I didn't realize how much I missed my albums until I got this collection. Some of REO's more recent hits, like Keep on Lovin' You and I can't Fight this Feelin', are fairly ubiquitous on FM radio, but it's been ages since I really got to soar with a serious (Gary) Richrath riff.
157 Riverside Avenue is almost as good as the original live release (though the scat part is shorter) and it still gives me chills. And, oh - the voice(!). For those of you not old enough to have been a character on That 70's Show, let me tell you about Kevin Cronin's voice. Operatically trained, clear and sharp as morning frost on clear glass, Cronin set the bar for Rock Vocalists in the 70's and 80's and 90's. I defy anyone to wring more syllables out of a two-letter word.
This two-disc, 33-tune set has everything I'd want in a truly "essential" collection. Rock standard Ridin' the Storm Out still makes having sex in a tent during a storm in the Rocky Mountains seem like a good idea. (It isn't.) Roll with the Changes embodies the kind of optimism only possible in a world before G.W. Bush. In fact, REO was all about optimism, which may have worked against them in the Punk era, and even the songs about heartbreak look to better times. Time for Me to Fly is a breakup song, but it's such an anthem of independence that it evokes the air of a fresh start instead of the bitterness of an ending. It's hard rock with a decidedly Metrosexual sensibility that's sometimes incongruous with the untamed vibe of rock and roll, but it does, indeed, rock. This is an absolute must for any music collection.
Morgaine Swann
The Goddess -A Republican's Worst Nightmare...
Article comments
1 - godoggo
I've never actually heard anybody say they like REO Speedwagon before. I have a vague notion of what they sound like, based more on their reputation, such as it is, than on having actually heard them, although I imagine that I have at some point. Anyhoo, I enjoyed this review, especially the thing about the syllables.
2 - Matt Wardlaw
GREAT compilation.
I was actually almost going to write about it.......bummer that they only included Here With Me, and not I Don't Want To Lose You from "The Hits" collection - both were new tunes on the collection, and both were great...but it is certainly a minor omission from an otherwise excellent collection!
3 - Mark Saleski
the REO phenomenon reminds me of the Hootie thing.
nobody knows anyone who sez they like 'em, and yet they sold boatloads of records.
i liked them back in the "You Can't Tune A Piano..." days. Roll With The Changes is a great song.
4 - Eric Olsen
I liked them even earlier than that, totally dug "Riding the Storm Out" but by the time of the mega-super-power-ballads my Rich had Rathed.
5 - Tim Hall
I thought they were a band who did a few great hard rock songs ("Back on the Road Again", anyone?), amidst a sea of cheese.
6 - SFC SKI
It's funny, how many of my own disdainful comments regarding Orea Cookiewagon, REO S***wagon, et al are expressed here. "Back on the Road Again" is the only REO song that does not make immediately change the station, and it was not sung by Kevin Cronin, but by the bass player, whose name I have long since forgotten. THat they were talented musicians and singers is not up for debate, the live album shows their chops, it is that, like late period Journey, Kansas, and several other "arena rocker-balladeers"
they started writing such hackneyed, cliched, formulaic, schlocky, every new song the same as the last song utter crap that it overshadowed anything they had ever done in the past and made many ashamed to admit they had ever liked them.
There was a reason punk came on so big in response to these bloated musical travesties, and REO is one of the prime examples.
Gary Richrath's soloes all sounded the same by the height of their popularity, and REO made a piano opening to a song a warning to get up switch channels before you were exposed to some terrible song a Pavlovian response in many listeners from that time.
REO fans really love the band, but those who don't like them, really DO NOT LIKE THEM!
No, I will not be buying this collection.
7 - Duane
This CD should get an "F" for "F*CK THE FANS." Nothing on it is new. No rare tracks. No sound bites. No studio takes. Nothing. Just the same crap REO's already released over and over again, but in a different order. Don't be ripped off!
8 - Theo
Kevin Cronin said "'Essential REO Speedwagon' ...is sequenced in chronological order, so you can see how we attempted to suck a little less on each successive record...er, I mean how our sound evolved as we grew tighter, both musically and emotionally."
He's got it backwards. The band SUCKS more and more with each passing year.
9 - Mark Saleski
the worst REO moment for me is:
"When I said that I love you
I meant that I love you foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"
blech.
10 - Matt Wardlaw
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Once again, the fans miss the point - this is not a collection targeted at the hardcore fans - this is targeted towards the fans that want a collection that has all of the hits in one collection, or for the newer fan that is less familiar with the REO albums, and more familiar with the hits. I think the Essential collections do a really great job of giving the fan a good collection of the best album tracks, and for the most part, the essential hits.
If you want rare stuff, don't look here - wait for the inevitable box set. I don't know why "the fans" have such a big problem with a release like this - if you don't want it, it's very simple - don't buy it! REO, are not targeting you, the hardcore fan, with this release, and if you already have the albums, then obviously you have no need to buy it, so don't!
11 - SFC SKI
No band can inspire quite as much a vitriloic response as REO, I guess in a way, they should be proud.
12 - Brian
If anyone wants a "collection" of REO's hits, you've got over a dozen to choose from with almost exactly the same selections as this "Essentials" CD:
1985 Best Foot Forward
1988 The Hits
1991 Keep On Loving You - Best
1993 Starbox
1995 Believe In Rock And Roll
1995 Subway in Tokyo
1998 Only The Strong Survive
1998 Premium Best
1999 The Ballads
2000 Arch Allies: Live at Riverport
2001 Live - Plus
2001 Live Plus 3
2001 Extended Versions
2001 Take It On the Run
2001 Simply The Best
2002 Keep On Rollin'
Personally, I'd go with "Live: You Get What You Play For." That's their best all round album.
13 - Gregg Orange
REO Speedwagon could very possibly fit the description of the worst rock band of all time or, at least the worst rock band of the seventies or eighties. They truly embody all of the qualities that make a big commercialy successful rock group appeal to that particular segment of the record buying/concert going public that really doesn't like hard rock and roll at all. REO's sound is and always has been such a candy-coated barrage of innocuous and overproduced vocals, arrangements and musical themes that any resemblance to true rock and roll is so watered down in the rinse cycle that it is left virtually unrecognizeable as such. The fact that bands like REO and Journey became so popular back in the seventies and eighties and the fact that their sickeningly sweet takes on rock and roll have become staples on jurassic rock stations nationwide shows just how large of a segment of the American record buying/concert going audience has no balls and no taste. Kevin Cronin should have been pulled off of the stage with a cane decades ago and forced to perform where he belongs and deserves to be, at a retirement center singing "Feelings" to Alzheimer's patients. Gary Richrath needs to have intensive Steve Jones therapy for at least 2-3 years before he is ever allowed to pick up an electric guitar again and bore us all with his pretentious, searing and oh so melodic soloing that impresses 13 year old girls in the middle school parking lots. RETCH! REO Speedwagon is a band that deserves their place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Shame and should be universally dismissed and forgotten!
14 - Paul
While I am a big REO fan, I can understand why some people would not be. I don't know if there's a band or recording artist that EVERYONE likes. There are artists that I don't care for, so I simply don't listen to them or buy there recordings. My point is, why do people who don't like them spend so much energy trashing REO? Quoting an REO song, "Some people just love to hate."
15 - Mitch
About 15 years ago, I saw these guys live for the first time. It was at the Sangamon County Fair near Springfield, Illinois. I had heard some of thier hits on the radio, but was not prepared for the assume show that I was to experience. The energy level was amazing. I am very pleased to see they are gaining notice again, and I'm really wanting to catch another show. Arch Alies is a great example of thier live shows. I hope the selections on this new dvd are from other venues, as each show seems to be able to stand on it's own as a real work of art. Thanks REO!
16 - jgibby
Cronin is a ------- Gary Richrath is REO. The band rocked before and during Kevin's reign. Gary is the soul of REO. I think the instrumentals were better anyway. If you ever saw REO during the 70's or 80's you came away with the knowledge that Gary was having a great time delivering his licks. It made the show. Kevin was just riding Gary's wave.
17 - brad
All the REO comments posative and negative are interesting.I have loved REO for 30 years and have seen them live countless times with and without Gary.Kevins voice with the mix of the accoustic and electric guitars does it for me.Thay are also geniuses when it comes to writting about human emotions.Its funny to me that I have never liked their contemporairies like Journey or Styx.But just because I don`t like them does`nt mean that they are not talented.Never got the beatles either.........