Overview: Randy Rhoads: Reflections Of A Guitar Icon (narrated by Tracii Guns, Guns N’ Roses and L.A. Guns) is an in-depth look into the life of legendary guitarist Randy Rhoads, best known for his gut-wrenching guitar solo in Crazy Train with Ozzy Osbourne.

Blu-ray Verdict: In the ’70s, Randy Rhoads’ guitar riffs reshaped rock’n’roll and raised the stakes for guitarists everywhere. As the lead guitarist for Quiet Riot and Ozzy Osbourne, Randy made a name for himself at a very young age.

You can still hear his hair-raising guitar solos on the albums Blizzard of Oz & Diary of a Madman. Tragically, Randy died at the young age of 25 in a plane crash. Known as the James Dean of rock’n’roll, he left this world too soon, but his soul and music live on forever.

For for a fan, such as myself, of heavy metal, in general, and always a fan of the guitar lick solos that can embody a song quite like nothing that has gone before it, I found this new documentary to be a surprisingly polished event.

Overdue and deserving for such an important and somewhat overlooked artist of the hard rock era, sure it focuses mostly on his pre-Ozzy days in LA and his days struggling with Quiet Riot, but what it clearly shows was a hurricane force of talent who was lost way too soon.

Musicians like this are poster children for folks that are born to do what they are known for. Although he’s known very well in the musician and music appreciation scholarship circles, he never truly got his recognition in society’s more general appreciation for such an accomplished guitar wizard, due to his career/life being cut short.

So yes, this is a story that’s never been told this comprehensively before, the filmmakers doing a kind of miraculous thing by interweaving found audio against many rarely seen images of that time, along with thoughtful commentary by contemporaries.

It really elevates Rhoades as an artist worthy of this kind of consideration, and hearing people reminisce about what it was like to watch a young Randy Rhoads mesmerize the crowd in those LA clubs, is also a massive, gleeful highlight.

That all said, missing here is any true in-depth analysis of the actual music he made, especially the two masterful Ozzy albums, so I guess we can assume that they couldn’t secure the rights, so you never hear any of those great recordings.

But it almost doesn’t matter for Randy Rhoads: Reflections Of A Guitar Icon is eminently watchable regardless. So, if you grew up in the ’80s in awe of the music, and before our social media age where we know everything about everyone, you will love this feature.

To my mind, it really captures the humble and endearing quality of this young man before his brief moment of superstardom and heartbreaking end; which is still hard to believe. Rock forever, RR. [EHH]

Bonus Features:
Trailer
Additional Interviews with Quiet Riot/Bandmates Rudy Sarzo and Drew Forsyth
Additional Interviews from Ron Sobol, Quiet Riot’s photographer
Exclusive Music Clips from Quiet Riot
Never Before Seen Vintage Footage of Randy Rhoads and Quiet Riot