| | Riot Rock City CD Riot Discography of CDs
 (6 Customer Reviews)
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If a line could be drawn that connected '70s hard rock superstars like Boston and Thin Lizzy with '80s pop-metal gods Def Leppard, it would almost certainly pass through Riot. The group's surprising debut was originally issued in Japan only, which could explain why this 1977 release isn't more widely admired by rock/metal fans outside of Asia. Rock City boasts tight production and songwriting, and a melodic flair that approximates artists associated with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. A pop-driven arena rock vibe propels standouts like the Boston-influenced "Tokyo Rose" and "This Is What I Get." A few tracks with potential, like "Overdrive," are limited by repetitive choruses and the thin guitar tones of Mark Reale and L.A. Kouvaris. Despite these setbacks, vocalist Guy Speranza's bell-like voice and the Riot's conceptual ambition solidify Rock City. While bandleader Reale was hurting for the virtuoso resources of a Thom Scholz, everyone else making this kind of record was similarly afflicted when compared to Boston's studio innovator. When judged alongside other young American bands caught between Boston's pop, Aerosmith's boogie, and the coming metal revolution, Riot were quite accomplished, and Rock City is a limited, but commendable first effort from the New York outfit. ~ Vincent Jeffries
Recording information: Big Apple Recording Studio, New York, NY (11/1979-06/1977).
Personnel: Mark Reale (vocals, guitar); Guy Speranza (vocals, percussion); L.A. Kouvaris (guitar); Peter Bitelli (drums, percussion).
Audio Remasterer: Eddy Shreyer.
Riot Rock City Songs | 1. | Desperation |
| 2. | Warrior |
| 3. | Rock City |
| 4. | Overdrive |
| 5. | Angel |
| 6. | Tokyo Rose |
| 7. | Heart of Fire |
| 8. | Gypsy Queen |
| 9. | This Is What I Get |
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Rock City Music Review Average Rating: (4.8 out of 5 stars)   List All Reviews Good debut
Growing up, this was the hardest Riot album to get at the time. Both Narita and Fire Down Under were available in America but Rock City was a very expensive import at the time. Me and my frienda pooled are money together and got it and made 8 tracks copies and then cassetes of it later on, lol.
All the songs on here are strong and definitely rocking. Metal Blade did a good job on the reissue and if you like
Narita and Fire Down Under you will like this. Rock on Guy Sperenza.
Submitted by dornbray (Worcester, MA, USA) 
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
great music
Being from New York, I saw this band playing in the clubs and they really rocked!! Mark Reale is amasing on guitar & Guy really shows off his vocals. I'm glad I was able to find their stuff online, brings back good memories. Toyko Rose is my favorite song on Rock City
Submitted by brianstockton (Medford,NY, USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No RIOT RULED
This album rocked bigtime. These guys were awesome. We live in Canada and Riot was not coming north of the border, so they got us great tickets for several concerts: in Rochester and when they opened for Rush in Hartford and for Rainbow and Scorpions in Buffalo. Very few bands could match the phenomenal power of Riot....I wish they were still in action. Singer Guy Speranza and guitarist Mark Reale were simply outstanding ! Many thanks for rockin' us.........excellent band.
Submitted by rjones (Cobourg, Ontario)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No Complete Masterpiece
Hard Driving melodic metal. Don't get much better than this. One could only dream of more albums like this one.
Submitted by Eddie (Redmond, OR USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No RIOT ROCKS!!
one of the best albums ever made. all tracks are metal masterpieces!!
Submitted by a reviewer (davidsonville, md usa)
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Purchase Rock City CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Riot Restless Breed CD (1982) Reissue
Rock City album
 $9.85  
Riot bandleader/guitarist Mark Reale's frequent lineup shifts finally caught up with him on 1982's Restless Breed. Longtime vocalist Guy Speranza's exit after the group's ...
| | Riot Fire Down Under CD (1981) Reissue
Rock City CD music
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| | Riot Born In America CD (1984)
Rock City music CDs
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| | U F O Force It CD (1975) (Import) Remastered; United Kingdom
Rock City songs
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| | Thin Lizzy Thunder And Lightning CD (1983)
Rock City album
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Digitally remastered by Eddie Shreyer & Brian Slagel (Future Disc).
Thin Lizzy's final studio release, Thunder and Lightning, was their most consistent album since 1979's Black Rose. Guitarist John Sykes replaced Snowy White, and the new blood must have inspired Lynott and company to write some of their best compositions in years. Although a pop-metal production hinders the tracks, there's more of a harder edge present than on their last release, Renegade. While the title track served as the ensuing tour's raging opener, half-baked lyrics detailing a fistfight and an unwarranted synth-solo weakens what should have been a straight-ahead rocker. But such heavies as "This Is the One" and "Cold Sweat" suit the band much better. Lizzy takes a stab at dance-rock with "The Holy War," while laying back with the tranquil "The Sun Goes Down" and the album's underrated highlight, the melodic "Bad Habits." ...
| | Riot Narita CD (1979) Import
Rock City CD music
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New York's Riot is unfortunate representative of a "lost generation" of American hard rock bands. Formed in the late '70s, when widespread record industry recession conspired with disco's airwave domination and headline-grabbing (but little-album-selling) punk rock to drive even some of the decade's most successful heavyweight dinosaurs (Black Sabbath, Kiss, etc.) to the brink of extinction, Riot saw precious few of their contemporaries (most notably Van Halen) actually make it through to the big time. Not so lucky as the California quartet, Riot had to seek out a foreign label to take a chance on their stellar eponymous debut in 1977, and then financed a second, Narita, on their own dime before managing to lure a still rather hesitant ...
| | Marty Robbins All-Time Greatest Hits CD (1991)
Rock City music CDs
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| | O'Jays Greatest Hits CD (1984)
Rock City songs
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| | Milton Nascimento Travessia (O Melhor De) CD (1999) (Import) Brazil
Rock City album
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| | Monster Magnet Monolithic Baby CD (2004) Bonus DVD; Limited Edition
Rock City CD music
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"Wyndorfian" is the only appropriate phrase to use when describing the rawk machine that is Monster Magnet. Yes, lead Magneteer Dave Wyndorf is worthy of his own descriptive, his impeccable songwriting skills truly standing on their own crater-pecked asteroid in the music-biz cosmos. So it goes with Monolithic Baby!, which marks a couple of superficial transitions for Monster Magnet -- off a major and back to an indie; new rhythm section (Jim Baglino on bass and Bob Pantella on drums) -- but still upholds Wyndorf's highly entertaining mass of contradictions and vices. Simultaneously whip-smart and cementhead-stupid, smirking and sincere, he can challenge your intellect with an inspired arrangement or pseudo-political left-field lyric, then bash you over the head with a fat, greasy guitar riff; such is his genius. While Wyndorf's earlier endeavors were psychedelic dope dreams, he would eventually kick the hard stuff for a new addictive: sex. So it's no surprise that Monolithic Baby! kicks off with four smarmy-charm, crotch-thrusting musical metaphors for the horizontal mambo in "Slut Machine," "Supercruel," "Unbroken (Hotel Baby)," and especially "On the Verge," which counteracts a nudge-nudge-wink-wink doomsayer lyric ("Take me Jesus, take me Allah, rape me in my room/Torch our days in paranoia while we gorge ourselves on gloom") with a propulsive ...
| | Lucio Battisti Una Donna Per Amico CD (1978) (Import)
Rock City music CDs
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| | Watashi Wa Eager Seas CD (2006) Enhanced CD
Rock City songs
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There are stories going around about strange circumstances surrounding this, Watashi Wa's final album for the Tooth and Nail label. According to one published account, Watashi Wa no longer actually exists as a band; it broke up, and leader Seth Roberts formed a new group called Eager Seas. The new band recorded this album, which was originally going to be titled People Like People, but something happened and Eager Seas left the Tooth and Nail label. Tooth and Nail went ahead and released the album, but under the Watashi Wa name, and titled the ...
| | Electric Wizard Come My Fanatics CD (1996) Bonus Tracks; Remastered; Digipak
Rock City album
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Upon its release, Electric Wizard's excellent debut carved a Titanic-sized swathe through the heavy metal landscape, burying much that had come before under an avalanche of amp distortion, detuned riffs, and billows of marijuana smoke. And yet, impossible as it may seem, the band's absolutely colossal second effort, Come My Fanatics..., while somewhat less immediate than its predecessor, somehow upped the sonic ante through a wall of sludge so thick that even the most experienced of metal heads couldn't help but be overwhelmed by its power. Opening number "Return Trip" is quite simply a heavy metal landmark, from its sudden, feedback-induced (and bowel-releasing) ...
| | Milo Duke Practical Physics IV CD (2008)
Rock City CD music
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