RIOT

Starting a new topic here...the awesome legendary RIOT...
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Rock City is the name of the first studio album by New York City based heavy metal band Riot released in November 1977.

It was first released independently by Fire Sign Records, run by the band's producers, Billy Arnell and Steve Loeb, who also owned the Greene Street Recording Studio, before the album was picked up for wider distribution by Canada's Attic Records and by VIctor Entertainment in Japan. Vinyl copies of Rock City can be differentiated by the color that frames the front cover artwork. The original Fire Sign pressing is framed in white; later editions are framed in black or lack this feature altogether.

American label Metal Blade Records re-issued the album on CD in early 1993.

Rock City is the only Riot album to feature writing contributions by original bassist Phil Feit...

TRACK LIST.....
   "Desperation"
   "Warrior"
   "Rock City"
   "Overdrive"
   "Angel"
   "Tokyo Rose"
   "Heart of Fire"
   "Gypsy Queen"
   "This Is What I Get"

Members...
   Guy Speranza - vocals
   Mark Reale - guitars
   Lou A. Kouvaris - guitars
   Phil Feit - bass on "Desperation" & "Angel"
   Jimmy Iommi - bass
   Peter Bitelli - drums

Picked up the Metal Blade re-issue sometime last year - I was pleasantly surprised. Some great heavy music.

I bought the re-issue a couple of years ago. Nice little debut by the band. I really like the title track and This Is What I Get.

I discovered RIOT in 1983 and had all their available albums (and the RIOT LIVE EP on Elektra which would be my desert island pick), but I had no idea that Rock City even existed at the time. Never saw a copy and never heard it until the CD release years later.

Great album. Very heavy for 1977 and it still stands the test of time today.

By the way, Metal Blade is reissuing the following Riot albums on vinyl on 4/7/15:

Rock City
Restless Breed
Born In America

The only one of those I don't have on vinyl is Rock City so I'll have to pick it up.

next up... NARITA

Fantastic album!!  This album was actually released only in Japan and available only as an import in the USA until it was finally released in the states about 5 months later in October, 1979. It became out of print in the late 80's and was only being pressed in CD format in Japan in 1989 until the early 90's. Narita was finally issued on compact disc outside of Japan on June 20, 2005 by UK-based Rock Candy Records, run by former Kerrang! scribes Derek Oliver and Dante Bonutto. Narita was also the name of a short-lived San Antonio, Texas-based Riot off-shoot featuring guitarist Mark Reale along with former S.A.Slayer members, vocalist Steve Cooper, bassist Don Van Stavern (who would later appear on the Thundersteel and The Privilege of Power albums), and drummer Dave McClain.
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I have the Rock Candy version on cd as well as the original vinyl I bought back in 1980...

Fantastic album! Riot really hit their stride here. It's easy to see why Riot were readily embraced by the NWOBHM movement. Also, how many American bands were even close to this heavy in 1979? I have the Japanese CD as well as the aforementioned Rock Candy Remaster. It's unfortunate that there has never been a domestic CD reissue of this album as more people need to hear it.

I love the Japanese CD issue of that album. Really crisp and good sound. Also heavy as hell for this period. Love it!

I still need to get Narita. One of just three of their's that I need. It looks like the most viable version would be the Rock Candy re-issue.

Rock City is a good debut but they would get so much better, even better then Narita.

One of the Capitol albums I got for free when the Winchester, VA pressing plant closed down in 1983. The instrumental title track was always my favorite song on the album, with Road Racin' and White Rock right behind it.

During this era I always felt Riot did a pretty good job balancing the hard rock/heavy metal tightrope, some songs leaning more metallic, others leaning more towards heavy rock 'n' roll.

49er is such a killer track!

Next up is the metal classic FIRE DOWN UNDER... This is a classic all the way and an album no metal head should be without...Not a bad track to be found here...for the record the song "Flashbacks" is dedicated to Neal Kay, the British DJ who supported heavy metal in the UK during the New Wave of British Heavy Metal...
Outlaw is one of my favorite metal songs of all time!!

Amazing album. Altar of the King is my fave off it but all the songs are excellent.

One of the best albums from the entire decade...regardless of genre.

It's their best album and one of my favorite albums of all time. "Outlaw" is simply a perfect song.

They put out a single version of "Outlaw" with a different mix.  I can't find a youtube version but the cover looked like this:



"Outlaw" was also re-recorded by the band for the Nightbreaker album, but it's much inferior to the original.

I think I've posted this before, but I own 3 vinyl versions of this album and 2 CD versions:

LP - Original Elektra pressing with name of the album on the spine misprinted as "Fire Down Below"
LP - 2012 Metal Blade repress on orange vinyl - this is the original Elektra mix of the album and it sounds fantastic  
LP - 2011 Audio Fidelity repress/remaster - sounds beautiful as is to be expected from Audio Fidelity
CD - 1999 Metal Blade reissue - this is the original Elektra mix of the album and it sounds fantastic.  It has two bonus tracks: "Misty Morning Rain" and "You're All I Needed Tonight"
CD - 1997 High Vaultage remaster/reissue - this version sounds like crap as it uses the Steve Loeb remixes. This version has 5 bonus tracks including the 2 on the Metal Blade Reissue and "Struck By Lightning," "One Step Closer," and "Hot Life."

I believe this has been posted before, but here's the full show of the Fire Down Under lineup live in 1981:

I watched that show last year and it's friggin' fantastic! My faves off this one are Altar, Run for Your Life, Outlaw, and Swords and Tequila.

At Witchfinder's Riot vinyl:

I love the Fire Down Under. It's the first one of their's that I bought. A great album start to finish but I think my faves would be Outlaw and Swords And Tequila.

I love Riot!! I admit I am new to the old stuff, as I started w/ 'Thundersteel'. But I've been exploring the early albums in the last year or so...SO good!

Restless Breed is the fourth album by the American heavy metal band Riot, and their first with vocalist Rhett Forrester, released in 1982. "When I Was Young" is an Eric Burdon and the Animals' cover.
Also Released this year was the Live Ep from the Restless Breed Tour...


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I have both of these on Vinyl and I have the German import CD with both of these albums on the same cd...

It Dont get much better than this my friends..this just shred's ..





This is one of my all time favorite Riot Albums..Just a straight up Heavy Metal Record with attitude...

Next up is the 1983 album BORN IN AMERICA...After getting dropped by Elektra Records the band signed with Canadian indie label Quality Records for what was to be the last record with Rhett Forrester on vocals. The album would also mark the end of the line for guitarist Rick Ventura, bassist Kip Leming, and drummer Sandy Slavin. Born In America was re-issued in 1989 by Grand Slamm Records in the U.S. and CBS/Sony Records in Japan, both with different artwork. A further U.S. re-issue followed in 1999 through Metal Blade Records, utilizing the original cover artwork. Born In America was re-issued again in 2015.