Classic Rock Bottom

ALBUM OF THE WEEK #18 REO SPEEDWAGON - GOOD TROUBLE (1982)

I’ve recently been looking through my CD collection and pulling out some of the albums that, at some point in my life, seemed to get a lot of play
on my part. As I looked through my collection, I noticed there was quite
a few of these albums. So, I’m gonna spend the next few weeks featuring
a few of these albums that are special to me. They come from all
different decades and time periods in my life. I don’t know how many in a
row I will do, I’ll just post them until I want to go in another
direction. So here we go with this week’s installment.







Side one:


1. Keep The Fire Burning (Cronin)

2. Sweet Time (Cronin)

3. Girl With The Heart Of Gold (Hall)

4. Every Now And Then (Richrath)

5. I’ll Follow You (Richrath)




Side two:




1. The Key (Cronin)

2. Back In My Heart Again (Richrath)

3. Let’s Be-Bop (Hall)

4. Stillness Of The Night (Richrath)

5. Good Trouble (Cronin)




“Good Trouble” had the very unenviable job of following the blockbuster that was “Hi Infidelity”. It was released in 1982 and actually sold very well
and had a #7 Billboard hit (Keep The Fire Burning). Despite this, I
would venture to guess that most folks have never heard any of the other
songs on this album. That’s where I come in. I absolutely love this
album. There is only one song that I tend to skip when I listen. It also
contains what may be REO’s best hidden gem, which I’ll get to later.
Basically I’ll go through each track and tell you if it still holds up
with me today. The artwork, by the way, is absolutely crappy, especially
considering how awesome the previous albums artwork was.



Keep The Fire Burning – This was possibly my least favorite of the songs I did like back then. However, I think it has held up great and I like it
better today. It has a nice keyboard solo instead of a guitar solo in
the middle, but there is a good guitar solo at the end of the song.



Sweet Time – This one still holds up well. It’s a nice little ballad with good vocals by Cronin.



Girl With The Heart Of Gold – I liked it then, I like it now. Bruce Hall is on lead vocals but Cronin gets the lead on the pre-chorus. I like the
dual lead vocals, reminds me of Journey’s very cool dual lead vocals
because their voices are so different.



Every Now And Then – The first song on the album written by Gary Richrath. It’s sort of a ballad. I really liked this back when I listened over and
over to my vinyl, but it’s lost just a little in 28 years. Still not
bad though.



I’ll Follow You – This is another Richrath song. It’s much more rocking than the previous song. Cronin sings a good bit of it in a very high register
but it still works. I still think this is a good song.



The Key – I can’t really say anything stands out about this song, but I’ve always liked it.



Back In My Heart Again - Sort of the same as the previous song. It’s not a real standout, but I still like it today.



Let’s Be-Bop – Another contribution by Bruce Hall. I don’t know why, but I never liked this song back then, and truthfully, my opinion hasn’t
changed. Most of Hall’s songs I’ve liked, but this is the one song I’ll
still skip to this day.



Stillness Of The Night - This is the real hidden gem of this album, and I think, of REO’s catalog. It’s a great rock song, written by Gary Richrath, and
it features some nice playing by him and great vocals by Cronin as well.
I still love this song.



Good Trouble – The title track. Another very good rock song. Probably Cronin’s best effort on this album. I’ve always liked it and I think it
makes a great show closer.


So there it is. A very nice follow up to an album that sold 10 trillion copies. This album does not get it’s due, but at least it’s not the only
album that can claim that.



Hidden Gem Award – Goes to Stillness Of The Night.



If you want to listen to the album, click this link: REO Speedwagon - Good Trouble

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Good Timing RJ! Ive been going back through some of REO's stuff too. I was one of those who rushed out and bought this because of Hi Infidelity. And like most was disappointed at the time and agreed with most critics that it was rushed to market before all the songs were ready, I think REO even agreed with this. Its also one of the very few albums I have not rebought on CD. So, Im listening to this one closer...

Keep The Fire Burning - Like it still
Sweet Time - Like it still
Girl With The Heart Of Gold - This one is just ok to me
Every Now And Then - This one didnt hold up
I’ll Follow You - This one is just ok to me
The Key - Like it still
Back In My Heart Again - Like it still, sounds real good actually, love the chorus
Let’s Be-Bop - Still not good, and for what its worth I didnt make it through the whole track either
Stillness Of The Night - Like it still
Good Trouble - Like it still, this would be my hidden gem

Nice post RJ! That was a fun listen, not sure if it result in a purchase still, but I liked about half of it still!
Based on some comments that I think you've made in the past, you should really like next weeks selection.
Long Long day today..... but now Im excited for next weeks, any clues?
Would it be to obvious if I said "farm theme"?
yes... have a strong idea now.... :-)
It's interesting for me to listen to this, because I have'nt heard much REO Speedwagon before. I like the track, that Scott had on his SHT the other day, and some of these numbers aint that bad, I like especially "Keep the fire burning" and "I'll follow you". I don't think that REO Speedwagon has that many fans in Europe, but it sounds ok to me!!
Decent album, kind of like it better han "Hi Infidelity".

And, just so REO fans don't jump all over your back, it's "Richrath". I saved you some heat!

And I'm going to steal this from allmusic.com because it's always made me laugh:

"Coup de grâce "The Key" unlocks a commercial paradox: a transcendent tapestry housed in a homogenized humdinger, as Kev Cronin bellows questions about what he knows and sees, yearning for the answer locked within himself. But only he can set it free; only he has the key. Brilliant."


Now c'mon...isn't that funny?


Wait a sec..10 billion copies? Wouldn't that make "Hi Infidelity" the bestest selling album OF ALL TIME?????
Okay...I fixed Richrath. Thanks for the heads-up. And I fixed the 10 billion to 10 trillion, just to make it more believable.
I'll have to check this out again. I remember not liking it much back in the day. I was first turned onto REO when they opened for Boston (I think, along with the Outlaws), and the album "Live You Get What You Play For" had just come out. My friends and I had not heard of them, but they rocked it in concert. 157 Riverside Avenue just blew us away. When the concert was over we headed straight for Tower Records because they were open all night and bought the live album...still love that one today. REO is kind of looked down on these days, but they had the goods. I'll have to check this one out again like I said. Thanks for these lp reviews that bring back the memories.
Finally got around to listening to this yesterday...all in all, a pretty good album.  Yes, I remember being disapointed in it when it first came out, but time has been good to it.  I really love the last two songs.  Thanks for getting me to listen to music that I had written off at one time.

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