5 Star

Riffs, Riots, Rhoads.

Producer come director Andre Relis (NWA & Eazy-E: Kings of Compton, The Last Son) brings us his second documentary, and what a documentary for any Heavy Rock fan. The subject is possibly one of the most influential lead guitarists from the late 1970s to today, even though his journey was short-lived, his music has touched millions, then and today. Randy Rhoads.

Narrated by Tracii Guns (Guns N’ Roses, LA Guns) and featuring never-before-seen interviews and archive footage, this is a loving tribute to one of rock’s true guitar gods, marking the 40th anniversary of his passing.

Randy Rhoads was born on December 6, 1956 in Santa Monica, California, USA to his music teaching mother Delores Rhoads. His young life was spent at school and learning classical guitar at his mother’s music school Musonia. Influenced by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, which got him into the electrical guitar, he took lessons from Scott Shelly. Randy took to it like a duck to water, and soon the student became the teacher.

At sixteen, Randy and friend Kelly Garni started to play, with Randy teaching Kelly to play bass and Randy learning to play lead guitar.

He was just starting to take lessons for it and really just riffing around

They played as various short-lived bands with his brother on drums, and it was his brother, Kelle who changed Randy’s life forever when he took the disinterested Randy to see a concert by Alice Cooper.

Randy was mesmerized. He was catatonic, just staring at the stage. Later that night, Randy said, ‘I can do this. I can look like this. I can be this.’ Something clicked that night, and I think that kind of showed him what he could do with his talent.

They recruited lead vocalist Kevin DuBrow and drummer Drew Forsyth, and soon they became Quiet Riot. Quiet Riot quickly became one of the most popular acts on the Los Angeles club circuit, and by late 1976 were signed to CBS/Sony Records, but never produced a record. This frustrated fans, and the band tried to drum up support to pressure a record label to get the band the recognition they believed they deserved.

But in 1979 a sacked Ozzy Osbourne is trying to get a band together and Randy Rhoads name is bandied about. The rest is musical legend.

Randy Rhoads – Reflections of a Guitar Icon is essential for any rock fan or budding guitarist, as Rhoads had all the skills from classical music to ear-splitting riffs. Told by the people that were there and by those that he influenced, and those that were lead guitar rivals.

 

Randy Rhoads – Reflections of a Guitar Icon is available on DVD, Blu-ray and on Amazon Prime