| The Earth, a Small Man, His Dog and a Chicken | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Original album artwork by Mark Ryden | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 1990 | |||
| Recorded | September 3, 1989 – May 31, 1990 | |||
| Studio | Ocean Way Recording (Hollywood, California) One On One Studios (North Hollywood, California) Encore Studios (Burbank, California) | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 46:26 | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Producer | Kevin Cronin, Jesse Harms, Tom Lord-Alge, Jim Scott | |||
| REO Speedwagon chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Entertainment Weekly | C+ [1] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |   [2] |
| Select |   [3] |
The Earth, a Small Man, His Dog and a Chicken is the thirteenth studio album by REO Speedwagon, and was released in 1990.
Contents
It marked the end of their contract with Epic Records and is, to date, the last REO album to chart, peaking at No. 129 on the Billboard 200. [4] The song "Love Is a Rock" reached No. 65 on Billboard's Hot 100, and "Live It Up" reached No. 6 on Billboard's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks. "Go For Broke" was written for the film Days of Thunder but ultimately not used.
The album's title was taken directly from the cover illustration by Mark Ryden, as bassist Bruce Hall explained: [5]
""We were looking for album covers and we had this artist who was drawing pictures... One of them he showed us was that one, and he simply called it 'The Earth, a Small Man, His Dog and a Chicken.' He was thinking that we would change it to something else, but we’ve always been interested in funny or different kind of album titles, like You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can't Tuna Fish — that kind of stuff. For some reason Kevin thought it was hilarious, and I’m going, 'I’m not too sure about that.' But he kind of won me over. It was kind of funny. So we put it out there."
Following the departure of two long-time members, guitarist and songwriter Gary Richrath and drummer Alan Gratzer, more than half of the songs on this album were written or co-written by keyboardist Jesse Harms. It is also the first album to include guitarist Dave Amato and drummer Bryan Hitt who remained with the band until their 2024 breakup, and currently tour with classic-era and longtime lead vocalist Kevin Cronin.
