''Wheels Are Turnin is the eleventh
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by
REO Speedwagon
REO Speedwagon (originally stylized as R.E.O. Speedwagon) is an American rock band from Champaign, Illinois. Formed in 1967, the band cultivated a following during the 1970s and achieved significant commercial success throughout the 1980s. The ...
, released in November 1984. It reached No. 7 on the
''Billboard'' 200. The lead single was "
I Do' Wanna Know
"I Do' Wanna Know" is a song written by Kevin Cronin that was the lead single from REO Speedwagon's 1984 album '' Wheels Are Turnin. It was more of a rocker reminiscent of the songs REO Speedwagon had released in the 1970s than the ballads th ...
," which stalled at #29 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100.
[ The second single, "]Can't Fight This Feeling
"Can't Fight This Feeling" is a power ballad performed by the American rock band REO Speedwagon. The song first appeared on the 1984 album '' Wheels Are Turnin. The single reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and held the to ...
," was REO's second and longest-running number one single. Other singles released were " One Lonely Night" and "Live Every Moment". These singles also reached the Top 40 of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, reaching #19 and #34, respectively. The singles from the album also had success on other ''Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' charts: "Can't Fight This Feeling" and "I Do' Wanna Know" each reached #5 on the Mainstream Rock chart
Mainstream Rock is a music chart in '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched i ...
, with "One Lonely Night" reaching #17, and "Can't Fight This Feeling" and "One Lonely Night" reached #3 and #10, respectively on the Adult Contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...
chart.
''Billboard'' writer Kim Freeman suggested that the release of "I Do' Wanna Know" before "Can't Fight This Feeling" could be regarded as an "oversight." However, lead singer Kevin Cronin
Kevin Patrick Cronin (born October 6, 1951) is an American singer and songwriter, who is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and pianist for the rock band REO Speedwagon. The band had several hits on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 throughout the ...
, who wrote both songs, disagreed, stating "not all singles are released to be hits."[ Paul Grein attributed the initial sluggish sales of ''Wheels Are Turnin before the release of "Can't Fight This Feeling" to the fact that "I Do' Wanna Know" was not successful with pop radio stations and noted that sales began to take off only after the release of the second single.]
In 2013, the album was released on CD by UK-based company Rock Candy Records, with expanded liner notes and photos. The LP version contained a cut-out stroboscope
A stroboscope, also known as a strobe, is an instrument used to make a cyclically moving object appear to be slow-moving, or stationary. It consists of either a rotating disk with slots or holes or a lamp such as a flashtube which produces br ...
.
Track listing
Personnel
REO Speedwagon
* Kevin Cronin
Kevin Patrick Cronin (born October 6, 1951) is an American singer and songwriter, who is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and pianist for the rock band REO Speedwagon. The band had several hits on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 throughout the ...
- lead and backing vocals, acoustic guitar, rhythm guitar on "Thru the Window"
* Gary Richrath
Gary Dean Richrath (October 18, 1949 – September 13, 2015) was an American guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist and a songwriter for the band REO Speedwagon from 1970 until 1989.
Early life
Richrath was born in Peoria, Illinois, on Octob ...
- electric guitar
* Neal Doughty
Neal Allan Doughty (born July 29, 1946, in Evansville, Indiana) is an American keyboardist, best known as a founding member of the rock band REO Speedwagon and the only member to have played on every album. He formed the band in fall 1967, with or ...
- keyboards
* Bruce Hall - bass
* Alan Gratzer - drums
Additional personnel
* Steve Forman – percussion
* Tommy Funderburk – backing vocals
* Tom Kelly – backing vocals
* Richard Page
Richard Lewis Page (born 22 February 1941) is a former Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and from December 1979 to 2005.
Early life
Born the son of Victor Charles Page, he went to the independent Hu ...
– backing vocals
* Bill Cuomo - orchestration on "Can't Fight This Feeling"
Production
* Kevin Cronin – producer, arrangements
* Alan Gratzer – producer
* Gary Richrath – producer
* David DeVore – assistant producer, engineer
* Julian Stoll – assistant engineer
* Steve Hall – mastering at Future Disc (Hollywood, California).
* John Kosh
John Kosh, known simply as Kosh, is an English art director, album cover designer, graphic artist, and documentary producer/director. He was born in London, England and rose to prominence in the mid-1960s while designing for the Royal Ballet a ...
– art direction, design
* Ron Larson
Roland "Ron" Edwin Larson (born October 31, 1941) is a professor of mathematics at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, Pennsylvania. He is best known for being the author of a series of widely used mathematics textbooks ranging from middle sch ...
– art direction, design
* Randee St. Nicholas – photography
Charts
Certifications
References
REO Speedwagon – Wheels Are Turnin' @ MSN Music
{{Authority control
REO Speedwagon albums
1984 albums
Epic Records albums
Albums produced by Gary Richrath
Albums produced by Kevin Cronin