I never knew the guy but by the end of the record I felt like I knew him,” Bob Kulick, producer of Immortal Randy Rhoads – The Ultimate Tribute album, told us during a recent interview. Kulick is a Grammy-award winning record producer and guitarist who’s worked with KISS, Meat Loaf, Motörhead and Alice Cooper to name a few. He’s produced a number of compilation albums tributing artists such as Queen, Metallica, Van Halen and KISS. His brother, Bruce Kulick, who plays guitar on the album, was a long time member of KISS and at one time played alongside his brother in Meat Loaf's band.
The Immortal Randy Rhoads compilation album was something Kulick came up with as he discovered a generation of guitar players whose influences differed from his own. “So I thought to myself, well here’s a new generation of guitar players and their idols are slightly different.” Some of the guitar players Kulick sites as his guides are George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck. At the time Randy Rhoads was out playing with Ozzy Osbourne, Kulick was touring with Meat Loaf. He wasn’t going to concerts; he was doing them.
“So I kind of thought a Randy Rhoads tribute using the core guys who played with him and knew him and then branching out into some of the people who came in after like Bernie Tormé, Brad Gillis and Gus G.” Kulick hooked up with UDR for worldwide distribution, a label he thought was a natural fit, and recruiting players like Rudy Sarzo, Brad Gillis, Tom Morello and Dweezil Zappa who were eager to jump onboard.
11. Flying High Again
Vocals: Tim “Ripper” Owens
Gtrs: Bernie Torme
Bass: Rudy Sarzo
Drums: Brett Chassen
A lover of classical music, Rhoads had taken initial steps into rock’n’roll as a 16 year old when he formed a band, that soon became Quiet Riot. Rhoads was vaulted to the limelight in 1979 when Ozzy Osbourne chose the relatively unknown guitarist to help shape a new future for him via his band, Blizzard of Oz. The result saw Rhoads co-script two of the most famous albums in hard rock history, Blizzard Of Oz and Diary of A Madman, and rapidly ascended the stairway of fame and recognition for his virtuoso playing and writing. Famed for the way he fused classical flavors with technically-excellent hard rock, Rhoads became one of the most influential lead guitarists in rock.
When he tragically passed away on March 19, 1982 in a plane accident, Rhoads was only 25 years old, but thankfully, the legend of his work, ethos and their continuing influence on a whole new generation of guitarists, has never dimmed.
Celebrate the life and legend of Randy Rhoads with Immortal Randy Rhoads – The Ultimate Tribute
