Reo Speedwagon - Ridin' the Storm Out
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Written By: Moti Kupfer
Release date - 21.12.1973
“We were kids—20 going on 15. We had a record deal, and we were goo-goo eyed,” recalled guitarist Gary Richrath. “In combination with that, we were romantics from Illinois where there are no hills-we hadn’t been far enough west to see mountains. And we freaked. We were driving across the plains saying, ‘Shit, look at that stuff!’ We were dying when we got to Boulder.”
Richrath was the lead guitarist and principal songwriter of the American rock band "REO Speedwagon", whose third studio album "Ridin' the Storm Out" was released on December 21, 1973.
Richrath was born in October 1949 in Peoria, Illinois. He originally played saxophone in a school band, but as a teenager he decided to switch to guitar. As a self-taught musician, he taught himself how to play the instrument entirely on his own.
The band was formed in 1967 in Champaign, Illinois. While most of their major success outside the United States would later come through rock ballads in the early eighties such as "Can't Fight This Feeling" and "Keep on Loving You", their beginnings were rooted in relentless touring and a raw Midwestern rock sound.
In the fall of 1966, Neal Doughty, the future pianist and guitarist of "REO Speedwagon", began studying electrical engineering at the University of Illinois in Champaign. On his very first night as a freshman, he met fellow student and drummer Alan Gratzer. Doughty had learned several "Beatles" songs on his parents’ piano, while Gratzer had been playing drums in local bands since high school. The two held an impromptu jam session in the basement of their dormitory.
Gratzer continued performing with his band until the final day of the spring semester, when guitarist and singer Joe Matt called the band’s leader and announced that he and the other members - drummer Alan Gratzer and bassist Mike Blair - had decided to form a new band together with keyboardist Neal Doughty, in which everyone except Doughty would sing.
The new band compiled a list of songs they needed to learn over the summer break. Doughty took a summer job and bought his first organ. The members returned to school in the fall of 1967 and held their first rehearsal before classes began.
They named the band "REO Speedwagon", inspired by a 1915 truck designed by Ransom Eli Olds (spelled R.E.O.). Doughty saw the name written on a classroom board when he walked into a transportation history lecture, on the very day they decided to start searching for a band name.
Instead of pronouncing “REO” as a single word, as the engine company had done (“REE-oh”), they chose to spell it out, pronouncing each letter individually (“R-E-O”). A newspaper ad at the university landed them their first job - a fraternity party that turned into a food fight. They continued playing cover songs in campus bars, fraternity parties, and university events.
Toward the end of 1970, Gary Richrath traveled 160 kilometers to see the band perform, determined to become part of "REO Speedwagon".
“I'm going to be in that band whether they like it or not,” said Richrath, who was not only a guitarist but also a highly productive songwriter, arriving with original material of his own.
In early 1971, the band’s regional popularity grew rapidly. The radio station "KSHE" from St. Louis, one of the most influential rock stations in America, began supporting them and significantly raised the band’s profile beyond the Midwest.
Word of the promising band spread quickly, and "Epic Records" signed them to a recording contract after Paul Leka, an East Coast record producer, saw them perform in front of an enthusiastic audience in Peoria during a rainstorm. Leka brought the band to his recording studio in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where they recorded original material for their debut album.
Although the rest of the band’s lineup remained relatively stable, "REO Speedwagon" changed lead singers three times across their first three albums. Terry Luttrell left the band in early 1972 and was replaced by Kevin Cronin, who recorded one album with the band - "R.E.O./T.W.O" from 1972. Cronin then departed during the recording sessions for the third album "Ridin' the Storm Out" due to internal conflicts, not before contributing two songs to the record. The album was ultimately completed with Mike Murphy stepping in as the band’s lead vocalist.
The album’s title track "Ridin' the Storm Out" would later become one of the band’s signature live songs on their concert album, after Cronin eventually returned to the band. The song refers to the band being stranded during a severe winter snowstorm following a show in Boulder, Colorado, at a club called "Tulagi".
“We were pushed out of the music circles in New York and Los Angeles, and we went through many lineup changes,” recalled guitarist and singer Kevin Cronin. “‘Ridin' the Storm Out' was the one thing that held the band together for all those years. It closed our shows for over a decade.”
Many of "REO Speedwagon"’s songs were inspired by the emotional ups and downs of the band members’ personal relationships, including "Whiskey Night", which tells the story of a character consumed by pain and regret after a turbulent relationship filled with whiskey driven nights and emotional turmoil.
The album includes a song written by Stephen Stills titled "Open Up", a track that Stills himself never officially recorded, nor did any of his bands. In fact, the song "Know You Got to Run" from his album "Stephen Stills 2" can be seen as an early version of the same composition, but it consists only of verses without a chorus and features a dark, acoustic folk arrangement. By contrast, "Open Up" includes a full chorus and a faster, more driving rock arrangement.
The album also features guest appearances by guitarist Joe Walsh, who plays slide guitar on "Whiskey Night", "Open Up", and "Start a New Life".
As mentioned earlier, Cronin, who left the band during the album’s recording sessions, still managed to contribute two songs, "Movin'" and "It's Everywhere". The latter was influenced by Cronin’s own turbulent experiences and pulls the listener into a world of heightened emotional intensity, where every passing moment is accompanied by a swirling rush of feelings.
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