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."

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