Random notes about old midwestern rock

In a bizarre brush with semi-celebrity, I discovered last week that a member of REO Speedwagon lives upstairs from me. This got me thinking about some old, old musical connections. Back in my high school days, REO was one of the regional bands we saw a lot of back before they became a major national act. Their rise to fame pretty much corresponded to the arrival of Kevin Cronin as the frontman. I never really could stand that version of the REO sound, though. This is the band as I knew them growing up:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3QXHhgM_zW8

If you can get past that soporific host's introduction, you'll hear a very different band than the one that produced all the syrupy pop in the 80s. A friend of mine from back in the good old days used to say the best part of REO Speedwagon left to create Starcastle. He was referring to Terry Luttrell, the singer in that clip. But they also suffered a bit later on from the loss of Gary Richrath.

And to get seriously deep into prog rock trivia, Starcastle is still around too. They played the Rites of Spring festival last year, and guess who joined them on vocals? Annie Haslam ! I was so in love with her five-octave voice back in the 70s when she was fronting Renaissance. Ironically for a band that was often knocked for being a Yes clone, the guy now playing keyboards for Starcastle is none other than Rick Wakeman's son. And to tie this all to tech geek trivia, their original keyboard player was none other than Herb Schildt. Yes, that Herb Schildt.

Still to come... Is Pavlov's Dog still around? What about Head East? And are any of them performing anything worth listening to these days?

Comments

[weierd]

I realize that I am one of the young punks who ruined your REO memories...but sadly (for you) I wouldn't change a thing about the Speedwagon I knew in the 80s... I should go out and pick up some of their discs to replace the tapes I long ago liquidated.

PS: I missed it...but...Kevin Cronin was on celebrity "Don't Forget The Lyrics" last week...I don't think you will like him OR the show...but I think you might get some schadenfreude out of it if he horribly embarrassed himself during the competition. Maybe it is on a streaming site somewhere...

[RMA]

Well, given your well-known taste for Abba, I'm not at all surprised by the fact you liked the Cronin-infected REO. Shoot, I bet you even think Michael McDonald improved Steely Dan rather than nearly destroying it!