Lost in a Dream (1974)



  1. Give Me a Ride (Roller Coaster)
  2. Throw the Chains Away
  3. Sky Blues
  4. You Can Fly
  5. Lost in a Dream
  6. Down By the Dam
  7. Do Your Best
  8. Wild as the Western Wind
  9. They're on the Road
  10.I'm Feeling Good


 

The key word here really is “lost.” And I genuinely hate slapping a low rating on an album by a band I actually like—especially when it’s obvious that, at the very least, the band was trying. I’m sure the guys weren’t just phoning it in here, and maybe the final product even met their expectations at the time. But from a listener’s standpoint, this one is just a real chore. Honestly, I can’t stand it.

One glance at the front cover tells you all you need to know. This isn’t going to be a fun listen. Sure, the early REO albums never really sounded anything like their more well-known “classic” period, but at least those older records had some character. There were moments when Neal Doughty’s piano would break out into a little boogie woogie, or Gary Richrath would tear through a wailing solo that made you sit up a bit straighter. You won’t find any of that here. None of it. What you do get is the band trying way too hard to play what, I guess, you could call early seventies “rock and roll,” but it’s just painfully flat.

Now, I don’t want to pile on Michael Murphy too much—he wasn’t the worst fit in the world—but his vocals are just far too one-note for this kind of band. Then again, maybe that’s exactly what they brought him in to do. He delivers what he’s asked to deliver. It just doesn’t do the band any favors.

The whole record wobbles between boring and outright bad. It feels like they’re trying to rewrite Ridin’ the Storm Out—which, to be fair, wasn’t exactly a masterpiece to begin with—but they do it here with Down By the Dam, and it’s basically a carbon copy without any spark. If there are differences between the two songs, they’re minimal at best. One overrated track trying to piggyback off another.

This album was out of print for a very long time, and that’s probably for the best. It’s easily the weakest link in their discography. Not every band hits gold every time out, but this one just never even gets off the ground.





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