REO Speedwagon Debut Album Songs Ranked

R.E.O. Speedwagon is the debut studio album by American rock band REO Speedwagon. Released in 1971, it was the only album recorded with singer Terry Luttrell, who would go on to join Starcastle. Kevin Cronin joined the band for R.E.O./T.W.O. This album concluded with a progressive rock song unlike the later arena rock songs that made them famous. The album produced the fan favorites “157 Riverside Avenue”, “Sophisticated Lady” and “Lay Me Down”, but sold very poorly, though “Sophisticated Lady” did reach number 122 on the singles charts. “157 Riverside Avenue” and “Lay Me Down” were subsequently recorded on the live album Live: You Get What You Play For. “157 Riverside Avenue” and “Sophisticated Lady” were both featured on the compilation album A Decade of Rock and Roll: 1970-1980. In 2007, the British company BGO Records released REO Speedwagon and R.E.O./T.W.O. together (BGOCD775), marking the first time the band’s first album was widely available in CD format. For some unknown reason, Epic Records never issued this first album on the cassette tape format (but they did issue an 8-Track Stereo Tape Cartridge version of it). Here are all of REO Speedwagon Debut Album songs ranked.

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8. Gypsy Woman’s Passion

“I guess REO received airplay before their infamous plunge into syrupy power ballads, but to be honest I never noticed. It seems their whole catalog can eventually be picked up for a dollar a piece so it isn’t an expensive venture to check out their early stuff.”

7. Anti-Establishment Man

“The rest of the album is raw, stripped down, no-nonsense hard rock. Very little overdubbing suggests this disc was probably cut mostly live in studio. Lead guitarist Gary Richrath’s playing here is pretty primitive compared to the distinctive licks he would soon develop, but after all this was a young band.”

6. Sophisticated Lady

“I have enjoyed listening to this with my sisters. We had a Birthday party with our entire family and we played the gong show and each of us had to pick a song from this album. What a fantastic night we all had so much fun singing at loud plus dancing like we didn’t care who watched us. “

See more: REO Speedwagon Albums Ranked

5. Prison Women

“I remember listening to this one on mom’s 8-track stereo. It brings back my childhood, summers in the cool basement, cranking the stereo. She didn’t have much I liked but this was one of my favorites.”

4. 157 Riverside Avenue

“It’s truly impossible to adequately describe the kind of sensation this album produced when it was released in late 1980. It dominated the charts the entire year of 1981 and beyond that has sold just shy of 10 million copies.”

See more: REO Speedwagon Songs Ranked

3. Lay Me Down

“The fact that REO Speedwagon had labored in relative obscurity for over a decade prior to its release belied the widespread belief that this band came out of nowhere or as others said hit pay dirt on their initial release! Hard to surmise which false statement was the most incorrect.”

2. Five Men Were Killed Today

“For anyone who has never owned this album, this is a must purchase opportunity. To receive the originally released songs is more than enough. But, to see so many live and other studio versions of the classic tunes released as virtually a second album is the ultimate reward.”

1. Dead at Last

“REO has enjoyed a very enviable career that’s still going strong to this day. Perhaps one day the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will finally reward this band with induction, something that should have happened many years ago.”