’s kind of stabilized since the death of Frankie Banali, but in some capacity (I’ll write about the details elsewhere), since the death of Kevin Dubrow in 2007, Quiet Riot has had these guys as lead vocalists: Mark Huff, Keith St. John, Scott Vokoun, Jizzy Pearl, Seann Nicols, James Durbin, & Jizzy Pearl again. Jizzy remains the current vocalist into 2025, but at the time I saw them in 2018, it was James Durbin.

It’s Durbin I’m writing about today.  He came into the band when they were making the Road Rage album.  They recorded it with Seann Nicols, and then Frankie fired him.  Durbin came in and recorded all new vocals for that.  Then they went out and played a bunch of shows which is where I saw ’em in 2018.  After that tour, they started work on a full new album, and that’s Hollywood Cowboys.  It’s to date the most recent studio album by Quiet Riot.   There’s been talk of more, but they just want to keep playing live shows with the current incarnation of the band.   By this point I had been following Frankie & Quiet Riot closely on social media – knew everything they did – that included the only very BRIEFLY available “Quiet Riot 10” album (2014), so when Hollywood Cowboys was announced on social media, I snapped it up.  The amusing thing is that I bought it on vinyl in 2019, when I didn’t have a record player.  My logic then was that I wanted to support a band I liked who – let’s face it – was getting minimal attention from what they were CURRENTLY doing.  I wanted to support that Frankie was still going through the effort to make full albums.  I bought it from his own deal, not at a store like Amazon or something – direct from his sale, to max profit.  Was a place called Bandwear, which appears to be a swag store.  It showed up and looked great.  I posted pics of it on social media, Frankie acknowledged them, and I listened to the music on Apple Music, as I didn’t have a record player.  Was finally able to play it some months later – technically while Frankie was still with us, because he died on 20 Aug 2020 of pancreatic cancer, but I was still able to listen to it before he died, which oddly meant something to me.   I don’t think there was ever a proper tour for this, but I know there were a handful of shows played here and there because Frankie was obviously sick.

Leading to his death, Frankie said that he had laid down a bunch of drum tracks with the intent of Quiet Riot using them in the future after his death on new albums.  Those tracks still haven’t been heard, so I await the current incarnation of the band to get together and use those Frankie tracks, so we can hear him once more in new music.

Going back to Hollywood Cowboys, this album’s lineup consists of:

• James Durbin – vocals
• Alex Grossi – Guitar
• Chuck Wright – Bass
• Frankie Banali – Drums

Grossi is someone whose time in Quiet Riot doesn’t get the attention it should. Grossi has played on the last several studio albums by the band (Rehab – 2006, Quiet Riot 10 – 2014, Road Rage – 2017, Hollywood Cowboys – 2019).  He’s been in the band since 2006, and was chosen by Kevin DuBrow to replace Carlos Cavazo as the permanent ongoing Quiet Riot guitar player (although there were some other guys in there – but again, need a full article on their history).  Grossi has been there as the lead guitarist for nearly 20 years now, and without breaking out the calculator, it’s pretty close to b being longer than Cavazo, so he deserves more respect than just being “another guy”.

Wright has been in and out of Quiet Riot since 1983 – he’s made appearances, either partial or as a full member on QUITE a few QR albums – he was even on Metal Health for one song, so he goes way back.

Hollywood Cowboys also has something that hadn’t been done in an exceptionally long time with Quiet Riot.  There was a full on, proper conceptual video.  That played into the “Cowboys” theme the albums artwork and design had.  It was actually pretty cool.

The album was done, on sale, promotion started, video came out…   and then James Durbin quit the band.  The stated reason at the time was that he wanted to focus on his solo work.  I found that odd, as he wasn’t in Quiet Riot that long, and this band wasn’t that toured like Iron Maiden did in the mid 80’s where you have no time for anything else.  Quiet Riot at this point was (as I perceived it to be) a fairly laid back gig – not one that would prevent you from doing other things.  But Durbin disagreed.  I guess in some way I shouldn’t be surprised as that’s the nature of Quiet Riot – we’ve gone three months, might as well have another lineup change.

But the album that was produced was actually quite varied in its styles.  There’s some straight forward Quiet Riot rockers, a really REALLY good blues song, and some other styles that I’ll get to with the song list below.  I’m not gonna lie and claim it’s their best album- it isn’t (That’s 2006’s Rehab), but if you ever liked Quiet Riot in the past, there’s something to like on this album, so let’s get to it…

Don’t Call it Love – This song was the first single, and the first taste of this album.  It’s a pretty straight forward Quiet Riot rocker – no messing around, it just gets right to it.   I do like the vocals when the title of the song is sung, I love a good background vocal that’s done right.  Alex’s guitar solo here has a bit of a bluesy feel to it – something that will pop up again later in spades elsewhere on the album.  Overall it’s not my favorite song on the album, but is a decent enough opener to the album.  The last 30 seconds of the song have a guitar bit by Alex that is slightly different than the rest of the song, one I enjoyed a bit more than the rest of the song, actually.

In the Blood – This is the song that got the conceptual video.  This song has a weird thing that I’ve never been able to properly explain, but I’l try.  You know how sometimes when you’re listening to a song and right before it ends, they have a different sound than you hear the rest of the song, something that sets up the “end”?  Well, when the chorus first hits, I always felt the song was ending.  It’s repeated a few times, so for me it’s “The song that is perpetually ending”.  That’s a bit silly mind you, and it’s not like I don’t like it, but my brain always hears the song as being over.

The video is all about the old West with shootouts, taverns, and all the visuals that come with that setting.  I actually find the video a bit more interesting than the song.  As I mentioned before, the video is fully conceptual.  If I’m not mistaken, the last time Quiet Riot had a fully conceptual music video for one of their songs was in 1988 with “Stay With Me Tonight” (granted the concept of that one was sex).  This one was basically QR’s interpretation of “The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly”.  It’s a fun video that probably nobody caught too much of because of the general lack of interest in Quiet Riot at the time.  That’s shame as it’s a fun video.  If you’ve never seen it, check it out.

Oddly, I listened to the song on the album, and then watched the video and have to say I like this song a lot better with the visuals that go with it.  When I hear just the music, it feels like it’s mixing something.  I’m not sure whether that speaks to a feeling of “meh” about the music or liking the video far more.  I can’t say.  But I think it works better with the video for sure.

Heartbreak City – This is where we first start taking a different musical take.  It’s got a slower riff, with something seems more written for James’ vocals. I wouldn’t call it blues, it’s just a bit slower, and the band feels like it’s more in the background here, like this one is more for the vocals.  If you like Durbin’s vocals you’ll probably like this song.  There’s a few spots where James sings up in a high register that I think anyone else who has held the lead vocal slot in Quiet Riot would have a problem in reaching.  Musically the song isn’t the most interesting, it just seems there to service the vocals.

The Devil That You Know – A shorter track (at just 2:41), it starts off with a nice guitar riff.  In some way it sounds a little familiar to Don’t Call it Love.  I do like Frankie’s drums here – they’re mixed a bit higher than usual, and aren’t just a sound in the background.  The first track I really ended up jamming while sitting at my desk writing .  This was one that when I sat down this morning to listen to this album, I couldn’t remember squat about.  Was nice to have a pleasant surprise like that.  It also has a background vocal thing where James (I think it’s James) is singing in a high register – almost female in its range.  That was a different sound for Quiet Riot.

Change or Die – This has a super fat sounding guitar sound that starts right at the beginning.  It sounds like something you would have heard from early 90’s Alice in Chains or something like that.  So in that regard it’s titled well – since it’s not a sound I recall from Quiet Riot’s past at all.  I quite liked this.  A faster paced song with a different guitar sound – this works for me a lot, despite not having a ton to say about it.

Roll On – Now THIS song – it’s a bloody lost classic.  This is by far my favorite track on the album, and it sounds NOTHING like Quiet Riot in the past.  If you know Black Sabbath and like the song “Heart Like a Wheel”, then you’ll like this.  Super slow old school blues song.  This drips attitude, and is by far and away my favorite thing on the album.  It’s never been done live to my knowledge, and I have to imagine now it never will be with the way Quiet Riot is now.  I don’t know about Durbin’s shows, but I saw him refer to this album and the last as “just studio albums now – they happened”.  That’s a shame, as this song smokes.  I LOVE this track – the slow blues feel of it something I wish QR had tried before this.  It works REALLY well.  This also showed me that Durbin’s vocal range could have handled the tracks from the Paul Shortino QR album in 1988 really well, but QR is stuck playing Metal Health and doesn’t really explore their vast catalog of song anymore, which is a shame.  Anyway, enough of that.  This is another of those songs that make me just “close my eyes” and take the song in, and not try and over analyze it.  REALLY REALLY great track.

Insanity – This song starts with some guitar work that sounds like something straight out of Eddie Van Halen’s playbook.  It’s definitely a guitar sound from Alex I don’t recall hearing before.  We also get Chuck Wright mixed up a bit more than usual.  Plus a nice drum sound from Frankie.  It’s a damn cool song that I thought was an instrumental at first (no vocals till 1:25).  Named well, as it’s a bit faster paced than the usual Quiet Riot song.  I very much like the sound in this one, and my old friend the time change makes an appearance.  VERY good song, and one I had completely forgotten about.

Hellbender – The opening riff to this song really reminds me of the main riff to a Dio song called “The Eyes“, just played a little faster.  It keeps going through the song, and that comparison threw me off.  Never really got into the song, cuz I then wanted to go listen to Dio. Hellbender’s not a bad song at all, but I can’t NOT hear the Dio comparison.

Wild Horses – Nice guitar sound by Alex – something I’ve found myself saying a lot.  Dude’s an underrated guitarist.  The main beat of the song is kind of pedestrian.  Nothing special with this track – feels a bit filler to be honest, but I do really like Alex’s guitar work on this track.

Holding On – A slower song.  Has Chuck Wright out in front to start the song.  There’s some good guitar work by Alex at 2:56 to about 3:30.   He’s a star here on what’s a mostly forgettable song.

Last Outcast – This is the best of the last handful of songs.  I quite like this one, unlike the last two that preceded it on the album.  At this point I’m starting to feel like a broken record saying Alex was my favorite part of this song.   Nice beat, nice guitar work, good vocal deliveries.  This song works for me.

Arrows and Angels – The album closes out with this song I would have rather swapped places with Last Outcast.  This is much like Wild Horses and Holding On.  It’s just kind of there.  It does have more noticeable work by Chuck Wright though – who hasn’t gotten a ton of his own moments on this album.   It doesn’t seem like anything special to end the album.

I’ve been a Quiet Riot fan since the early 80’s.  I’ve bought all of their albums, and if they put out another one, I’ll buy that too.  However, I’ve found after the initial excitement of “Hey, a new Quiet Riot record” most of this falls kind of flat.  The second half is mostly devoid of really good tracks except for “Roll On”, which is fucking amazing.  Last Outcast and Insanity are pretty decent too, but most of side 2 is meh.  There’s 12 songs on here, and I feel they could have cut four of them and made a tighter record.

It’s a lot like the most recent Iron Maiden albums in that regard. Good stuff on the record for sure, but too many “meh” tracks.