Garage Sale Vinyl: REO Speedwagon
Nine Lives / Epic / July 1979
by Christopher Long
To the casual observer, it’s an impressive story — a ferocious, hard-working rock and roll band from America’s heartland pays its dues in the 1970s, and ultimately achieves unimaginable success in the ’80s. However, for more watchful enthusiasts, it’s a heartbreaking tale of a bankable band that would implode in the ’90s under the weight of alcohol abuse, internal power struggles, and compromised rock cred. While a fractured configuration of REO Speedwagon pulled out from its tailspin, enjoying a significant measure of new millennium success on the U.S. amphitheater nostalgia circuit, the once vital band that had managed to ride the storm out with a roar, ultimately fizzled out, with a whimper.
For current Yacht Rock captains of the 2020s and former Prom Queens of the 1980s, REO Speedwagon will remain beloved in perpetuity for creating such provolone-injected, hit-fueled, multi-platinum, Top Ten feel-goods as Hi Infidelity (1980), Good Trouble (1982), and Wheels Are Turning (1984). But for rock purists, the band’s most potent slabs were their lower-ranking, million-selling LPs, including the double-record Live: You Get What You Play For (1977), the blameless and timeless You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can’t Tuna Fish (1978), and the ever-urgent Nine Lives (1979).
A few weeks ago, while traveling around the country making various nightclub DJ appearances, I found myself enjoying a casual off-day, record shopping with a special friend in Florida. The first place she took me was a sunny little joint in Cocoa Village, called Space Coast Records. After an hour or so, I walked out with a $20 sack of vinyl treasures that included a pristine, $6 copy of Nine Lives.
Creatively, REO was firing on all cylinders with Nine Lives. From start to finish, the nine-track collection was a high-octane tour de force. Depicting the band members all posturing, rock-star style, in a sleazy-looking back alley while surrounded by sexy cat chicks (on their knees), even the album cover was BAD-ASS.
From the tippy, opening track “Heavy on Your Love” bursts with guitarist Gary Richrath’s signature-style, monster truck riffs and then surrenders quickly to Neal Doughty’s wailing keyboards. Kevin Cronin’s fiery lead vocals make this one a heart-stopping standout.
With Richrath and Doughty (again) cracking the whip with fetish master conviction, “Drop It (An Old Disguise)” was (and still is), absolutely bottom-blistering, while the anthemic “Only the Strong Survive” proved to possess WAY too much girth to be contained by any mortal-made coliseum.
Whether it was Richrath’s chilling autobiographical account or merely a marvelous work of fiction, “Easy Money” was a compelling story of cocaine smuggling, and it once again showed Cronin to be a convincing storyteller. Conversely, the rather pedestrian remake of the Chuck Berry classic, “Rock & Roll Music,” felt somewhat superfluous.
With layers of acoustic guitar chang-a-lang heaped over healthy portions of electrified riffage, “Take Me” was another no-nonsense rocker. To this day, it reminds me of late-night summer drives through the Midwest mountains — top down, cassette deck cranked. “I Need You Tonight” was noteworthy not only for being the record’s sissified square peg, but also for being the template for the bikini-waxed pop style that would define the band henceforth.
Although Richrath’s magnificent “Meet Me on the Mountain” and bassist Bruce Hall’s cock rockin’ “Back on the Road Again” were listed as separate tracks, they’re mixed together in a way that presented one glorious ten-minute opus — arguably the band’s last gasp of hard rock grandeur. “Back on the Road Again” would remain an REO concert staple ‘til the very end of the road, and it serves as an enduring testament to why drummer Alan Gratzer was the band’s unsung hero.
5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Nine Lives Track List
SIDE ONE
1. Heavy on Your Love (K. Cronin, G. Richrath) 3:35
2. Drop It (An Old Disguise) (K. Cronin) 3:14
3. Only the Strong Survive (G. Richrath) 3:52
4. Easy Money (G. Richrath) 4:01
5. Rock & Roll Music (C. Berry) 2:55
SIDE TWO
1. Take Me (K. Cronin) 3:29
2. I Need You Tonight (K. Cronin) 3:35
3. Meet Me on the Mountain (G. Richrath) 4:04
4. Back on the Road Again (B. Hall) 5:39
