UPDATE: REO Speedwagon Will Keep on Loving You
Way back in July 2010, we reported on some rumblings of an expanded reissue of REO Speedwagon’s 1980 Hi Infidelity. Better late than never!
Thanks to the good people at MusicTAP for passing along the long-awaited news! The 30th Anniversary Edition of the nine-times-platinum album which spawned “Keep On Loving You” and “Take It on the Run” is finally set for release! Frontman Kevin Cronin has kept to his word, as he told Billboard last year that the band recently found old acoustic studio demos from the original sessions and hoped to include them in a deluxe reissue. And so Hi Infidelity – 30th Anniversary Edition, due on June 28, will append a 9-track bonus disc to the original album. All nine tracks, collectively entitled The Crystal Demos, are previously unissued and present the album’s tracks in embryonic form. (Every track except “Out of Season” is present as a demo.) The album’s reissue will coincide with the band’s June-through-September tour of the United States! Cronin had mentioned to Billboard the possibility of the band playing the entire album on this summer’s tour; wouldn’t that be something?
Hit the jump for the skinny, direct from the label, plus track listing! We’ll update with a pre-order link as soon as one is available!
One of the undisputed arena rock kings of the ’70s and ’80s, REO Speedwagon has sold more than forty million records and has charted thirteen Top 40 hits. They toured endlessly in the arenas of the U.S., building up a sizeable audience due to their amazing live show. And then, in 1980, they delivered Hi Infidelity, a record that not just summarized their strengths, but captured everything that was good about arena rock. There’s an urgency to the songs and the performances that gives it a real emotional core. This is great arena rock, filled with hooks as expansive as Three Rivers Stadium and as catchy as the flu. The record’s two biggest hits — the power ballad “Keep On Loving You” and the surging “Take It On the Run” — define their era, but what gives the album real staying power is that the rest of the record works equally well — most apparently on the album’s opener, “Don’t Let Him Go,” whose insistent beat sent it to the album rock charts, but also such great album tracks as “Follow My Heart,” the sun-kissed ’60s homage “In Your Letter,” and “Tough Guys.” Hi Infidelity – 30th Anniversary Edition features the classic album in its entirety on Disc 1. Disc 2 consists of never-before-released studio demos of nine of these historic tracks. What’s really great about these songs is not just the sheen of professionalism that makes them addictive to listen to, but also the strain of pathos that runs through them. The album’s title isn’t just a clever pun, but a description of the tortured romantic relationships that populate the tracks.
REO Speedwagon, Hi Infidelity – 30th Anniversary Edition (Epic LP 36844, 1980 – reissued Epic/Legacy 88697 69579 2, 2011)
Disc 1: The Original Album
- Don’t Let Him Go
- Keep On Loving You
- Follow My Heart
- In Your Letter
- Take It on the Run
- Tough Guys
- Out of Season
- Shakin’ It Loose
- Someone Tonight
- I Wish You Were There
Disc 2: The Crystal Demos
- Someone Tonight
- Tough Guys
- In Your Letter
- Follow My Heart
- Take It on the Run
- Don’t Let Him Go
- Keep On Loving You
- Shakin’ It Loose (Instrumental)
- I Wish You Were There
All tracks on Disc 2 previously unreleased.
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Very cool! Definitely miss this band as it was back then. Hi Infidelity was the album where they were firing on all cylinders. Richrath’s rock guitar was the perfect balance for Cronin’s pop. Without Gary nowadays REO is a smaltzy pop band meandering in David Foster territory. Ugh. But Hi Infidelity was a phenominal album. Will definitely be picking this up.