REO Speedwagon Album: “A Decade of Rock & Roll 1970-80”

REO Speedwagon have, since Day One, been unashamedly pop with a little bit of an edge. But they're so good at it, they pull you in. This album is an excellent place to begin an REO collection, although it was released just before the group's essential HI INFIDELITY album--so get that one, too.

The real treat of this collection is that it presents half of the REO album (1976), one of the group's best and highly underrated. The four songs from that album have been gloriously remixed and sound better than ever.

Get this one. It's a real gem.

This is a great recap of REO Speedwagon's best musical period. You get "Son Of A Poor Man" with Kevin on vocals, which is how it should have been all along. You also have the excellent live version of "Ridin' The Storm Out", which is even better than the excellent studio version. The opening "Sophisticated Lady" is terrible, but "Lost In A Dream isn't half bad at all. There are are a few other not-so-great songs, but most of this set is high-energy rock, much better than the pap that later became REO's stock-in-trade. Get this one if you've never heard just how great REO Speedwagon were in their early years.

Not many groups can lay claim to the success that REO has had, what group can go thru 3 lead singer changes, and end back up with their second singer, and be stronger about it. Not many. A DECADE OF ROCK AND ROLL 70-80, is a strong testament to REO. It contains a least one song from every cd of this time frame. Plus it contains some hidden gems.

Luckly the cd has only one song from each cd that Kevin is not doing lead vocals on, which was a smart move. The songs picked from thses cds, are okay, and thses songs are only on disk one. Disk two is pure REO.

Disk one's songs has a hidden surprise, with the orginal vocals by Kevin on So of a Poor Man, which were rerecorded for the release of RIDIN THE STORM OUT,(the third cd), right after Kevin left the group. So hearing how this song was really suppose to sound, is nice, and makes you wonder just how good could that third cd had been. Also the songs from REO, the cd which Kevin came back to the group, have been re-produced. Making them sound a lot better. The songs from REO, were good, but orginally the production killed the cd.

Disk two is were it really kicks ... It start off live, with songs from the live cd, You get.... then adds two new live versions of Ridin' the Storm Out, and 157 Riverside Ave. Both of which ROCK. These two, are two of the best live recordings ever done by the group. The cd ends with classic REO songs from the TUNA cd and NINE LIVES, which includes Roll With the Changes, Time For Me to Fly, and Back on the Road Again.

You can't go wrong with this cd.

If you're only familiar with "Keep On Lovin' You" and "I Can't Fight This Feeling," then this album will shock you. It's straight ahead rock n' roll, with some tracks recorded live, from beginning to end. A few songs are classic rock staples--"Roll With The Changes" is REO prepping the Hi-Infidelity sound--but there are lesser known gems all over the place: "Son Of A Poor Man," "Back On The Road Again," and the hyper optimistic "Keep Pushin'." The few early songs with a different singer (yes, really), are the low points.

REO SPEEDWAGON IS THE GREATEST BAND IN THE WORLD IF YOU WANT THE GREATEST COLLECTION OF REO SPEEDWAGON THEN THIS IS IT

REO LIVES ON