Great Rock Albums of 1979: REO Speedwagon- Nine Lives

Nowadays, when REO Speedwagon is mentioned, the first thing that pops into most people's heads are love rock ballads such as "Can't Fight This Feeling" and "Keep On Loving You." Yes, unfortunately REO Speedwagon is an example of what happened to a lot of great bands who managed to get a song in the top ten back in the early 80s. After that, they try to make all their songs sound like that hit single and abandoned the hard rock that got them there in the first place. They weren't the only band this happened to either.

"Nine Lives" was the first ever album by REO Speedwagon I listened to and my total reaction to it was "This album really rocks!" From the heavy riffs of the opening track "Heavy On Your Love" through to the crunching guitars of "Only the Strong Survive" and the great hard rock musicianship that made "Easy Money" and their own rocking spin on the classic Beach Boys hit "Rock and Roll Music," that finally culminates in the pure heavy finale of "Back On the Road Again," I can say this album is a true rocker. The music is a far cry from some of their later stuff. It's even heavier that their 1978 smash "You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can't Tuna Fish." Even the album cover suggests heavy metal. If they didn't do it in 1979, some heavy metal band in the 80s would have definitely used a cover photo like this on their album. I will go on a limb and speculate that maybe Motley Crue got some of their image ideas from this.

Track Listing:

1. Heavy On Your Love

2. Drop It (An Old Disguise)

3. Only the Strong Survive

4. Easy Money

5. Rock and Roll Music

6. Take Me

7. I Need You Tonight

8. Meet Me On the Mountain

9. Back On the Road Again

REO Speedwagon

Kevin Cronin- lead vocals, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar

Gary Richrath- lead guitar, B52 guitar

Neil Doughty- keyboards

Bruce Hall- bass, backing vocals, lead vocal on "Back On the Road Again"

Alan Gratzer- drums, percussion, backing vocals

For those who are only familiar with REO Speedwagon's more pop oriented 80's sound, then you must go back and listen to "Nine Lives." The hard rock sound on this album will leave you asking yourself, "Is this the same band?" For this album is a true hard rocking classic and yes I will mention again what an underrated guitarist Gary Richrath has been. For he totally smashes it here!

Next Post: Hawkwind- PXR5

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