REO Speedwagon - You Can Tune A Piano But You Can't Tuna Fish

You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can't Tuna Fish. In spite of it's all time classic cover and title, this is just one of REO Speedwagon's albums. It's got a couple real hits, some filler, and a couple tracks for which they didn't even bother to type up lyrics. They are a band who is great in small doses, they're funny, they can rock like nobody's business, a great show for sure, but they are not a compelling album band: two really good hit songs on each side and call it a day. All of their albums are like that: they would benefit immensely by removing all the stuffing and letting each one be a solid stand alone EP, double them up for a full length. It's not as if they "evolved." From beginning to now, REO Speedwagon is REO Speedwagon, you know exactly what you're going to get and you can literally pick any 7 of their songs and have an REO Speedwagon album.

The one standout jam, The Unidentified Flying Tuna Trot, is way too short for my 8 to 18 minute sweet spot (i want drum solos and bass abuse), and wimpily fizzles out before the harder rockin' but much less interesting "Say You Love Me...."

Their albums are specifically for their true fans who had no reason to care about a larger story or a cerebral adventure, they loved anything the band did because it was quality sing along rock and roll. Not particularly interesting, but high quality. Keep in mind, they only achieved real mainstream success with their 9th album, after 12 or 13 years of trucking back and forth across the country for a living, at which point everyone agreed that they'd always been that good.

Wait a minute. This is all really just a negative version of my comments about The Doors. Am i shallowly favoring Morrison's voice over Cronin's? No, i think it's that The Doors sound unpredictable even though they aren't, while REO sounds predictable because they are. The Doors are a metaphor band, REO is a breakup song band. You can bring whatever mood you feel to The Doors and be rewarded with some small (however vague) insight, but there's no negotiating with the Speedwagon; baby's gonna leave me, put the pedal down and shift through to cruising gear. For me, that's just not a rewarding headphone time with a tasty beverage experience. I'll gladly ride shotgun, but i'll probably take a nap in the middle.

I need something bigger. Something over the top insane. To be continued...

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