REO Speedwagon Classics

Between KOLY and TIOTR for me.

CFTF all the way.

TIOTR all day long

No Roll With The Changes no credibility

hell yeah thread of the year

I got a soft spot for REO Speedwagon as they were just one of those ubiquitous rock bands that was just everywhere when I was a kid growing up in Indiana at the end of the 70s early 80s. Those guys toured the midwest all the time (kinda still do) and had a really big following. Not Bob Seger or John Cougar popular, but but not far either at least in that 79-81 time.

"Keep On Loving You" is a much darker love song. Gary Richrath hits a couple of truly epic pick slides in this one and he was really good at that. Richrath's were also very melodic like a vocal line.

Talk is cheaper when the story is good, I might prefer "Take It on the Run" to either one.

Boston and REO definitely got that huge overdub chorus of voices down cold and that pretty much became Def Leppard's sound too.

Foreigner's "Waiting for a Girl Like You" is another tune that has a similar vibe as the REO power ballads.

All this music takes me back to being 11-12 years old and brokenhearted at the skating ring.

― earlnash, Thursday, August 16, 2018 4:48 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

classic post from the other thread imo. brokenhearted at the skating rink otm

And what about Don't Let Him Go? Not to mention Time For Me To Fly. I think you people need an REO refresher course.

this is so KOLY, a great song, insisting on it's vulnerability, and it has the lyrics "When I said that I loved you I meant that I loved you forever"

Can't Fight This Feeling. What a song. I can virtually smell the leather in the back of my mate's dad's gold Granada.

yeah, very car music

tbh only came across KOLY a few months ago on youtube (or was it the freaks and geeks soundtrack?) but it has such an immediate appeal, beautifully sentimental

I assumed REO were a hard rock band and this was their big soft single, the guards down ballad any hair metal band needs, but listening through their top tracks on Spotify I guess REO were all about big ballads?

Foreigner's "Waiting for a Girl Like You" is another tune that has a similar vibe as the REO power ballads.

All this music takes me back to being 11-12 years old and brokenhearted at the skating ring.

― earlnash, Thursday, August 16, 2018 4:48 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

classic post from the other thread imo. brokenhearted at the skating rink otm

― princess of hell (BradNelson), Friday, August 17, 2018 8:07 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

helll yessss, "waiting for a girl like you" is all time

REO had other tunes, some still played off the quiet/loud/quiet dynamic.

"Take It on the Run" is a ballad and then it goes totally Stairway2heaven during the solo break.

Check out some tunes from the "Live: You Get What You Play For"* live record, it shows their hard rock side. Many of these live versions are the one that is known and were big time radio staples.

Golden Country
Riding the Storm Out
Flying Turkey Trot
Keep Pushin

'Roll with the Changes' is a pretty driving tune too with a couple of epic pick slides.

https://youtu.be/M4665KTZkVM

*This one has to be on 'I've Got My Own Album to Do' list right?

appreciating the "i've been waiting" comp, ive sampled the shit out of that song the last few years.

"KOLY" is the most popular jesus and mary chain song in us chart history

tiotr is a banger

"One Lonely Night" is probably my other keeper from the best-of.

just can't say enough for those guitars going into the chorus of Can't Fight This Feeling. they are really whaling on this poor song! BRAOW DOW!!!

waitin' for the fallout

Keep On Loving You not only gets a bigger reception live, the band places it in the set as a tune of greater importance.

so....voting Take It On the Run

All these songs are classics, but the actual correct answer is "Time for Me to Fly."

(As noted, "Roll With the Changes" is also missing. So is "Keep the Fire Burnin'." (PHEAR my mad punctuatin' skillz, yo.))

these guys are the biggest cornballs live btw

or at least, Cronin is

neanderthal otm. I recently watched their Soundstage live video and was transfixed. I embrace the cheez of this band, and I find these songs offer compelling hooky drama that cannot be denied.

Of these three, I go with "Take it on the Run," if only for the line "talk is cheap when the story is good."

Plus, when I was like 11 years old I misheard "even if it is, keep this in mind" as "even if it is, keep kissin' mine." Which is decidedly more racy, and possibly even a superior lyric.

wait -- are they cornier than dennis deyoung

That's like comparing Iowa sweet corn to Minnesota sweet corn.

They're both delicious, why do we need a hierarchy?

fair

Styx, Foreigner, REO, Toto, Journey, Asia, Triumph = 53% of a suburban white kid's Walkman in 1980-82. It's a rich source of corn, which for me evokes a very specific time. A year later and it's all new wavey and synthpoptimistic. We also had access to equally rich streams of less-lily-white music. Kool + gang, Debarge.

But for a moment there, a syrupy power ballad could rule the 6th grade dance with a particular kind of cornball majesty. And there's no shame in acknowledging its weird attraction.

as a 6th-grade dancer at the time, i can tell u that 'faithfully' and, to a slightly lesser extent 'open arms' blew away all the rest

REO *might* have gotten played, but certainly none of the others were

have always loved the vocal phrasing on keep on loving you. one of the all time great songs to sing along to.

First 2 lps and the Session tv show of them from that period. I think the line up changed in 1973 and you're left with the drek of the rest of their career
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DZegnE7Cpo

everybody so otm itt!

they're def in got my own album to do territory, p sure "you can tune a guitar but you can't tuna fish" has been posted a few times

that live album rocks on first listen, clearly the guys can play

were the other bands as romantic as REO? so many love songs

Journey was def sappily romantic. Foreigner was more creepy than romantic imo

definitely sweatier

We also had access to equally rich streams of less-lily-white music. Kool + gang, Debarge.

a little ot but i couldn't let this go without saying they're the two best bands ever

No Ridin the Storm Out = you & I can never be REO bros Sund4r

I was polling the three songs that were being discussed on the CFTF thread but you guys are probably right that I should have just polled this whole compilation. (Full disclosure: I've never listened to an entire studio album by this band.) Maybe after this one?

Hm, maybe it's worth asking a mod to close this and start a new one.

i like the tidiness of this one

New poll: POLL: REO Speedwagon - Take It On the Run: The Best Of