REO Speedwagon returns with gusto!, April 27, 2007
By Kenneth Wayne Stallings "Ken Stallings" (Las Vegas, Nevada, United States)
REO Speedwagon was one of the classic arena rock/pop bands from the late 1970's to 1980's. Along with Styx, Journey, and Loverboy, REO Speedwagon formed the backbone of this period of music where huge album sales and concert gross defined one of the wildest expansions of music in history.
Then, after their album, "Life, As We Know It," REO hit a period of changes in lineup with the departure of founding members, drummer Alan Gratzer, and lead guitarist Gary Richrath. Along with these shakeups, REO suddenly departed the Billboard album charts.
The new lineup featured drummer Bryan Hitt and guitarist Dave Amato and released two original albums, "The Earth, a Small Man, His Dog, and a Chicken," plus "Building the Bridge." The second album featured a cut used in a Presidential election.
But neither album achieved anything remotely close to the success of their previous releases, much less the earth shattering success of "High Infidelity." This latest original album, "Find Your Own Way Home," changes all of that.
This album has already charted and that is despite a limited initial release through Wal-Mart stores. Now the album has been generally released. More important, the songs in this album are truly excellent and varied.
The initial two releases are "Smilin' In the End" to the classic rock stations and "Find Your Own Way Home" to the adult contemporary stations. "Smilin' in The End" is an old-fashioned rock and roll romp, a defiant ode of success against the odds. "Find Your Own Way Home" is a classic REO power ballad, but with a soulful theme of unfulfilled love with a pointed rejoinder that the lover must find her own lost way.
One hopes this is not the end of the releases to radio stations because as good as these two songs are, they are not the finest on the album.
The album has many songs that echo the REO classics of the past, but also expands the band's genre into new territory. "Born to Love You," is a wonderful blues song with an electric punch. Bassist Bruce Hall again lends his baritone voice as lead singer, and the song is pure toe-tapping energy. But there is more where that came from.
"Everything You Feel" is perhaps the single best song on the entire album, a masterful blend of high energy instrumentals with ballad style lyrics that form a brilliant example of progressive rock. The song starts slow, with a barely audible extended musical introduction, a pale whisper that builds into a crescendo of hard hitting guitar and organ compositions. Within this wall-splitting instrumental is a ballad that explores the measure of the man as the sum of his relationships, broken and successful.
But there are other flavors. "Dangerous Combination" is a fabulously original song about the effects of alcohol on the male brain. The lyrics are splendid:
"I've been thinkin' too much.
I've been drinkin' to much.
Oh and thinkin' and drinkin' for me is a dangerous combination.
If we're gonna turn back, better turn back now.
I'd say no, but I don't know how.
Girl I really should be leaving.
But that's another conversation."
As you may surmise, the album has a central them, very much an adult version of the one so well done in "High Infidelity," hard luck in love and the pain of recognizing it! Except, unlike the techno rock of "Hi Infidelity," this album reflects a far higher degree of maturity, and without question a wide range of musical expressions.
If you want to listen to progressive rock, power ballads, blues, power anthems, folk, and country, you can load up a six-disk CD player cassette. Or, you can simply purchase this one album and find at least one quality example of each!
It's been 19 years since REO released an album of this quality. They've been highly successful on the concert tours but had a war chest of quality songs. Finally, the best of those new songs have made it on a new album. For REO fans, this is a release to celebrate. But for fans who have never heard REO songs, "Find Your Own Way Home" is a marvelous starting point. |
