• Source: Nine Lives (REO Speedwagon album)

Nine Lives is the eighth studio album by REO Speedwagon. It peaked at number #33 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1979. The album went gold on December 5, 1979. The title Nine Lives was chosen because the album was the band's ninth, including their live album, and it also featured nine songs. It was the last REO album to prominently feature a more hard rock sound. The group would turn to more pop-oriented material with 1980's Hi Infidelity. In 2013, the album was released on CD by UK-based company Rock Candy Records, with expanded liner notes and photos.
The track "Only the Strong Survive" also later appeared on Gary Richrath's 1992 album Only the Strong Survive.




Critical reception



The Globe and Mail wrote that "Nine Lives doesn't offer anything that hasn't already been done to death on the other eight... A little boogie-woogie piano, a few guitar solos that never quite get off the ground, some screeched vocals—it all adds up to a half-hour of competence with very little originality."
Record World said of the single "Easy Money" that "the verse builds into a roaring chorus that's an AOR standard." The magazine said of the single release of "Only the Strong Survive" that it "rips and roars with typical REO flash."




Track listing






Personnel


REO Speedwagon

Kevin Cronin – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Gary Richrath – lead guitar
Neal Doughty – keyboards
Bruce Hall – bass, backing vocals (lead on track 9)
Alan Gratzer – drums, backing vocals
Additional personnel
Bill Champlin – backing vocals
Steve Forman – percussion
Tom Kelly – backing vocals
Production
Producers: Kevin Cronin, Gary Richrath, Kevin Beamish
Engineers: Kevin Beamish, Gary Lubow
Arranger: Kevin Cronin
Associate Producer: Alan Gratzer
Production Assistance: Gary Lubow
Assistant engineers: Steve Williams, D. C. Snyder
Direction: John Baruck, Alex Kochan, Tom Consolo, JoAnn D'Agostino, Lynne Kirkwood
Art direction: Tom Drennon
Design: Tom Drennon, Ginger Canzoneri
Cover photographer: John Bilecky
Center spread and portrait photography: Neal Preston
Back cover cat illustrations: Ginger Canzoneri
Models: Candy Moore, Lindy Thorp, Shyanne Rippee, Karen Bilecky




Charts






Certifications






Release history






References

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• REO Speedwagon
• Hard rock
• Nine Lives (REO Speedwagon album)
• REO Speedwagon discography
• REO Speedwagon
• Nine Lives
• List of REO Speedwagon members
• The Essential REO Speedwagon
• Hi Infidelity
• Gary Richrath
• You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can't Tuna Fish
• Arch Allies: Live at Riverport