Buy the time Life as We Know it was released in 1987 some fans weren't to interested in buying a new Reo album, but Life as We Know it is Reo's strongest album since Hi Infidelity. New Way to Love kicks off the album, then the familiar That Ain't Love and In My Dreams. With Life as We Know it the boys really wrote a killer batch of tunes. One too Many Girlfriends, Variety Tonight, and Screams and Whispers also stand out. If you can find this one I highly recommend it.
this album introduced me to rock music some 15 years back - so this album is very special for me. i first heard the singles "that ain't love" and "in my dreams" and i was hooked. so i got the album and the rest of the tracks didn't disappoint. later i picked up the other REO albums too - and in my opinion only "high infidelty" compares with this. "that ain't love" and "in my dreams" are definitely the strongest numbers here - but "screams and whispers", "variety tonight", "accidents can happen" aren't far behind. and there's some great guitar work in "over the egde". i got a used cd of this album on amazon just a week back - and i can't get it out of my cd player!
I dug out this CD last night to give it a listen... and after three songs, I regretted the effort. Sadly, the liner notes (being 25 years old) are almost destroyed and thus I will soon purchase a new copy... only to keep my collection intact.
This album (not unlike STYX' album Kilroy Was Here or JOURNEYS' Raised On Radio) is the sound of a band breaking apart and soon to break up.
All three of the noted albums had some good songs, but that is the best that could be said for either and all.
The bands all sold out for pop radio hits and the drug addled lack of creativity that resulted from the drives for hit songs.
Gone from these albums are the testimonial heartbreaks, anger, wrecklessness and wildness and other emotional conflicts that helped speak to fans of their own struggles of living. These albums no longer evoked passion nor did they help to salve wounds as previous albums had done. Worse, even when efforts were made to write a song of real anxiety, anger and agapic love the sounds presented are sterile, unimaginative and downright silly. Lost are the truly mind-blowing guitar solos, the pounding drums and the swirling, mysterious keyboards that drove all of those great songs from before.
Each time I drag out this old CD, I am compelled to check the credits to see if Alan Gratzer and Gary Richrath had anything to do with the production of the music. Alan's drums mostly sound as fake as a drum machine and lacks almost any artistry in what little fills exist. Gary's lead guitar work is mostly short pieces, and (with one exception) lacking in any genuine drive or imagination. In short, the result could sound just as much like something from THE POLICE, THOMPSON TWINS or even late 1980's CHICAGO. STYX' KILROY WAS HERE sounds better than this album (and that is truly an insult.)
In hindsight, one has to wonder if the drugs and alcohol actually fueled some of these bands true artistry... as if the psychadelics and mood alterations actually opened up their creative minds toward greater brilliance. Certainly, as attested by everything that REO SPEEDWAGON and JOURNEY have produced since, the argument could be made that sobriety and sanity killed whatever genuine intellect that these once mighty bands possessed. Never again would a song as amazing as RIDING THE STORM OUT or WHEELS ARE TURNIN' (nor even WISH YOU WERE HERE) emanate from a studio recording from this band.
Instead we are bombarded with the pounding synth drums of THAT AIN'T LOVE (the best song on the album) that possesses very uninspired rhythm guitar work and a quite lackluster lead guitar fill. Worse still, the sappy and droll IN MY DREAMS with its almost REO SPEEDWAGON alter ego synthesizer dominated music. (I shudder just thinking about it.)
What a shame it is to hear a band breaking apart.
What a shame it is to listen to a band lose its mojo... its artistry.
What a shame it is... LIFE AS WE KNOW IT.
I have been an REO Speedwagon fan for many years and even though this was the last studio release with Gary Richrath it is arguably their best. It certainly beats out any of their bubble gum albums released in the 1980s including High Infidelity. The production is excellent. The best songs are That Ain't Love and In My Dreams however there are no clunkers on this album. It is a shame that this album is now out of print. Luckily it is not a hard album to get through Amazon.
"Life as We Know it" is a fantastic album. The songs are all catchy, light-hearted, and fun. Sure the sound on this album can be classified as cheesy, but you know something...IT WORKS! Through out their career, you can see REO roll with the changes in the music biz. "Life as We Know It" is much better than their previous effort "Wheels are Turnin" and I place this album up there with their classics. After this album Gary Richrath and Alan Gratzer left the band and REO, in my opinion, has never fully recovered.
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