When one thinks of make-out music, I don’t think the band whose
\nname comes to mind first is REO Speedwagon. Then again, what do I
\nknow; the first time I hoped to score with a girl I was dating, I
\nhad Beethoven playing in the background – which she demanded I turn
\noff. With that history, I’m amazed I ever got laid. But I
\ndigress.<\/p>\n
But Kevin Cronin and crew have known for most of their almost
\n30-year career that the ballad has been a powerful secret weapon
\nfor them. While they’ve been known for their rock edge most of
\ntheir career, it has been their ballads that have brought them
\nsuccess often. Recognizing this, the band has combined tracks old
\nand new to create
\nThe Ballads<\/i>, a disc that will probably be getting a lot of
\nplay at weddings this year.<\/p>\n
If you have the best-of CD
\nThe Hits<\/i>, you already have some of these tracks, such as
\n“Keep On Loving You” and “Can’t Fight This Feeling”. But what
\nCronin and the band do with this disc is to keep things fresh, so
\neven though I’m listening to “Keep On Loving You” for the
\nthousandth time, it still sounds like a newer song.<\/p>\n
For that matter, all the older music on
\nThe Ballads<\/i> has kept its freshness well; these tracks could
\nhave been recorded yesterday, with the exception that Cronin’s
\nvocals have taken on a more mellow sound of late, as evidenced by
\nthe new track “Just For You”.<\/p>\n
The two new songs on
\nThe Ballads<\/i> – “Just For You” and “Till The Rivers Run Dry” –
\nare both excellent songs, and chances are they, along with some
\nother songs, will start cropping up at weddings soon. (One of my
\ncollege buddies – who happens to write for this site – is getting
\nmarried in November. Damn shame he’s hired a band for the
\nreception; this disc has material that would keep people slow
\ndancing for hours.)<\/p>\n
Chances are some of these songs, like those released on the
\nalbums
\nBuilding The Bridge<\/i> and
\nThe Earth, A Small Man, His Dog, And A Chicken<\/i> (I’m sorry,
\nbut that ranks up there as one of the dumbest titles ever), will be
\nsurprisingly pleasant discoveries. Songs like “Building The
\nBridge,” “The Heart Survives” and “After Tonight” all are wonderful
\nadditions to the REO Speedwagon catalog – and something tells me
\nthese tracks might just revive some interest in these forgotten
\nalbums.<\/p>\n
Of course, I have to admit that I miss the rock; sitting through
\n13 ballads tends to get a little too syrupy sweet for my tastes.
\nStill,
\nThe Ballads<\/i> is a pleasant enough disc that rightfully could
\nbe labeled a “greatest hits” package, for there’s no mistakes on
\nthis one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6623],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-39359","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-reo-speedwagon","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39359"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}