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Roll of speed
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REO Speedwagon rolled on with its distinctive sound
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HIGH SPEED REO Speedwagon records sold spectacularly
REO Speedwagon (named after a high-speed fire engine) was formed by Neal Doughty and Alan Gratzer while both were students at the University of Illinois in 1968. Irving Azoff handled the group for the better part of the Seventies, getting its opening
dates from other popular Midwestern acts like Bob Seger and Kansas.
Throughout the early Seventies, REO Speedwagon’s records sold unspectacularly as the group continued to tour. REO went through relatively few personnel changes, the most significant being vocalist Kevin Cronin’s departure in 1972 for a solo career. Cronin subsequently returned in 1975, his song writing and singing would be crucial to the band’s ascendance.
With Cronin and Gary Richrath co-producing, REO began to develop a more distinctive sound, a mix of rock riffs and pop hooks. ‘Tuna’ contained the band’s first chart single, Roll with the Changes and was first to sell a million copies. Nine Lives in 1979 continued in this pop-rock direction.
Hi-Infidelity released in 1980 was a phenomenally successful album, climbing to no.1 on the Billboard chart three separate times. Four of its singles made the Top 40, Keep On Lovin’ you, Take It on the Run, Don’t Let Him Go and In Your Letter. The first two were heavy ballads, a style the group would rely upon from then on. The next release Good Trouble, was a disappointment, though it did contain the Top 10 single Keep the Fire Burnin’.
Sabbatical
REO took a two year sabbatical before coming out with the double platinum Wheels Are Turnin’, which gave the band its second number one hit, Can’t Fight This Feeling, a strongly melodic ballad.
The band placed five more singles in the Top 20 through 1988 but its record sales gradually slackened. Richrath, one of the main song writers and a fiery guitar player left in 1990, not long after drummer Gratzer’s departure.
REO’s ability to carry on appeared in jeopardy from there on, but Cronin, Doughty and Bruce Hall (a member since 1976) are still at it with ex-Ted Nugent sideman Dave Amato on guitar and drummer Bryan Hitt, formerly of Wang Chung.
A. GEORGE ANTONY
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