Essential Reo Speedwagon

Reo Speedwagon - Essential Reo Speedwagon

Essential Reo Speedwagon
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CD Details

Artist: Reo Speedwagon
Edition: Music CD
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2004-08-10
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. Sophisticated Lady
  2. Music Man
  3. Golden Country
  4. Son Of A Poor Man
  5. Lost In A Dream
  6. Keep Pushin'
  7. (I Believe) Our Time Is Gonna Come
  8. Lightning
  9. Like You Do
  10. Flying Turkey Trot
  11. 157 Riverside Avenue
  12. Ridin' The Storm Out
  13. Roll With The Changes
  14. Time For Me To Fly
  15. Say You Love Me Or Say Goodnight
Music CD 2
  1. Back On The Road Again
  2. Only The Strong Survive
  3. Don't Let Him Go
  4. Keep On Loving You
  5. In Your Letter
  6. Take It On The Run
  7. Keep The Fire Burnin'
  8. The Key
  9. One Lonely Night
  10. Live Every Moment
  11. Can't Fight This Feeling
  12. That Ain't Love
  13. In My Dreams
  14. Variety Tonight
  15. Here With Me
  16. Love Is A Rock
  17. Building The Bridge
  18. Just For You

Music reviews of Essential Reo Speedwagon

Music Review: Box set is needed - because this is a skim job!!
Rating: 3 Stars

OK, this is fairly comprehensive when it comes to hits but it really doesn't do justice to the band's history. It's obvious that Kevin Cronin had a big hand in this compilation which is why it might be fine for the Johnny come lately REO fans who got on board in the late seventies or eighties, but for long time fans going back to the early seventies it is sadly lacking. There are those of us from the midwest who were there from the beginning. We saw this band in the clubs and bars when they were working hard to get second and third bill on bigger gigs. A nice bunch of guys who busted their butts and rocked harder than the pop band it became in the 80's (referred to in my household as R.E.O. Weeniewagon). Fans like us abandoned ship when the glossy pop started paying dividends for the band (ie. they sold out).

So, with Cronin picking the tunes, it's no surprise how he minimizes the contributions of early vocalists Terry Luttrel (who after leaving the band was in Starcastle) and Mike Murphey. R.E.O.'s 1st LP certainly wasn't their greatest and hasn't aged well, but it did include the original version of 157 Riverside Avenue which would have been a better choice than Sophisticated Lady. It's also more concise and less histrionic than the live version (naturally featuring Cronin and included in the package). 1972's R.E.O. T.W.O. was, in my opinion one of the band's finest records (1973's Ridin the Storm Out was also fantastic) and featured Cronin on vocals. Essential features two songs from the 2nd LP (Cronin's autobiographical Music Man & social commentary Golden Country) and later features the live version of Like You Do which was also originally on the album. But, there was an absolutely killer version of Little Queenie on this album which featured Boots Randolph on sax that was a toure de force. Also a great mellower track from the LP was Being Kind Can Hurt Someone Sometimes.

The band's third LP Ridin' the Storm Out saw a third change in vocalists in as many albums when red-headed, wine drinkin' Mike Murphey took over the mic. The album was a winner all the way through and certainly deserves more than the one track offered here (Son of a Poor Man). The original version of Ridin' the Storm Out instead of the live version (of course featuring Cronin) would have been a preferable choice. The album also featured Whiskey Night (with Joe Walsh on slide guitar) a great cover of Terry Reid's Without Expression, a cover of Steve Still's Open Up and Mike Murphy singing a Kevin Cronin original titled Movin'. None of these are included.

REO's second, third and fourth albums were very strong records. The fourth, Lost In A Dream, pales only in comparison to the previous two LP's. The title track is featured here but there are better tracks on this excellent album.

'Essential,' due to the bias of sales versus quality, and, Cronin's desire to feature himself over previous vocalists, under represents the period when the band was building its following. This is a critical mistake. In fact the first five tracks on the disc are an exact duplication of the first five tracks on the earlier compilation 'A Decade of Rock N Roll.' These first five tracks represent the group's first five LP's (actually there are no songs included from the fifth album, This Time We Mean It, which was admittedly weak but featured the excellent You Better Realize). Essential continues by including nearly every charted song by the band after Cronin re-joined in 1976, along with the aforementioned live tracks which rob us of the original versions.

1976's R.E.O. wasn't the breakthrough album that Epic Records had hoped for the band - I lived in Los Angeles at the time and this album was an instant cut out sold in used record stores for 98 cents. The breakthrough for the band came with the live album. In that respect, their career is somewhat similar to Peter Frampton's.

Frampton built his following with his first four LP's. Frampton Comes Alive didn't just crop up from nowhere. Frampton toured his butt off with midling sales to a following he built up. After all, the songs on Frampton Comes Alive were all from his first four albums. When Frampton followed his success with I'm In You, the album cover alone was a huge clue as to which direction his career was headed. No surprise that after it's release and his subsequent association with the Sgt. Pepper film fiasco, that his original fans abandoned ship.

I think it's fair to say that most of REO's original fans headed for the hills when the band started achieving mass success in the eighties. This was no longer the hard working bar band we grew up with in the midwest.

Hopefully a four disc box set will be in the offing in the near future with a truly discriminating re-mix and master that pays attention to the critical early development of the band as they built their following. Hey Sony, next time consult true original fans of the band so that a proper representation of their first five albums occurs.

More Essential Reo Speedwagon free music reviews:
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