Ridin' the Storm Out

{{Infobox album

| name = Ridin' the Storm Out

| type = studio

| artist = REO Speedwagon

| cover = Ridinthestormout.jpg

| alt =

| released = December 21, 1973

| recorded = Summer 1973

| venue =

| studio = Wally Heider Studios (Los Angeles)
The Record Plant (Los Angeles)

| genre = Blues rock, hard rock

| length = 36:26

| label = Epic

| producer = Bill Halverson

| prev_title = R.E.O./T.W.O.

| prev_year = 1972

| next_title = Lost in a Dream

| next_year = 1974

}}

Ridin' the Storm Out is the third studio album by REO Speedwagon, released in 1973. It peaked at number 171 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1981,{{cite book |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |title=Top Pop Albums |edition=Seventh |year=2011 |publisher=Record Research |isbn=978-0-89820-183-3}} and reached platinum status in 1989. It was the first album to feature Mike Murphy on vocals. The sessions started out with Kevin Cronin, but he left the band before the album was finished, due to creative differences. The title track would later become a #94 US hit for the band on their live album Live: You Get What You Play For, after Cronin had returned to the band. {{cite web |website=SongFacts |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250408100125/https://www.songfacts.com/facts/reo-speedwagon/ridin-the-storm-out |archive-date=April 8, 2025 |url=https://www.songfacts.com/facts/reo-speedwagon/ridin-the-storm-out |title=Ridin' The Storm Out by REO Speedwagon |access-date=April 8, 2025}} The song refers to the band being stuck in a harsh winter blizzard, after a show in Boulder, Colorado at a bar named Tulagi (now closed). The band had decided to prank its tour manager by intentionally getting lost, but then inadvertently became genuinely lost as a dangerous winter storm approached.

The album includes a new composition by Stephen Stills, "Open Up", which was never recorded by Stills himself or any of his bands, although "Know You Got to Run" from Stephen Stills 2 is essentially an embryonic version of the song. "Know You Got to Run" consists of only verses and uses a sombre acoustic folk arrangement, while "Open Up" includes a chorus and uses an up-tempo rock arrangement.

Cronin's original version of "Son of a Poor Man" is featured on the compilation albums A Decade of Rock and Roll: 1970-1980, and The Essential REO Speedwagon. "Son of a Poor Man" and "Ridin' the Storm Out" were featured on the live album Live: You Get What You Play For. The studio version of "Ridin' the Storm Out" with Cronin on vocals was released on the compilation "Box Set Series" in 2014, "The Early Years 1971-1977" boxed set in 2018 and as a downloadable track in the music video game Rock Band.

Record World said of the title track that it has "a good mix of hard

rock guitar sounds and harmony vocals."{{cite magazine|magazine=Record World|date=April 2, 1977|accessdate=2023-02-16|title=Single Picks|page=18|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/70s/77/Record-World-1977-04-02.pdf}}

{{Album reviews

|rev1 = Allmusic

|rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{AllMusic | class=album | id=ridin-the-storm-out-mw0000191426 | title=REO Speedwagon: Ridin' the Storm Out | first=Stephen Thomas | last=Erlewine | accessdate=April 29, 2020}}

}}