Post by jptheprofessor on Apr 25, 2008 18:20:33 GMT -5
REO SPEEDWAGON – FIND YOUR OWN WAY HOME (REO Speedwagon Recordings) On their first studio album in eleven years, Find Your Own Way Home, REO Speedwagon finds their own way home, and does what a number of veteran groups have done on recent studio albums; go back to their basics. Over the album’s ten tracks, the current REO roster of singer/rhythm guitarist Kevin Cronin, lead guitarist Dave Amato, keyboardist Neal Doughty, bassist Bruce Hall and drummer Bryan Hitt returns to the type of mainstream rock and pop that first put them on the map in the 70’s and early 80’s. On much of the album, the group finds a comfortable medium between their 70’s-styled arena rock and their more pop-geared 80’s sound; delivering songs that are punchy, yet smooth and polished. “Lost on the Road of Love” and the Bruce Hall-fronted “Born to Love You” both incorporate R&B flavors into their rocking grooves, while “Run Away Baby” offers up some spirited boogie. The album opener, “Smilin’ in the End,” is an all-out, brash rocker topped by a gruffer and more agitated Kevin Cronin vocal; while the title track, “Find Your Own Way Home,” “I Needed to Fall” and the album closer “Let My Love Find You” lean more towards the pop ballad side of REO Speedwagon’s personality. This group displays more strut and swagger than we have heard from them in a while; and the overall mood of this album is fun and a bit loose. The production by Kevin Cronin and Joe Vannelli stays clean and basic, allowing some edge to the group’s sound and avoiding excess pop gloss. Find Your Own Way Home isn’t as raucous as 1979’s Nine Lives or as syrupy as 1984’s Wheels Are Turnin;’ it rides the middle ground between the two, as REO Speedwagon gets back to their basics and crafts solid, catchy, friendly, straightforward rock.