Everyone and Their Mother to Appear on New Randy Rhoads Tribute Album
Recall, if you can, a distant time — April of 2014, to be precise — when every metal musician in the world and their mothers all put aside their differences and got together to make a Dio tribute album. The resulting release, This is Your Life, was a rousing success, resulting in multiple Grammy nominations despite the fact that all of the songs included on the collection were, y’know, covers. With no shortage of other dead musicians to whom not-dead musicians could pay tribute, it was only a matter of time until someone else put together a similar collection focusing on a different deceased legend. And that time is now.
And by “now,” I mean March 3. That’s when UDR Music will release the misleadingly titled Immortal Randy Rhoads – The Ultimate Tribute, which will most surely not be the final homage to a man who was quite mortal.
My flip tone notwithstanding (I really just cannot help myself!), the album, which was produced and compiled by KISS ghost guitarist Bob Kulick (not to be confused with his brother, credited KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick), could be pretty cool. As I said, everyone in the world and their mothers are on this friggin’ thing, so it’ll really come down to whether or not anyone manages to reinterpret these songs to make the old tricks feel new again, or we just wind up finding out what various Randy Rhoads classics sound like when played note-for-note by people who aren’t Randy Rhoads (which wouldn’t be very exciting — we’ve heard what that sounds like at every Ozzy show since Rhoads passed away).
The participating musicians are as follows (mothers not listed):
1. Crazy Train
Vocals: Serj Tankian
Guitars: Tom Morello
Bass: Rudy Sarzo
Drums: Vinny Appice
2. Over the Mountain
Vocals: Tim “Ripper” Owens
Guitars: Jon Donais
Bass: Rudy Sarzo
Drums: Frankie Banali
3. Mr Crowley
Vocals: Chuck Billy
Guitars: Alexi Laiho
Keyboards: Kelle Rhoads
Bass Rudy: Rudy Sarzo
Drums: Vinny Appice
4. Believer
Vocals: Tim “Ripper” Owens
Gtrs: Doug Aldrich
Bass: Rudy Sarzo
Drums: Vinny Appice
5. Back To The Coast (Quiet Riot)
Vocals: Kelle Rhoads
Guitars: Bruce Kulick
Bass: Rudy Sarzo
Drums: Frankie Banali
6. I Don’t Know
Vocals: Tim “Ripper” Owens
Guitars: George Lynch
Bass: Rudy Sarzo
Drums: Brett Chassen
7. S A T 0
Vocals: Tim “Ripper” Owens
Rhythm guitars: Bob Kulick
Lead guitar: Dweezil Zappa
Bass: Rudy Sarzo
Drums: Vinny Appice
8. Killer Girls (Quiet Riot)
Vocals: Tim “Ripper” Owens
Guitars: Joel Hoekstra
Bass: Rudy Sarzo
Drums: Brett Chassen
9. Goodbye to Romance
Vocals: Tim “Ripper” Owens
Gtrs: Gus G.
Bass: Rudy Sarzo
Drums: Brett Chassen
10. Suicide Solution
Vocals: Tim “Ripper” Owens
Guitars: Brad Gillis
Bass: Rudy Sarzo
Drums: Brett Chassen
11. Flying High Again
Vocals: Tim “Ripper” Owens
Guitars: Bernie Torme
Bass: Rudy Sarzo
Drums: Brett Chassen
Digipak copies of the album will include a bonus DVD featuring artist interviews and “a feature on the Musonia School of Music, a teaching school on North Hollywood, California, set up by Randy’s mother and run by his brother Kelle Rhoads.” Neat-o!
As a final aside… did anyone else think Bernie Torme was dead? Or was I just confusing him with the equally-metal Mel Torme?
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