Book Review: Jim Peterik – Through the Eye of the Tiger: The Rock 'N' Life of Survivor's Founding Member

Book Review: Jim Peterik – Through the Eye of the Tiger: The Rock 'N' Roll Life of Survivor's Founding Member
BenBella Books
All Access Rating: B+

Jim Peterik - Through the
Eye of the Tiger: The
Rock 'N' Roll Life of
Survivor's Founding Member

Usually, rock 'n' roll autobiographies are a damn sight more tawdry and scandalous than this.

A faithful husband devoted to his wife of 40-some years, Karen, and a good Catholic, whose greatest vices seem to be a love of fast cars and vintage guitars, Jim Peterik, practically a teetotaler, never experienced a harrowing descent in the dark world of addiction or took part in out-of-control sex orgies with underage groupies and farm animals.

Nobody's doing blow off a stripper's ass or tossing televisions out of hotel room windows in the refreshingly sweet, sometimes tumultuous and deeply personal "Through The Eye of the Tiger: The Rock 'N' Life of Survivor's Founding Member," from BenBella Books. Aside from a brief moment of weakness in a hotel room with Connie, made famous in the Grand Funk Railroad song "We're An American Band," that ended before anything serious happened, Peterik was practically a choirboy.

His story is pretty tame stuff compared to the endless debauchery of Motley Crue's "The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band" or even Sammy Hagar's "Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock." The juiciest bits have to do with Peterik unwillingly ceding control of Survivor to Frankie Sullivan and their often fractious relationship, as well as behind-the-scenes power struggles with meddling music-industry Svengali types – kingmaker John Kalodner being one of them – and the dirty dealing that resulted in .38 Special's hit version of "Rockin' Into the Night," originally written by Peterik and members of Survivor for their own use.

Mostly a straightforward account of Peterik's struggles and triumphs in a music industry, as well as interpersonal relationships with band mates, friends and family, "Through the Eye of the Tiger" –featuring a forward by REO Speedwagon's Kevin Cronin – focuses on Peterik's almost obsessive drive for success, which almost cost him his marriage and his own sense of identity. The commissioning of the rousing Survivor anthem "Eye of the Tiger" by action-movie star Sly Stallone for "Rocky III" is addressed right up front and without delay, and his sometimes scattered prose, competently shaped by writer Lisa Torem, turns almost giddy with excitement any time the conversation turns to the process of making music, which, for him, has always been something magical. That's what garners the lion's share of attention in the book.

From his teen years fronting Ides of March and riding the smash hit "Vehicle" to the top of the charts on through the mega success of Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger," Peterik leads readers into intensely creative studio sessions, recalls sensational live performances and gigs that fizzled, and handles uncomfortable matters, such as the firing of band members or personal failings, with kid gloves. His musical fandom and admiration for bands like The Turtles, the Allman Brothers and British Invasion influences comes shining through, as well, and, in the end, even though it's not a torrid page-turner, "Through the Eye of the Tiger" has a charming and rare innocence and a good heart that other books of this ilk simply don't. That makes Peterik's story one worth telling.
– Peter Lindblad

CD/DVD Review: REO Speedwagon – Live at Moondance Jam

CD/DVD Review: REO Speedwagon – Live at Moondance Jam

Frontiers Records

All Access Rating: B

REO Speedwagon - Live at Moondance
Jam 2013

There was no turning back after 1980's Hi Infidelity. Their days of slumming it in small clubs and bars across the nation's Heartland were over. College fraternities would have to find somebody else to play their beer busts.

Once the little hard-rock engine that could, churning out minor hits and mapping out grueling tour schedules in a quest for stardom, veteran melodic rock dream weavers REO Speedwagon became an '80s arena-rock superpower on the strength of a No. 1 album and a soaring power ballad in "Keep On Loving You" that made audiences swoon.

Having gone pop, REO Speedwagon had shifted the emphasis from bighearted, emotionally charged guitar anthems – so electrifying in whatever live setting they found themselves in – to lush, piano-based soft rock, and the move paid off handsomely. There would be conflicts over creative control, as underrated guitarist Gary Richrath, such a key songwriting cog in this Midwestern AOR machine, clashed with Kevin Cronin in a power struggle that left him on the outside looking in. And that rich vein of musical gold that REO had mined so extensively would eventually dry up, as the hits stopped coming. Still, they would always have Hi Infidelity.

On a summer's night in 2010, still missing Richrath, Cronin and REO rolled into Walker, Minnesota, site of the classic-rock festival Moondance Jam, on a high, still celebrating the 30th anniversary of the album that changed their lives. Cronin, his voice still as luminous as ever, talked of how those songs on that record had become intertwined with the lives of REO fans, and it's clear that Cronin is still awed by that, which is charming in and of itself.

REO does its best on "Live at Moondance Jam" to pay something back, even if the band – now featuring original member Neil Doughty on keyboards, Bruce Hall on bass, Dave Amato on lead guitar and Bryan Hitt on drums – treats some of their classics with kid gloves.

Documented with high-definition cameras, the concert, now out on CD and DVD or Blu-ray via Frontiers Records, comes alive with a colorful vibrancy and sharpness that does their beguiling, if somewhat tame, performance justice, with a combination of close-ups and wide-angle looks that not only capture the easy-going vibe of the place, but also hone in on the understated musicianship at work in REO. Cronin looks as if he's completely comfortable in his own skin, smiling and enthusiastic about rummaging through the band's assorted hits and back catalog, even going so far as to revive the lost boogie-rock favorite "157 Riverside Avenue" in a particularly sweaty workout to close the show.

As ever, REO executes its windswept vocal harmonies with an easy grace that's hard to come in rock 'n' roll, as Cronin's feathery acoustic guitar strum and light touches of piano, rhythmic elements and electric guitar add a glow to "Don't Let Him Go," the aforementioned "Keep on Loving You," "Take it on the Run" and "In Your Letter" – this being the first-ever live version of this bouncy little gem that's reminiscent of the Beach Boys.

In choosing to begin with a lazy, albeit soothing, whimper, as opposed to a raucous bang, REO runs the risk of anesthetizing the crowd, but instead, there's a kind of melodic magic to these performances that mesmerizes, and the dewey Northwoods atmosphere of Moondance Jam contributes to a sense of communal euphoria. Still, by the time the banal sentimentality and slowly poured syrup of "Can't Fight This Feeling" comes along, it's well past time for REO to change course.

Thankfully they do, kicking up more than a little dust with a defiant "Time For Me To Fly," before launching into fiery sermons on the life-affirming energy of "Roll with the Changes" and "Ridin' The Storm Out." That tug of war that's always existed within REO between indulging their soft side and wanting to rock with wild abandon is still there, but being older and wiser, they've tried striking a balance between the two inclinations, as is the case on "Live at Moondance Jam." This isn't Hendrix lighting his guitar on fire. This isn't The Who smashing their instruments to pieces. It won't make the hair on anybody's neck stand up. It's more like a night of nostalgia at the local band shell, grooving to songs from bygone days that everyone knows by heart. And there's nothing wrong with that.
– Peter Lindblad