The Hits (REO Speedwagon album) explained

The Hits
Type:	greatest hits
Artist:	REO Speedwagon
Cover:	REO Hits.jpg
Released:	May 31, 1988 (US)^[1] April 30, 2002 (Remastered)
Recorded:	January 1976 - April 1988
Genre:	Rock
Length:	52:55
Label:	Epic
Prev Title:	Life as We Know It
Prev Year:	1987
Next Title:	The Earth, a Small Man, His Dog and a Chicken
Next Year:	1990

The Hits is a compilation album from REO Speedwagon. It contains hits such as "Can't Fight This Feeling" and "Keep on Loving You", as well as new tracks "Here with Me" and "I Don't Want to Lose You". "Here with Me" cracked the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[2] and the top ten on the Adult Contemporary chart; however, it would be the last single to feature drummer Alan Gratzer and guitarist Gary Richrath, as they each left the band within the year following this album's release. The album has sold over 4 million copies in the U.S. which led it to go 4× Platinum.

A conspicuous absentee from the album is "Keep the Fire Burnin', which reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982. The collection is one of several released by the band's label. The album was remastered and reissued in 2002. The album was also re-released in 2020 on black and white vinyl.^[3]

Cash Box called "Here with Me" a "power ballad that lifts you up where you belong, a majestic and sweeping effort that has romanticism, leavened with pop sensibility."^[4] Cash Box called "I Don't Want to Lose You" a "hard-driving, corporate-sounding rocker."^[5]

Personnel

REO Speedwagon

• Kevin Cronin – lead vocals, rhythm guitars, keyboards
• Gary Richrath – lead guitars
• Neal Doughty – keyboards, synthesizers
• Gregg Philbin – bass, backing vocals
• Bruce Hall – bass, backing vocals
• Alan Gratzer – drums, backing vocals

Additional personnel^[6]

• Tommy Funderburk – backing vocals
• Eric Persing – additional synthesizers, programming

Production

• Keith Olsen – producer (1, 2)
• Kevin Cronin – producer (3-9, 11, 12, 13)
• Gary Richrath – producer (3-9, 11-14)
• Paul Grupp – producer (3, 11)
• John Boylan – executive producer (3, 11)
• Kevin Beamish – producer (4, 6, 8, 13)
• Alan Gratzer – co-producer (4, 6, 8), producer (5, 7, 9, 12), associate producer (13)
• David DeVore – producer (5, 7), production assistant (9, 12), package assembling, mastering
• John Stronach – producer (10, 14)
• Gary Lubow – production assistant (13)
• John Henning – producer (14)
• Joe Gastwirt – engineer
• Steve Hall – mastering
• Tony Lane – art direction
• Nancy Donald – art direction
• David Coleman – design
• Harry Mittman – photography
• Dennis Keeley – inner sleeve photography
• Malcolm Dome – liner notes
• Baruck-Consolo Management – management

Studios

• Recorded and Assembled at Pacific Studios (Chatsworth, California).
• Mastered at Future Disc (North Hollywood, California).

Catalog numbers

• Original 1988 release: Epic Records OE/OET/EK 44202
• 2002 remastered CD release: Epic Records EK 86518

Notes and References

1. Web site: RIAA.
2. Web site: Billboard: Hot 100 REO Speedwagon. Billboard. 2016-10-01.
3. Web site: REO Speedwagon - The Hits (2020, Clear w/Black and White Splatter, Vinyl). discogs. December 17, 2020.
4. Single Releases. Cash Box. July 2, 1988. 2022-12-21. 14.
5. Single Releases. Cash Box. October 8, 1988. 2022-12-22. 12.
6. Book: REO Speedwagon The Hits - "I Don't Want to Lose You" and "Here with Me". 1988. Sony Music Entertainment. 3.