Hi Infidelity (studio album) by REO Speedwagon

I totally understand the comments about abandoning being a rock band. And sure, outside of the hits, the album tracks are average. But boy, did this album get a lot of playing time, and that is what my chart is all about :-)

From Fischman 03/29/2017 19:15

This is where REO finally abandoned any pretense of being a real rock and roll band and came out as a full-fledged radio-friendly power ballad coroporate rock mess. But hey, it did wonders for the ol' bank account.

From RoundTheBend 04/30/2016 14:39

Decent guitar work, but songwriting blows chunks. A couple good "hits" and then a total waste of my time.

1981 would mark the peak of arena rock -- corporate rock to the critic class. Between them, Hi Infidelity, Foreigner 4, Styx's Paradise Theater, and Journey's Escape sold approximately 30 million units. This November 1980 release kicked things off with a mix of power balladry and hard rock with pop sensibilities. It's always been easy to bash this style of music but I've never seen the point. The above bands were generally proficient musicians, fronted by very capable vocalists, and wrote songs that were just plain catchy. It's the height of snobbery to disparage them just because the "wrong" people bought their music.

Thirty five years later, Hi Infidelity is a still a good listen. The radio-friendly hits are familiar to everyone, but side two continues with some fairly strong material. "Out of Season" in particular is a well-crafted song.

From Listmeister 01/13/2014 21:59

I thought Hits was the only REO Speedwagon I needed. I was wrong--I need this one too.

The first signs of change in musical style. At the very beginning of the eighties but still going strong influence past the seventies.

One of the early 80s arena rock classics! That middle ground between Zeppelin and the 80s hair metal bands.

If you were in high school in the early 80's, you had this album. May be a bit dated now, but this was certainly one of the soundtracks of that era.