Early Years 1971-1977

Excellent set. As others have noted, this 8 CD set is the only way to get REO's magnificent live album, Live You Get What You Play for in its entirety. The only US CD version available is an early CD edition where 2 songs were cut for time. Early CD technology only allowed CD's to hold 70 minutes of music, so many double albums that got issued on CD in the early days were edited for time, and REO's live one was one of them. That album has never been remastered, so for now, this is the only way to get the full version. But that's OK, because in addition to the full live album, you get 6 other albums by REO, and all of the albums are remastered wonderfully. They sound better than the original vinyl, including the live album. It also comes with an excellent book, detaling REO's rise in the 1970's and track listings for all the albums. There are also bonus tracks, including a studio version of Ridin the Storm Out with Kevin Cronin on vocals. Cronin had left the group for a few years in the 1970's before rejoining, so his version was never released until now. Overall, it's a must for any REO fan.

There’s Speedwagon fans who started with their hit-making years and became hard-core enough to want everything in there catalog and there’s ones who were there from the beginning but no longer have their old vinyls of the early years and would sorely like to listen to them again. And there’s ones like myself who only like the pre-Tuna Fish recordings. This set will satisfy them all. It’s a few steps above the typical cardboard sleeve replica CD boxes in that it comes with a truly generous booklet featuring a bio of those early days and lots of pictures; and a hinged, clamshell glossy box housing the whole set. All the period’s albums are here from the self-titled to the full original program of Live- You Get What You Play For. These are beautifully remastered for very clear, restored sound, and include bonus tracks which are mostly just mono versions of the singles from each album— but Ridin’ the Storm Out includes two alternate studio tracks with Kevin Cronin’s vocals instead of Mike Murphy, which alone are quite valuable. Overall, this set is near-perfect.

I'll try to keep this short and to the point. I was always a big fan of REO's first live record (included in this package) and absolutely love it. I forgot how good of a record it is. I kind of lost track of them when they headed down the pop road. I stumbled across this release and decided to take a chance (for$30, why not?). Old school REO the way it was meant to be.The packaging is simple and comes with a nice book discussing the early years. I never listened to any of the earlier studio releases. Boy did I miss out. Some great rock n roll there. Lots of great songs with great hooks. The early hits are all here...Ridin' the Storm Out, Son of a Poor Man, Keep Pushin', Lay Me Down and the list goes on. All remastered and the best part? The live record in it's entirety as originally released. Highly recommended.

Mike Murphy's vocals, well you know. Other than riding the storm out, I cant understand a word he says. Kevin Cronin vocals much better but I hate his/their later day pop/AOR/MOR songs. Gary Richrath is one of the most under rated guitarists of all time. A really good compendium of hits and the live album would be all you need. Too much fluff to digest otherwise. For completists only

This collection is a must have for anyone who is deeply into REO's genesis/evolvement and who wants to revisit the enthusiasm and energy of their live concerts and early days. Three lead singers are featured and this material is prior to the love ballad success the band later found.Of particular note are the two versions of "Riding the Storm Out," as this collection includes both the studio version with Mike Murphy on lead vocals as well as the "Last Song People!" Kevin Cronin version. Both stand on their own merits.This collection also leaves, intact, Gary Richrath's live guitar solo, which has been (sadly) edited from most American versions of "You Get What Your Play For." I've not been disappointed in this purchase and it's been the "go to" in my CD player for a few weeks.

I've waited decades to have You Get What You Play For in its entirety on CD. While I have the original LP with the live Little Queenie and Gary's Guitar Solo, I always held out hope that a remastered CD edition with all of the original tracks would eventually be released. Albeit, a Japanese release was available, but the astronomical prices for it kept it out of reach for me. Enter in this box set from Red Cherry. Not only is it extremely affordable.. but the remastered versions of REO'S first 6 studio albums and their first live album sound lovely. While I own the remasters of the early studio albums from BGO records - and they were better sounding than the original CDs - they do NOT compare to this new set. It seems that careful attention was paid to each of these albums as should be. This fan of early REO is impressed and thankful. Recommended.

If you are a true REO fan you will understand the headline. I just got this package of REO albums today, and have already put them all on my computer. The first one I listened to was the live album, and being a two cd set, with ALL of the songs not only intact, but sounding great, that alone might make this worth it, but you add all the albums, with all the bonus songs, including the two lost songs of Kevin singing the songs from "Riding...", this is a great deal for all real REO fans. I have the next set on pre-order, and I am drooling over how good those will sound. If you claim to be a REO fan from back in the day, you need to get this NOW!!!!!!! Don't wait till they are all gone.

Excellent music. High quality recordings and arranged in the original order with some extra stuff. Bought both box sets and are still enjoying them and I know I will for a long time . When ripping to the computer, sometimes the software did not recognize the disc and its content so I did have to input some of that manually. Doing so I got to dig deeper into the band and their music. What a treat! They still sound great even after almost 50 years.A must have for any true REO Speedwagon fan.

Me gustan estás box ser con las réplicas de mini sleeves, el sonido muy bueno , claro con las limitaciones que presenta un audio de los setenta , pero increíble poder tenerlos todos juntos ...

UN BOX IMPERDIBILE

Da hat sich jemand echt Mühe gegeben scheinbar alles zusammen zu tragen, was REO jemals veröffentlichte. So richtig interessant wird das was das exotische Material betrifft zwar erst im 2. Boxset (Classic Years), aber schon die Early Years glänzen wenigstens mal mit einer exzellenten Tonqualität. Und das ist ja auch was. Ich war doch erstaunt wie gut die Terry Lutrell/Mike Murphy-Alben klingen. Da deren Stücke live später keine große Rolle mehr spielten erleben sie hier die Würdigung, die sie durchaus verdienen (Reelin'!!!). REO war nicht nur mit Kevin Cronin gut.Die Bonusstücke erstrecken sich hier meist auf Mono-Mixe der Single-Versionen wie sie zumindest in den USA in den 70ern regelmäßig auf Promo-Singles veröffentlicht wurden. Die sind nicht sehr spektakulär. Wobei ich jetzt nicht überprüft habe ob das originäre Mono-Mixe sind oder nur Stereo-Fold-Downs. Aber die schlechtesten Stücke der jeweiligen Platte sind das auch nicht. Die darf man sicher noch ein 2.Mal hören.Die Ausnahmen unter den Bonusstücken sind eine undatiere Live-Aufnahme von "Keep Pushin'" und die Kevin-Cronin-Versionen von "Ridin' The Storm Out" und "Son Of A Poor Man" von denen letztere schon auf "A Decade Of Rock And Roll 1970 To 1980" erschienen.Der Soundtrack der PBS Session von 1971 (keine offizielle Veröffentlichung) wäre eine weitere wünschenswerte Zugabe gewesen. Die gibt es leider nicht..Sagen wir es mal so: Bonus-Material kann eine Veröffentlichung deutlich aufwerten, aber wenn es nicht so phantastisch ist (wie hier), dann wertet es die hier exzellente Veröffentlichung auch nicht ab. Und was nicht da ist ... die ganze Veröffentlichung samt umfangreichen Booklet macht schon den Eindruck, dass die Band liefern wollte, was sie hat.Dazu gehört dann auch das fantastische 77er Live-Album "You Get What You Play For". Zum ersten Mal außerhalb Japans komplett mit "Gary's Guitar Solo" und "Little Queenie". Leider ohne Bonus. Und leider hat man die Gelegenheit nicht genutzt die Blenden zu entfernen. Dazu der - rein optische - Makel, dass die 2. CD in ein Papp-Cover gesteckt wurde, was dem Innencover von YGWYPF entspricht. Warum dann nicht ein Doppel-CD-Cover, was der Original-Doppel-LP entspricht? Für meinen Geschmack sind das aber sicher Fehler, die sicher keinen Abzug rechtfertigen. Ansprechen tu ich sie trotzdem. Fantastisch ist es auch mit Makel.Ich habe die REO-Platten bis 1987 ausschließlich auf Vinyl vorliegen, aber diese CD-Neuauflagen sind klanglich durchaus noch mal ein Aha-Erlebnis. Auch wenn das Bonus-Material nicht die Knaller enthält (wie Classic Years) - die Box lohnt sich unbedingt.Ich habe sie übrigens noch im Pre-Brexit-Großbritannien geordert, was sich vor einigen Monaten finanziell durchaus lohnte.

What a tremendous collection this is 7 albums from 1971 thru to 1977,sound quality is fantastic and a decent booklet.Discs 1 thru 6 are Reo Speedwagons first 6 albums from the debut from '71 thru to 1976's ''REO'' and what a body of work it is,hard rock,country rock ,soft rock and full on bar room boogie and the band excell at all of it,there are tracks here that wouldnt be out of place on albums by the likes of The Eagles and The Doobie Brothers.Across the 6 studio albums ,you get 14 bonus tracks,11 of which are mono 'single' versions, the exceptions being two tracks from '73's 'Ridin The Storm Out' with Kevin Cronin on vocals rather than Mike Murphy and a live version of 'Keep On Pushin ' tacked onto R E O from 1976 (although no info as to where/when recorded).The star of the show is ,of course, 1977's 'Live - You Get What You Play For' thankfully restored to its complete track listing and spread over discs 7 & 8.This is a well presented,thought out release containing the bands early days which are never given the attention they deserve and show that there was a great band here before the AOR superstardom took them to the next level. Great Stuff.

全アルバム素晴らしいです。ここ最近の新譜ほどの音量はありませんが大体２０１５年くらいまでの他のアーティストくらいの音量はあると思います（どれもジューダスのリマスターくらいの音量と言って申し訳ありません）。ヴォーカルが違う時以外がやってる音楽は違います。まあ、ヴォーカルが違うのでデビューから５枚までのはヴォーカルがロッドスチュアートを相当意識しながらハードロックやっててヴォーカルが変わってからは初期のヴォーカルで出した3枚目のアルバムをベースにして彼らの音楽が出来てくる感じ。自分としてはそういうところも新鮮に感じられます。素晴らしいバンドなので彼らにもう一度機会を与えて欲しい！！！