REO, HEART make way to DVD

With the onslaught of new bands and music coming, some older and established bands have found themselves at the wayside.

If an older band isn't the Rolling Stones or U2, chances are it won't find a lot of radio play. Even then, when was the last time a new Rolling Stones tune was heard on a station other than the ones in Satellite Radio?

And with the way radio has treated instrumental music in the past decade, it seems that the only way people can hear great contemporary instrumental composers is to rummage through their own personal collections.

Sometimes people forget how good a band or artist is because of the lack of radio play.

However, three recent DVD releases aim to get the audience back.

And before anyone disses these older musicians, they need to watch, listen and learn.

• FIRST UP IS REO SPEEDWAGON. Yep, the band from the '70s who hit the charts with "Ridin' the Storm Out," "Keep On Lovin' You" and "Roll With the Changes" is still making albums and touring the world.

The Illinois-based rock band took time out to film a show for the Chicago-based "Soundstage" PBS program.

The band's "Live in the Heartland" episode is now on DVD, released by Koch Vision.

And the DVD contains the full concert that shows the band — lead singer Kevin Cronin, bassist Bruce Hall, keyboardist Neal Doughty, drummer Bryan "the Hitt Man" Hitt and guitarist Dave Amato — pushing it up a few notches with energetic performances of the aforementioned songs. The only complain is the fact that sometimes the camera ignores the musicians playing solos.

Also on the list is "Keep Pushin'," "Take It on the Run," "Time for Me to Fly" and "157 Riverside Avenue."

One highlight is "Golden Country," which Cronin said he originally wrote after the fall of Saigon, that still is pertinent today.

Among the older hits, the band throws in four songs from its most recent CD, "Find Your Way Home." And if those songs are any indication, the band still has the hooks, the chops and the energy to continue rocking in the future.

• NEXT IS HEART. The band, formed in Seattle in the early 1970s and fronted by vocalist Ann Wilson and her guitarist/sister Nancy, has reinvented itself throughout its 30-year career.

With the "Soundstage" release "Heart Live," also released by Koch Vision, it's evident why the band has continued to rock.

Sure there have been lineup changes throughout the years, but the Wilson sisters have kept focused, leading the charge.

Familiar hits such as "Magic Man," "Straight On," "Even It Up," "Bebe Le Strange" and the breakthrough "Barracuda" are still as energetic as they were back in the day. The moody "Alone" and "Dog and Butterfly," performed along with Nancy's vocals on "These Dreams," are as heartfelt as ever.

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