What the fuck is the deal with REO SPEEDWAGON?

[rustoffa]

IMO, some of the older stuff was ok, like 357 riverside avenue and shit. Then, all at once, they busted out some shit like Starship and Heart did.

Total fucking one-hundred-and-eighty-degree fluff.

I tell ya, it's a buncha cryptic shit...like, on the tuna fish album.....they had the "Roll With The Changes" song.

Then they fluffed it up.

Somebody make sense of this thread.

[Redballjets88]

i cant stand them they are the definition of gay them and bread

[blueturk]

REO just sucks, period. Especially poodle-rocker Kevin Cronin with his fucked up enunciation. He sounds like a drunk Irishman, and "Roll With The Changes" is a prime example. Some examples:

As soon as you are abullll
Woman I am wheellenn

Got me through my darkest owarrrrrrr
something something sweet sun showarrrrrrr

So if yourr tiyarrd of the same old storayyy
Oh the constant changezzz

yadda yadda yadda

[Va Beach VH Fan]

They really haven't been the same since Gary Richrath left in '89....

Their live album, "You Get What You Play For", is a good one....

[ThrillsNSpills]

There's no sense to be made of it rusty.
They rolled with the changes...
the purists didn't.

the ballsy albums get bounced back with we don't have a single.....we need an anthem,,,,something that sticks in your head and doesn't leave like herpes.

hmm ok how about this.
keep on rollin
keep on rollin
ooo ooo oooo

[thome]

chick music

Back in the DAY whatever that means if you wanted a date Styx and
REO were shure bets wif da ladies .Concert or at parties & what-not.

I allways called it Chick Music not my Fav Ohh you know what im sayin.

I enjoyed it doesnt have my all time Vote.Great concerts

[superdave]

Their only good song was 'Back On The Road Again'

[Terry]

Whatever cred they had vanished by the time Hi-Infidelity came around. That "Keep On Lovin' You" swill was a prototype of hair-metal power ballads that would soon bombard top-40 radio.

Will listen to the same 3 or 4 REO songs that get replayed/overplayed on the radio (Roll With The Changes, Riding The Storm Out, Take It On The Run) when they're on, but beyond that can't be bothered.

[Mr. Vengeance]

They sucked the fat one. My most hated band along with U2. Never did a decent song. Good news is, REO's been irrelevant since 1983.

[blueturk]

Originally posted by superdave
Their only good song was 'Back On The Road Again'

The absence of Kevin Cronin can do wonders! Well, the poodle sang back-up on it but his high estrogen level couldn't ruin this song, which actually rocks somewhat. BTW, Michael Jackson stole this riff for "Beat It".

[bueno bob]

Ok, fuck it...

I liked them up to 1980...after Hi Infidelity, I totally lost interest. Hi Infidelity was the watershed moment for me, really...I thought it was a damn good album at the time (and a solid effort by today's standards), but everything afterwards was crap and not worth the effort. Hi Infidelity kind of bridged the gap between the old REO, which could kick ass at times (e.g. Riding the Storm Out) and the new one, which would rear it's power-ballad head throughout the rest of the 80s and into today.

As a live act, they're actually really tight, and they know their way around a stage and put on a very good show, even if the "hits" aren't hardly worth the effort now. Unfortunately, those "hits" of the 80s are usually what they sound best at...renditions of the older material usually blow because they sound like very old men trying to recapture the energy of their youth and it doesn't work often. Sometimes they hit it, but...it's very iffy and the times they do are few and far between.

Basically, I'm a 50/50 split on them.

[rustoffa]

Originally posted by Va Beach VH Fan
They really haven't been the same since Gary Richrath left in '89....

He's a pretty good guitar player. Maybe underrated....that's probably arguable.

[FORD]

Originally posted by Redballjets88
i cant stand them they are the definition of gay them and bread

Bread was kinda schizophrenic in their sound too. The David Gates singles were generally crap, but the b-sides (written by the other guys) were some decent country-rock.

Truckin down the highway.
Get outa my way......

[DrMaddVibe]

"Golden Country"

[rustoffa]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
"Golden Country"

YES!

Quite the timely reference Good DR.!