RIP Gary Richrath (REO)

I know REO Speedwagon wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but the guy could do a helluva guitar solo. RIP.

Gary Richrath of REO Speedwagon dies - CNN.com

 

REO had one truly awesome song (Golden Country) and a whole lot of dreck on their resume, but, yes, Rickrath could play. RIP

 

1981 is the dividing line for REO. Before that, it was honest-to-God midwestern rock 'n' roll. After 1980-81, they went pop and, though they had great commercial success, it got really schlocky.

 

County Fairs around the country will never be the same. I accidentally purchased You Can Tuna A Piano from the record club and I don't think I played it more than once. I did however clean a lot of weed on it in college. RIP

 

Enjoyed the Tuna a Piano Tune a Fish album. 'Lucky for You' as a deep cut beyond the album's more famous numbers,

The live You Get What You Play For is still a fine listen today--'Keep Pushin', 'Son of A Poor Man', '157 Riverside Avenue', 'Music Man', among others.

Richrath had been on the outs or ousted for many years now as Kevin Cronin assumed control of the band.

Always felt the turning point for REO was "Time For Me To Fly". Beautiful power rock ballad that Cronin seemed to be able to re-invent formulaically, which begat 'Take It On The Run' and 'Keep On Loving You', which begat 'I Can't Fight This Feeling', etc. A long way from 'Golden Country' for sure.

 

Power rock ballads were the bane of the 80's and early 90's. Thank God for grunge.

 

REO, I felt, went to the power ballad well way too often, but I always figured I could cherry pick some songs from their catalog and make at least one good "album" (or playlist) out of it.

To me, the dichotomy of the band really showed in "Keep on Loving You," which had the opening piano notes telegraphing that this was going to be another syrupy ballad, but then Richrath's guitar work on the song, especially the opening power chords, salvaged the song for me. There was nothing he could do to save the later "Can't Fight This Feeling," though.

FWIW, when the news of his death came out, a couple of stories included recent photos of him. Man, he did not look good at all. But RIP to a strong musician.

 

I always loved the keyboard part during the bridge of this song.

But, fuck the 1980s.

Bands or artists like REO, Styx, Chicago, Steve Winwood and even Bruce sold their souls to sappy bullshit glossed over syrup. The music of the 80s was just a shit sandwich.

 

Nothing wrong with "Roll With The Changes".

This is one of my fave REO songs:

 

I'm gonna let "the music of the '80s was just a shit sandwich" hang in the air, like a cheap pinata, a little longer.

 

For someone who owns a shitload of music (probably more than 700 CDs) I have never owned a single thing REO Speedwagon. Then again, I didn't have back when they were popular because you couldn't walk from one end of my dorm hall to the other without hearing their music coming out of at least three different rooms.

 

The '80s were great if you went for alternative music.