Digitally-remastered R.E.O. Speedwagon one and T.W.O.
5-piece R.E.O. Speedwagon was tight from the start. Gary Richrath's guitar work soared with the best. I was very taken by R.E.O./T.W.O. when it hit Milwaukee in 1974 or so (no national playlists back then; all locally-owned and directed radio stations). Incidentally, without a radio hit the first album was a great buy in the cutout bins.
Disc 1: 1971's Luttrell-powered debut album. The first three songs are very strong, especially "157 Riverside Avenue," which will never leave you once you hear it. The others are more in line with the quaint album cover--except heavy "Sophisticated Lady" and most of prog rocker "Dead at Last."
Disc 2: 1972's R.E.O./T.W.O. with replacement vocalist Kevin Cronin hammers home the fact that R.E.O. Speedwagon was a first-rate and at the time upstart, American rock band, who peaked then and there artistically, with songs like "Like You Do," "Being Kind Can Hurt Someone," and "Golden Country." Also very bright and spirited is the Boots Randolph saxophone work on track three, Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie," so very original for hard rock at the time and so incredibly effective injected here.
This 2-CD remastered version is clear and exciting and includes liner notes. This is a must have: R.E.O.'s pure, hard rock phase, parts one and two.