Building the Bridge is the fourteenth studio album by REO Speedwagon. It became the group's first non-charting album since 1972's R.E.O./T.W.O.. This is the only studio album by the band not in the ITunes Store, though the title track is available on The Essential REO Speedwagon. The album was re-released on May 27, 2022 on Jimmy Buffett's Mailboat Records on CD, LP and digital.
| Building the Bridge | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | July 9, 1996 | |||
| Recorded | 1995–96 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 48:42 | |||
| Label | Castle Records / Rhythm Safari | |||
| Producer | Kevin Cronin, Greg Ladanyi | |||
| REO Speedwagon chronology | ||||
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The song "Building The Bridge" found its way to the White House, where President Clinton adopted it as the theme for his re-election campaign in 1996.[1]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    link |
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Can't Stop Rockin'" | Dave Amato, Kevin Cronin, Bruce Hall | 3:52 |
| 2. | "I Still Love You" | Cronin, Stephen Stills[2] | 4:12 |
| 3. | "Building the Bridge" | Cronin | 4:43 |
| 4. | "When I Get Home" | Cronin | 4:34 |
| 5. | "Then I Met You" | Cronin | 4:53 |
| 6. | "Look the Other Way" | Cronin | 3:29 |
| 7. | "After Tonight" | Hall | 4:44 |
| 8. | "Hey Wait a Minute" | Hall | 5:21 |
| 9. | "One True Man" | Cronin | 4:42 |
| 10. | "She's Gonna Love Me" | Amato, Cronin | 4:02 |
| 11. | "Ballad of the Illinois Opry" | Cronin | 4:10 |
Personnel
REO Speedwagon
- Kevin Cronin – lead vocals (1-7, 9-11), backing vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, rhythm guitar
- Dave Amato – lead guitar, rhythm guitar, slide guitar, backing vocals, harmony vocals
- Neal Doughty – keyboards
- Bruce Hall – bass, acoustic guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals (8)
- Bryan Hitt – drums, percussion
Additional musicians
- Stephen Croes – Synclavier, orchestrations, string arrangements
- Mitch Zelezny – sequencing
- Luis Conte – percussion
- Dan Higgins – saxophones
- Lew McCreary – trombone
- Jerry Hey – trumpet
- Carmen Twillie – backing vocals
- Julia Waters – backing vocals
- Maxine Waters Willard – backing vocals
Production
- Kevin Cronin – producer, engineer, liner notes
- Greg Ladanyl – producer, engineer, mixing
- Stephen Croes – co-producer (5)
- Paris X – engineer
- Brett Swain – engineer
- Jeffrey Shannon – additional engineer, assistant engineer
- Ron Lewter – mastering
- Gavin Lurssen – mastering
- Doug Sax – mastering
- Tim Wilson – technical advisor
- Bobby Oberdorsten – guitar technician
- Brian Ranks – guitar technician
- Danny Shuss – drum technician, guitar technician
- Terry Wieland – guitar technician
- Omar Abderahman – production coordinator
- Debbie Sommer – production coordinator
- Martin Bambanian – art direction
- George Abe – cover artwork
- Breeze Munson – photography