The Earth, a Small Man, His Dog and a Chicken is the thirteenth studio album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 by REO Speedwagon

REO Speedwagon

REO Speedwagon is an American rock band. Formed in 1967, the band grew in popularity during the 1970s and peaked in the early 1980s. Hi Infidelity is the group's most commercially successful album, selling over ten million copies and charting four Top 40 hits in the US...

, and was released in 1990. To date, it's the last REO album to chart, peaking at #129 on the Billboard 200. The song "Love Is a Rock" reached #66 on Billboard's Hot 100, and "Live It Up" reached #6 on Billboard's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks.

Following the departure of two long-time members, guitarist and songwriter Gary Richrath

Gary Richrath

Gary Richrath is an American guitarist, best known as a member of the band REO Speedwagon from 1970 until 1989...

 and drummer Alan Gratzer, almost one half of the songs on this album were written or co-written by keyboardist Jesse Harms

Jesse Harms

Jesse Harms is a session keyboard player and songwriter who was a member of Sammy Hagar's backing band from 1984 to 1987 , and from 1997–2003 as a member of Hagar's band, The Waboritas...

. It is also the first album to include guitarist Dave Amato and drummer Bryan Hitt.

Track listing

1. "Love Is a Rock" (Kevin Cronin) - 5:36
2. "The Heart Survives" (Cronin, Jesse Harms
   Jesse Harms
   Jesse Harms is a session keyboard player and songwriter who was a member of Sammy Hagar's backing band from 1984 to 1987 , and from 1997–2003 as a member of Hagar's band, The Waboritas...
   
   ) - 4:50
3. "Live It Up" (Harms) - 4:00
4. "All Heaven Broke Loose" (Harms, Adrian Gurvitz, Neal Doughty) - 4:11
5. "Love in the Future" (Cronin, Tom Kelly) - 4:32
6. "Half Way" (Cronin, Harms, Mark Spiro
   Mark Spiro
   is an American Songwriter, Record Producer, Recording Artist, and TV Series Original Music Producer. He is represented on over 100 Million Records sold World-Wide.-Discography and Soundtrack Filmography:SONGWRITER* JULIAN LENNON - “”...
   
   ) - 4:17
7. "Love to Hate" (Harms) - 4:09
8. "You Won't See Me" (Cronin) - 3:21
9. "Can't Lie to My Heart" (Cronin, Diane Warren
   Diane Warren
   Diane Eve Warren , is a US songwriter. Her songs have received six Academy Award nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, including one win and seven Grammy Award nominations, including one win. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001...
   
   ) - 4:40
10. "L.I.A.R." (Cronin, Doughty, Bruce Hall, Bryan Hitt, Dave Amato) - 3:09
11. "Go for Broke" (Cronin, Doughty, Hall, Amato, Harms) - 3:28

Personnel

REO Speedwagon

• Kevin Cronin
  Kevin Cronin
  Kevin Cronin is the lead vocalist/ rhythm guitarist/ occasional pianist for the American rock band, REO Speedwagon. REO Speedwagon had two #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 written by Cronin, "Keep on Loving You" and "Can't Fight This Feeling" .- Early life and career :Cronin was born in Evanston,...
  
   - lead vocals, acoustic guitar
  Steel-string acoustic guitar
  A steel-string acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar descended from the classical guitar, but strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound...
  
  
• Dave Amato
  Dave Amato
  Dave Amato is an American musician, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band REO Speedwagon.He was born and raised near Framingham, Massachusetts...
  
   - lead guitar, background vocals
• Neal Doughty
  Neal Doughty
  Neal Doughty is an American keyboardist and the sole remaining founding member of REO Speedwagon.Doughty wrote "Sky Blues" from 1973, "One Lonely Night" from 1984 and "Variety Tonight" from 1987...
  
   - hammond organ
  Hammond organ
  The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
  
  
• Bruce Hall
  Bruce Hall (musician)
  Bruce Hall is the current bass guitarist for the rock and roll band REO Speedwagon. He joined the band in 1977, making an appearance on the album, You Can Tune a Piano but You Can't Tuna Fish released the following year...
  
   - bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Bryan Hitt
  Bryan Hitt
  Bryan Keith Hitt is the drummer for the rock band REO Speedwagon.Prior to his involvement with REO Speedwagon, Hitt played with Cher, Graham Nash, and The Spencer Davis Group. He also recorded with Nick Gilder, Gary Busey and Wang Chung.He joined the band's line up in 1990 for the release of album...
  
   - drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  , percussion
  Percussion instrument
  A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
  
  
• Jesse Harms
  Jesse Harms
  Jesse Harms is a session keyboard player and songwriter who was a member of Sammy Hagar's backing band from 1984 to 1987 , and from 1997–2003 as a member of Hagar's band, The Waboritas...
  
   - keyboards, background vocals

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1990	The Billboard 200	129

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1990	"Love is a Rock"	The Billboard Hot 100	66
1990	"Love is a Rock"	Mainstream Rock	31
1990	"Live it Up"	Mainstream Rock	6