The Chicago Discography

[Orbert]

Fair enough.

As always, my goal here is not merely to inform, but to spark discussion.  I worked on the writeup above for over two hours.  It doesn't look like it, because I kept writing, editing, rewriting, deleting, over and over.  I kept trying to be fair and balanced, and finally realized that I couldn't.  I kept falling back to "Well, it sounds great anyway" but really, there's almost nothing else that I like about it.  So I ripped it all out because it was so negative.

Christmas music is usually very straightforward.  If you sing it well, and put some emotion into it, it's gonna sound pretty good.  I find that in general, Jason Scheff does neither.  He was literally hired because he plays the bass and sounds enough like Peter Cetera to sound almost like Peter Cetera once you apply a nice thick layer of production.  But his idea of singing "with style" has nothing to do with emotion, and when you get right down to it, his voice isn't that good.  So to make up for it, he syncopates, changes the rhythm for no real reason other than to make it different.  He did the same thing on the songs he sang Night & Day - Big Band, and it was annoying then, too.

Then you have things like "Feliz Navidad" by Jose Feliciano.  I know I'm not the only one who could live a long and happy life without ever hearing that song again, but if there's one thing that I didn't think possible, it would have been a version even worse than the original.  Well, here we have one.  The original, as everyone knows, is literally just the same verse over and over.  I've never bothered to count, but it's at least three or four verses of the same thing.  But it works because Jose sings it with sincerity and energy.  I can't even imagine why someone thought that a slow version of the song would be a good idea.  I guess it's supposed to be contemplative and introspective, but it's just boring.  Instead of the same thing repeated with gusto and energy, it's the same thing repeated slowly, until you just want to shoot someone, but would probably settle for breaking something really expensive.

"Pa-rup-a-pum-pum" is not a lyric.  It is onomatopoeia, a word that sounds like what it represents; in this case, someone playing a drum.  You know, like a little drummer boy, who has no gift to give other than to play his music, simply but from the heart, with everything he can put into it.  Singing the line "Pa... Rup-a Pum... Pum!!" and milking it is not the point of the song.  It is the one "lyric" which is meant to be sung simply, because it represents the drumming of the little drummer boy.  The point of the song lies in the rest of the lyrics.  You know, the part that tells the story.  How can someone not understand that?  How can such a simple song go so very wrong?

The entire album feels like that.  Like they're just plain missing the point.  They came up with these complex, ridiculous arrangements, and I just wanted to hear some of my favorite Christmas songs with some awesome horns.  Making fast songs slow or slow songs fast, or changing the rhythm or the words or any other "clever" tricks do not make the songs better.  Usually, it's just annoying.

Is that kinda what you were thinking, Joe?

[Big Hath]

never bought it.  Not much of a fan of Christmas albums by one artist/band.  I prefer them to be a various artists type thing.  Plus, after the big band album, I don't think I wanted to spend money on another Chicago covers album, especially one that would get very limited plays.

[Big Hath]

Then you have things like "Feliz Navidad" by Jose Feliciano.  I know I'm not the only one who could live a long and happy life without ever hearing that song again, but if there's one thing that I didn't think possible, it would have been a version even worse than the original.  Well, here we have one.  The original, as everyone knows, is literally just the same verse over and over.  I've never bothered to count, but it's at least three or four verses of the same thing.  But it works because Jose sings it with sincerity and energy.  I can't even imagine why someone thought that a slow version of the song would be a good idea.  I guess it's supposed to be contemplative and introspective, but it's just boring.  Instead of the same thing repeated with gusto and energy, it's the same thing repeated slowly, until you just want to shoot someone, but would probably settle for breaking something really expensive.

so I just gave this a listen for the first time.  Pretty boring.  Seems like this song would have been a perfect opportunity for them to go back to some of their Latin percussion roots and made a really fun song in the vein of Mongonucleosis.  At least it would have had some life.

[ZirconBlue]

No one's going to buy a Christmas album from someone they've never heard of. 

Except Trans-Siberian Orchestra.   

[Orbert]

Ah, good point.  TSO came on the scene with their "orchestral metal" sound or whatever you call it, and somehow it seemed to work well with Christmas music.  There were enough people who'd grown up with metal, and even those who weren't really metalheads had heard metal guitars in movie soundtracks and stuff, and could handle it.  So they went from virtually unknown to the hottest Christmas music ever, pretty much overnight.

[ZirconBlue]

Ah, good point.  TSO came on the scene with their "orchestral metal" sound or whatever you call it, and somehow it seemed to work well with Christmas music.  There were enough people who'd grown up with metal, and even those who weren't really metalheads had heard metal guitars in movie soundtracks and stuff, and could handle it.  So they went from virtually unknown to the hottest Christmas music ever, pretty much overnight.

I was very excited to hear Savatage on the radio, only to later learn that they'd relabeled the song as being by TSO.

[Orbert]

Trans-Siberian Orchestra sounds like a group that would play that kind of music.  I was intrigued when I learned that the basis of TSO was the guys from Savatage, but I think it was a good move to call the group something else.

I did check out Savatage because I figured that maybe the guys in Savatage were closet progheads, therefore Savatage maybe crossed the line into prog metal at least a bit, but I don't remember hearing anything other than metal.

[King Postwhore]

There is one Christmas album I do like a lot and it's by Jars Of Clay.  Their interpretations of songs are so unique.

[jsem]

Just have to chime in here and say that the version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman on that album is amazing. The rest of the album is forgettable, but whatever.

[Orbert]

That's cool that you like it.  I know that a lot of people like this album, and I'm sure that there are individual songs which really resonate with some people.  I'm not one of those "you can't like it because I don't like it" kind of guys; I really do wish the best for this band that I still love and respect.  But that is one of the Jason Scheff songs I really had trouble with.

I'm just too old, I guess.  Orchestrate it, add awesome horn charts or strings or Latin percussion or whatever you want, but don't mess with the melody.  At that point, you're just messing around because you can, and adding nothing to the performance.  I like Christmas music and just want to hear the songs.

[Orbert]

Oh yeah, Keith Howland



You may have noticed a new name in the lineup for Chicago 25: The Christmas Album, guitarist Keith Howland.  After the Stone of Sysiphus debacle, guitarist Dawayne Bailey (who had written the title track and one other song on the album) left Chicago.  Although Bill Champlin was originally brought in to play guitar, he had been playing mostly keyboards since they'd added Dawayne Bailey in 1986, so they decided to audition for a new full-time guitarist.

At the end of the second day of auditions, Keith Howland showed up uninvited, and managed to talk to Jason Scheff in the parking lot.  Keith had grown up listening to Chicago and was a huge fan of Terry Kath.  He'd actually modelled his singing and playing style on Terry Kath, and he asked Jason if there was any way he could get an audition.  Jason told him that the auditions were over, but he'd talk to the rest of the band, and to come back the next day.

Keith was the only person to audition on Day Three, and he got the job.

When I saw Chicago in 1996, it was after years of being out of touch with them.  I didn't even know who was in the band anymore, though I'd heard that Robert Lamm and the three horn players were still around.  But a friend of mine had tickets that he couldn't use and knew I was a fan, so my wife, son and I went.

James Pankow once said of Terry Kath that he was the only guy he'd ever met who could sing, play lead guitar and rhythm guitar all at the same time.  Keith Howland, who grew up listening to Chicago and Terry Kath, came pretty damned close.

At this point, Chicago was resigned to their fate as a nostalgia act.  There's nothing wrong with that, I suppose.  With countless millions of albums and singles sold, and millions of fans still out there wanting to see them and willing to pay, there was no reason not to continue touring, even if new material was becoming more and more scarce.  People didn't care about the new material anyway; they wanted to hear "Make Me Smile" and "25 or 6 to 4".  Chicago still had the horns, Robert Lamm, a bassist who sounded enough like Peter Cetera to sing his songs, and now a guitarist who played and sounded like Terry Kath.  I saw one of Terry's last shows back 1977, touring Chicago XI with the original lineup.  The 1996 show was almost as good.

[Orbert]

Chicago 26: Live in Concert (1999)


Click for larger view


Bill Champlin - Keyboards, Guitars
Keith Howland - Guitars, Vocals
Tris Imboden - Drums, Percussion
Robert Lamm - Keyboards, Percussion, Vocals
Lee Loughnane - Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Cornet, Guitar, Percussion, Background Vocals
James Pankow - Trombone, Percussion, Background Vocals
Walter Parazaider - Saxophones, Flute, Clarinet
Jason Scheff - Bass, Vocals

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"The Ballet"
  Make Me Smile
  So Much to Say, So Much to Give
  Anxiety's Moment
  West Virginia Fantasies
  Colour My World
  To Be Free
  Now More Than Ever
(I've Been) Searchin' So Long
Mongonucleosis
Hard Habit To Break
Call on Me
Feelin' Stronger Every Day
Just You 'N' Me
Beginnings
Hard to Say I'm Sorry/Get Away
25 or 6 to 4

Studio Tracks

Back to You (Lamm, Howland) – 3:41
If I Should Ever Lose You (Bacharach, Krikorian) – 4:30
(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher (Jackson, Miner, Smith) – 4:11
(vocals by Michael McDonald)

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The official justification for this album, according to the band and the label, is that the late 90's Chicago lineup was tight, the shows were still full of energy and excitement, and they deserved to be captured in a live album.  There hadn't been an official live album in well over 20 years (Chicago at Carnegie Hall, or Chicago Live in Japan if you count that one).  And that's all true.  As I mentioned, I saw this lineup of Chicago in 1996 and it was a great show.

The other reason of course is that Chicago had not released an album of new studio material in years.  Yes, there were Chicago 25: The Christmas Album, and Night & Day - Big Band, which were new studio albums, but technically cover albums.  It had been eight years since Chicago Twenty 1.

So it was time for either another "greatest hits" thing, or a live album.  With five official compilations and countless unofficial ones, a new live album was the way to go.

I don't have this one, and I've never heard it.  I've tried to find it, and yes I suppose I could buy it, but while I'd love to hear it, I don't really have any interest in owning it.  Reviews range from positive to lukewarm.  The sound is excellent, and the performances are inspired.

As for negatives, obvious studio doctoring is a biggie.  Another is the set list which features a lot of songs originally sung by Peter Cetera but sung here by Jason Scheff.  Other than "Beginnings" (written and still sung by Robert Lamm) and what is now known simply as "The Ballet", every song is one formerly sung by Peter, but now sung by Jason.  Yeah, Peter isn't coming back, but literally stacking the set list with songs now sung by someone else seems to underscore that.  When I saw them, Robert sang a few more ("Saturday in the Park" and "Wake Up Sunshine", probably a few others) and Keith and Bill sang some of the old Terry songs.

The other thing that brought reviews down overall is the inclusion of three new studio tracks, two of which are covers, one of them sung by Michael McDonald.  Why?  No one knows.  Sure, the official word is that he brought something special to it, they were excited to be working with him, blah blah blah, but ultimately they included studio tracks when that's just not why you buy a live album.  Maybe the new track by Robert Lamm and Keith Howland is good.  But at 3:41, is it worth the price of a CD?  I can't answer that, because I haven't heard it.

I find it interesting that people still associate Chicago's album titles with Roman numerals, so much so that Chicago 25: The Christmas Album is listed as "Chicago XXV: The Christmas Album" both on Amazon.com and Wikipedia, when it clearly has an Arabic 25 on the cover.  Similarly, this album is listed both on Amazon.com and Wikipedia as "Chicago XXVI: Live in Concert" when there is clearly a 26 on the cover.  At this point, only nine of Chicago's 26 official releases used Roman numerals in their titles (III, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX: Chicago's Greatest Hits, X, XI, and XIV).  Seven used Arabic numerals (13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 25, and 26) and except for Twenty 1 and the first two eponymous albums, the others had actual titles.

[King Postwhore]

Bob, you need to find this.  It is a great live album.  It gets a regular spin from me here.

[Orbert]

Okay, that's one recommendation.  But convince me.  How is "The Ballet" and what makes it different here?  It's their best-known "epic" of course, but why do we need another version of it?

I love "Call On Me".  Love the horn break.  But the last time I saw them, they cut out the second verse.  Do we get all three verses here?

"Searchin' So Long" and "Mongonucleosis" is an interesting inclusion.  Good jam on "Mongonucleosis"?

One of the reviews mentioned a flute solo in "Just You 'N' Me".  That's different.

I know the horns still cook, and Bobby is still with them, though I wish he'd gotten to sing more.  After all this time, I should stop thinking of Jason as the "new" Peter, but I guess it's not just the songs that matter, but who's singing them.  And these are pretty much the best of the Cetera songs.

Most importantly:  How is the new studio track, "Back to You"?

[King Postwhore]

I'd have to play it again to get those details but I do know how tight they were live and the CD shows that.  Some shows are flat and this was not one of them.  I also loved the mix of this CD.  I'll listen to it again this weekend.

[Orbert]

The Very Best of Chicago: Only the Beginning (2002)



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DISC ONE

Make Me Smile*
25 or 6 to 4
Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?*
Beginnings
Questions 67 and 68
I'm a Man*
Colour My World
Free
Lowdown
Saturday in the Park
Dialogue (Parts I & II)*
Just You 'n' Me
Feelin' Stronger Every Day
(I've Been) Searchin' So Long
Wishing You Were Here
Call on Me
Happy Man*
Another Rainy Day in New York City
If You Leave Me Now

DISC TWO

Old Days
Baby, What a Big Surprise
Take Me Back to Chicago*
Alive Again
No Tell Lover
Love Me Tomorrow*
Hard to Say I'm Sorry/Get Away
Stay the Night
Hard Habit to Break
You're the Inspiration
Along Comes a Woman*
Will You Still Love Me?*
If She Would Have Been Faithful...
Look Away*
What Kind of Man Would I Be?*
I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love
We Can Last Forever*
You're Not Alone*
Chasin' the Wind
Sing, Sing, Sing

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In 1998, Chicago formed their own label, Chicago Records.  They then purchased their entire back catalogue from Columbia and transferred it to Chicago Records.  I believe they did the same with their Warner Bros. catalogue, though I cannot find a specific reference to that.  Anyway, the idea was for Chicago to finally own their material, have total control over how it was distributed, and of course not have to argue with any suits about whether anything is commercially viable.  They would own their music, all of it, and any future music would be recorded and distributed as they saw fit.  The previous two albums, Chicago 25: The Christmas Album and Chicago 26: Live in Concert, were released on Chicago Records.

In 2002, Chicago entered into an agreement with Rhino Entertainment, apparently ending the Chicago Records experiment.  My guess is that they discovered that owning and running your own label isn't nearly as much fun as it sounds (if it sounds fun at all), and certainly not as much fun as actually playing music, which they still do, one or two hundred times a year.  So Rhino has been reissuing the original Columbia albums, many with bonus tracks, ever since.  They have also been the label of record for every official Chicago release since then.

The first "new" release, Chicago's 27th official album, is this compilation, The Very Best of Chicago: Only the Beginning.

Pro

• This sucker is packed.  Two discs, 157:44 total running time.  Nearly 79 minutes per disc average (CDs hold 80 minutes).
• Both the Columbia and Warner Bros. eras are represented.  I couldn't find a specific mention of it, but this means that Rhino also has access to Chicago's Warner Bros. catalogue.
• The songs are pretty much in chronological order.  Listening to either disc, or the entire collection, takes you from older to newer, rather than "jumping around" as many compilations do.  The new edit of "Make Me Smile" makes a lot of sense to start things off, and recall that the Chicago singles were hits before the singles from The Chicago Transit Authority, so this is very close to the actual release order of the singles.  The only other anomoly is "Old Days" opening Disc Two.  It's from Chicago VIII but appears after the songs from Chicago X, but that's probably where it fit better in terms of time.

Con

• Edited versions of songs.  See all of those asterisks up there in the track listings?  Each one denotes an edited version of the song.

"Make Me Smile" is an acceptable edit, actually a good one.  They kept the entire horn fanfare and coda, and the guitar solo after the horn break.  It's really "Make Me Smile" and "Now More Than Ever" in their entireties combined into a single track and making a complete song.

"Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" is all here except for the free-form piano solo.  This version includes the entire horn fanfare and trumpet solo intro.

"Happy Man" is missing the false start, but includes everything else.

All of the other edits (and there are a lot) were just cheesy ways of shortening the songs to appease short attention spans and cram more songs onto each disc.  More songs is good, but cutting out verses or instrumentals is not.

So yes, this is another "greatest hits" thing.  That's six now out of 27 official releases.

[BanksD]

This was actually the CD that got me into the band. I had heard Hard Habit To Break and some of their other work before and i wanted to hear more so i bought this album off of my mom's iTunes account and fell in love with it. I ended up getting more of their albums as time went on and now they're definitely a top 10 band for me.

[Orbert]

I've bought a few Greatest Hits packages in my time, and I do recognize that they have a function.  They're a ready-made sampling of the band's work, and presumably people buy them if they've heard one or two songs and are interested in what else they've done, or someone recommends that band and says "Just get their Greatest Hits and see what you like".  Especially if a band has been around for a long time.

I try not to come across too negatively about the seemingly endless Chicago compilations, but it's really hard to keep an objective view sometimes.  Once I figured out that these compilations often have the shortened versions of songs, I decided that if I wanted to check out a band, I bought one of their regular albums.  A lot of times, that can provide at least as good a picture of what the band is about, if not better, since so often the better stuff is not what some suit has decided would make a good radio hit.  But you have to start somewhere.  I don't mean to denigrate anyone who buys a compilation as a means of checking out a band.  As always, what you see above has been edited several times.  I originally was much harsher on this one, then I realized that overall, this is actually one of the better compilations of Chicago hits, if not their best.

I'm always curious, though.  If you liked "Hard Habit to Break", what did you think when you got this compilation and heard all the 70's stuff?

[King Postwhore]

Never bought this because I got the Box Set from Rhino.

[BanksD]

I've bought a few Greatest Hits packages in my time, and I do recognize that they have a function.  They're a ready-made sampling of the band's work, and presumably people buy them if they've heard one or two songs and are interested in what else they've done, or someone recommends that band and says "Just get their Greatest Hits and see what you like".  Especially if a band has been around for a long time.

I try not to come across too negatively about the seemingly endless Chicago compilations, but it's really hard to keep an objective view sometimes.  Once I figured out that these compilations often have the shortened versions of songs, I decided that if I wanted to check out a band, I bought one of their regular albums.  A lot of times, that can provide at least as good a picture of what the band is about, if not better, since so often the better stuff is not what some suit has decided would make a good radio hit.  But you have to start somewhere.  I don't mean to denigrate anyone who buys a compilation as a means of checking out a band.  As always, what you see above has been edited several times.  I originally was much harsher on this one, then I realized that overall, this is actually one of the better compilations of Chicago hits, if not their best.

I'm always curious, though.  If you liked "Hard Habit to Break", what did you think when you got this compilation and heard all the 70's stuff?

yea I totally got what you mean, I was only 12 or 13 when I got this so i was pretty ignorant of the situation going in.


but as for your question of the 70s stuff, I actually really didn't listen to it for a while, but once I decided to listen to the full compilation I ended up enjoying that era a lot more than the later stuff (and as of now CTA is probably my favorite Chicago album, and if i remember right it was the first one I ever owned on CD)


I've always been pretty attracted to music that was more experimental in nature (I'm also a saxophone player lol) so when I heard the early stuff had a lot of that I was really drawn to it.

[Orbert]

Thanks.  I appreciate the insight.

I play sax as well, and know a lot of horn players who really love the early Chicago stuff, for obvious reasons.

[Orbert]

Chicago: The Box (2003)




DISC ONE

Introduction (Kath) – 6:35
Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? (Lamm) – 3:20
Beginnings (Lamm) – 6:27
Questions 67 and 68 (Lamm) – 5:01
Listen (Lamm) – 3:22
South California Purples (Lamm) – 6:11
I'm a Man (Miller, Winwood) – 5:43
Movin' In (Pankow) – 4:06
Wake Up Sunshine (Lamm) – 2:29
Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon: Make Me Smile/So Much to Say, So Much to Give (Pankow) – 7:02
Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon: Colour My World (Pankow) – 3:00
Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon: To Be Free/Now More Than Ever (Pankow) – 2:41
Fancy Colours (Lamm) – 5:10
25 or 6 to 4 (Lamm) – 4:50
Poem for the People (Lamm) – 5:31
It Better End Soon: 1st Movement/3rd Movement/4th Movement (Lamm, Kath) – 6:37

DISC TWO

Loneliness Is Just a Word (Lamm) – 2:36
Travel Suite: Flight 602 (Lamm) – 2:45
Travel Suite: Free (Lamm) – 2:16
Mother (Lamm) – 4:30
Lowdown (Cetera, Seraphine) – 3:35
An Hour in the Shower (Kath) – 5:28
A Hit by Varese (Lamm) – 4:55
All Is Well (Lamm) – 3:50
Saturday in the Park (Lamm) – 3:56
Dialogue (Part I & II) (Lamm) – 7:10
Just You 'N' Me (Pankow) – 3:42
Something in This City Changes People (Lamm) – 3:42
In Terms of Two (Cetera) – 3:29
Feelin' Stronger Every Day (Cetera, Pankow) – 4:14
(I've Been) Searchin' So Long (Pankow) – 4:29
Mongonucleosis (Pankow) – 3:26
Wishing You Were Here (Cetera) – 4:37
Call on Me (Loughnane) – 4:02
Happy Man (Cetera) – 3:14

DISC THREE

Harry Truman (Lamm) – 3:01
Old Days (Pankow) – 3:31
Brand New Love Affair, Part I & II (Pankow) – 4:27
Never Been in Love Before (Lamm) – 4:10
You Are on My Mind (Pankow) – 3:12
Mama Mama (Cetera) – 3:30
Hope For Love (Kath) – 3:03
Another Rainy Day in New York City (Lamm) – 3:01
Gently I'll Wake You (Lamm) – 3:33
If You Leave Me Now (Cetera) – 3:56
Mississippi Delta City Blues (Kath) – 4:39
Baby, What a Big Surprise (Cetera) – 3:04
Take Me Back to Chicago (Seraphine, Wolinski) – 5:17
Prelude (Little One) /Little One (Seraphine, Wolinski) – 6:34
Gone Long Gone (Cetera) – 4:00
No Tell Lover (Cetera, Loughnane, Seraphine) – 3:48
Alive Again (Pankow) – 3:28
The Greatest Love on Earth (Seraphine, Wolinski) – 3:18
Little Miss Lovin' (Cetera) – 4:36
Hot Streets (Lamm) – 5:14

DISC FOUR

Street Player (Seraphine, Wolinski) – 4:23
Must Have Been Crazy (Dacus) – 3:23
Manipulation (Lamm) – 3:29
Thunder and Lightning (Cetera, Lamm, Seraphine) – 3:32
Song for You (Cetera) – 3:41
The American Dream (Pankow) – 3:17
Love Me Tomorrow (Cetera, Foster) – 4:59
Chains (Thomas) – 3:22
What You're Missing (Gruska, Williams) – 3:30
Hard to Say I'm Sorry/Get Away (Cetera, Foster, Lamm) – 5:06
Stay the Night (Cetera, Foster) – 3:48
We Can Stop the Hurtin' (Lamm, Champlin, Neal) – 4:11
Hard Habit to Break (Kipner, Parker) – 4:43
Along Comes a Woman (Cetera, Goldenberg) – 3:46
You're the Inspiration (Cetera, Foster) – 3:48
Good for Nothing (Lamm, Foster, Marx) – 3:38
If She Would Have Been Faithful... (Kipner, Goodrum) – 3:51
Forever (Lamm, Gable) – 5:17
Will You Still Love Me? (Foster, Keane, Baskin) – 4:11
Niagara Falls (Kipner, Caldwell) – 3:42

DISC FIVE

Heart in Pieces (Feehan, MacLeod) – 5:04
Look Away (Warren) – 3:59
What Kind of Man Would I Be? (Scheff, Sandford, Caldwell) – 4:19
I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love (Warren, Hammond) – 3:55
We Can Last Forever (Scheff, Dexter) – 3:45
You're Not Alone (Scott) – 3:56
Hearts in Trouble (Champlin, Matkowsky, Dukes) – 4:01
Only Time Can Heal the Wounded (Lamm, McMahon) – 4:43
You Come to My Senses (Steinberg, Kelly) – 3:49
God Save the Queen (Pankow, Scheff) – 4:19
Chasin' the Wind (Warren) – 4:18
All the Years (Lamm, Gaitsch) – 4:16
Stone of Sisyphus (Loughnane, Bailey) – 4:12
Bigger Than Elvis (Scheff, Wolf, Wolf) – 4:31
Caravan (Ellington, Mills, Tizol) – 3:23
Here in My Heart (Ballard, Howard) – 4:15
The Only One (Pankow, O'Connor) – 4:38
All Roads Lead to You (Beeson, Child) – 4:20
Show Me a Sign (Pankow, O'Connor) – 3:35

DISC SIX: DVD

Live material from 1972
Promotional videos for Chicago 13 (1979)

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Boxed sets were the big thing, so...

Wait.  Boxed sets were the big thing, but their time had kinda come and gone already by this point.  They worked for a while, when a lot of people still had record albums, because boxes were about the same size as records (except for the thickness) and could fit onto the shelf with them.  By 2003, it was becoming more common to actually package these multi-disc sets in a booklet-type thing like you see in the photo above.

Anyway, with still no new music forthcoming and Rhino anxious to get some new Chicago product out there, we got Chicago: The Box.  Actually, back in 1991, Columbia Records had released a boxed set called Chicago Group Portrait, which of course contained only music from the Columbia years. This was yet another cash-grab by Columbia after Chicago had gone over to Warner Bros. and I was feeling kinda spiteful about it, so I didn't include it, but I realise now that I probably should have at least mentioned it, because this is technically the second boxed set from Chicago.  Oh well.

Unlike "greatest hits" things, a boxed set is a more serious effort to provide an overview of the band and its history.  Besides all the hits, significant album tracks are included, and often out-takes and other rarities as well.  The big draws for this set were three tracks from Stone of Sysiphus (which was still unreleased) and the DVD of concert footage from 1972, the Chicago V tour.

As you can see by the track listing, including the track times, there are some interesting edits here.  "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" is the version without the piano intro but with everything else, the same as on The Very Best of Chicago: Only the Beginning.  "I'm a Man" is the same edit as well, missing most of the drum solo.

I've never seen the "Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon" edited this way before.  Clearly, the idea is to isolate "Colour My World", presumably so people can just jump to that song if they like.  The edit of "It Better End Soon" is also unique; if this listing is correct (I don't own this box), we have only the 1st, 3rd, and 4th movements, but not the 2nd (the flute solo).  "An Hour in the Shower" is all here; I just didn't feel like including the names of all the separate movements.

"Dialogue (Part I & II)" has been fully restored, so that's nice.  There's a rhythm, a gradual buildup at the end which is lost when they randomly cut parts out to make it shorter, to appease today's shorter attention spans.  I hate that.  The song is great as it is.  Each of those repeated sections serves a purpose.  End of rant.

"Happy Man" is the version without the false start but everything else, so that's fine.  The "Little One" suite is missing the first part, "The Inner Struggles of a Man", which is interesting.  I guess someone finally made the decision that it wasn't essential to the piece (which it isn't).  Normally, I'd defend including everything, but if there was ever a superfluous orchestral instrumental, this was it.

As mentioned, the three "lost" tracks from Stone of Sysiphus, "All the Years", "Stone of Sysiphus", and "Bigger than Elvis" were the rarities, and for die-hard Chicago fans, were supposed to be the big draw.

In 2003, getting ahold of concert video from 1972 was a big deal.  I'd still probably grab this set if I ever found it somewhere second-hand just for that DVD.  Nowadays, I can just go to YouTube and find this footage and more, but I still like owning the physical media, especially for really rare stuff like this.

To me, it's also interesting looking at the track listing and seeing how the early days were dominated by Lamm and Pankow, especially Lamm, and that as time went on, other names crept into the mix, finally giving way to names of people not even in the band.

Unfortunately, as nice as this set is, it did not sell well, failing to chart in the U.S. or anywhere else for that matter.  The three rare tracks and the DVD were tempting, but not enough to get hardcore Chicago fans to shell out for it.  It was comprehensive out of necessity, but that made it expensive, and hardcore fans already had most of the songs included here.  And casual fans don't buy boxed sets.  That didn't leave much of an audience for this, Chicago's 28th official release.

[Orbert]

Okay then, moving on...

[Orbert]

Chicago: What's It Gonna Be, Santa? (2003)




Winter Wonderland
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
Jolly Old Saint Nicholas
The Little Drummer Boy
This Christmas
Feliz Navidad
Bethlehem
The Christmas Song
O Come All Ye Faithful
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Sleigh Ride
Silent Night
What Child Is This?
Christmas Time Is Here
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
Child's Prayer
One Little Candle
White Christmas

----------

Chicago once again teamed up with Phil Ramone (who had produced Hot Streets and Chicago 13) to work on a new Christmas album, but due to budgetary constraints, they only recorded six new songs.  Rhino, which had been reissuing Chicago's entire back catalogue, added these six songs to Chicago 25: The Christmas Album, and released this "new" album.  They also pulled back all copies of Chicago 25: The Christmas Album and deleted it from the catalogue, but it's still pretty cheesy that they did this.  I'm sure at least a few people who had bought the first Christmas album also bought this album, not realising that they already had two-thirds of the songs.

If you never bought the first one, this was the one to get, as it has all 20 Chicago-style Christmas songs on it.  But if you already had the first one, it created a problem.  If you didn't know what they'd done, you paid full price for just six new songs.  Or maybe you figured it was worth it to get the six new songs.  Or maybe you think it was pretty crappy that they did it this way and would like those six new songs, but weren't willing to pay full price to get them, because you already paid for the other songs once.

I have a pretty high opinion of Rhino in general.  When they reissue older albums, they usually take great care to reproduce the original packaging and artwork, including credits, lyrics, and photos.  But they were in a tough position here.  What were they supposed to do with just six songs?  I suppose they could have released an EP, but since the first Christmas album only had 14 songs, and the total still fit on a single CD, this is the way they went with it, for better or for worse.

[jammindude]

These make a VERY interesting read.   But it just solidifies how much they just weren't doing much later on.   It's just really kinda sad.   To be so prolific at one point, and then just....I don't know...releasing stuff just to be releasing stuff.   

It's almost like you release a new package as a reminder that your brand is, in fact, still out there.   Feels almost like a Coke commercial at this point.

But I'm still waiting to hear more on the eventual release of SoS.   Please keep these up though.  I'm hanging on every one.   It's almost like reading a really interesting unauthorized biography. 

[Orbert]

We're getting toward the end now, so yeah, I'm definitely going to finish things.  It wouldn't make sense not to.

And you're right; they weren't making new music.  The drive to write new songs was long gone, but they'd found something of a ready-made pool of songs to cover with Christmas music.  So this was their thing.

I remember seeing an interview with Chicago (actually just the horns and Lamm, the remaining original members) around this time, and interviewers always seem to ask the same questions.  "When you first started out, did you have any idea that you'd still be playing, touring, 35 years later?"

I still remember Walt Parazaider's answer: "No, we figured we be retired by now!"  He said it with a laugh, and it really is kinda funny.  You have to remember (and I think I've said this before, maybe even in this thread) that in the old days, rock musicians used to actually retire.  Most bands eventually broke up or stopped selling anyway, so they just stopped recording and touring, and either found day jobs (possibly for the first time in their lives) or if they were lucky and smart, they'd made enough money while they were popular, and invested it wisely, and were set for life.

Anyway, Walt Parazaider is the one who said he'd thought they'd be retired by now, done for good, living off their past success, and it's interesting because he's the one who has chosen to sit out some of the recent tours.  (Some guy named Ray Herrmann fills in on woodwinds.)  Walt's 68 years old and has devoted his life to entertaining other people.  I really don't have a problem with him taking it easy now.  I honestly keep expecting to hear one of these days that Chicago has finally called it quits.  But nowadays, the norm is to just keeping going as long as you're still breathing.  It didn't used to be that way.  It used to be okay to retire at some point.  And they're not making new music anymore, just touring and watching Rhino release a new compilation or live disc every once in a while.  Yeah, it's sad.  But for most of us, the creative spark doesn't last forever, and it's hottest when you're young.  These guys are not young anymore.

[Orbert]

Feels almost like a Coke commercial at this point.

Funny you should say that.  While researching this discography, I ran across numerous references to the album covers which mentioned the "Coca-cola inspired" logo.  I'd never actually made the connection.





The way the "C" is big and underlines the first part of the word, the loop on the "o", the script itself.  I never noticed before.

[Jaq]

It really is kind of sad to read these and watch Chicago go from the fearless inventive band that rocked through the 70s, to the David Foster driven juggernaut that topped the charts in the 80s, to a band that has released precisely one album of studio originals in two decades...and it was recorded in 1993. It's beyond bizarre the way this band turned out. Almost as if what they went through in the 90s made them collectively say screw it we'll just tour on the oldies. I suppose it works, since they keep doing it, but it's a damn shame what's happened to their music output over the past two decades. I salute you for slogging it through the latter years, Orbert, because man, I don't think I could do it in your shoes.

[ZirconBlue]

I have a pretty high opinion of Rhino in general.  When they reissue older albums, they usually take great care to reproduce the original packaging and artwork, including credits, lyrics, and photos.  But they were in a tough position here.  What were they supposed to do with just six songs?  I suppose they could have released an EP, but since the first Christmas album only had 14 songs, and the total still fit on a single CD, this is the way they went with it, for better or for worse.

It should have been a reissue of 25, now with 6 "bonus tracks".

[jsem]

Huh, didn't know they just reused a ton of songs from the previous Christmas album. Lol.

[Orbert]

I have a pretty high opinion of Rhino in general.  When they reissue older albums, they usually take great care to reproduce the original packaging and artwork, including credits, lyrics, and photos.  But they were in a tough position here.  What were they supposed to do with just six songs?  I suppose they could have released an EP, but since the first Christmas album only had 14 songs, and the total still fit on a single CD, this is the way they went with it, for better or for worse.

It should have been a reissue of 25, now with 6 "bonus tracks".

Yeah, that would have been more honest.  It would have made it clear that it was just the previous Christmas album, augmented.  The idea that this "new" album replaces the old one makes some sense, but it really screws the people who'd bought the first one.

[Orbert]

Chicago: Love Songs (2005)




You're the Inspiration
If You Leave Me Now (Live 2004 featuring Philip Bailey on lead vocals)
Hard to Say I'm Sorry/Get Away
Here in My Heart
Call on Me
Colour My World
Just You 'n' Me
After the Love Has Gone (Live 2004 with Bill Champlin on lead vocals)
Hard Habit to Break
Look Away
Beginnings
Happy Man
Will You Still Love Me?
No Tell Lover
I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love
Never Been in Love Before
What Kind of Man Would I Be?
Wishing You Were Here

----------

Chicago's 29th official release was yet another compilation album.  After two boxed sets and countless "greatest hits" things, the focus here is on love songs (even though most would say that that's all they'd done for the past 25 years at this point anyway).

Chicago had recently completed a very successful tour with Earth, Wind & Fire -- something of a kindred band, also from Chicago and also featuring a horn section -- and two of the tracks here are new live recordings taken from that tour.  By the way, if you ever have a chance to check out the live DVD or Blu-ray from that tour, you should.  It's pretty awesome.  I've been a fan of both bands for a long time, and it did not disappoint.

On that tour, each band performed one song from the other band, and the combined bands also played a set.  Here we have "If You Leave Me Now" from the combined set, sung by Philip Bailey from Earth, Wind & Fire.

The other logical choice was "After the Love Has Gone".  I mentioned way upthread that Bill Champlin was hired not just for his voice and the fact that he played both guitar and keyboards, but because he's a Grammy-winning songwriter.  "After the Love Has Gone" was a hit for Earth, Wind & Fire, but Bill wrote it (technically he shares the Grammy with David Foster and Jay Graydon) before joining Chicago.

What I found interesting is that, looking over the song list, you realize that Chicago has been recording love songs, and scoring hits with them, ever since the first album.  "Beginnings" is the "almost full version", including all the horn breaks and solos and missing only the percussion jam at the end.  "Colour My World" from the second album is here.  In total, seven of the 18 tracks are from the original lineup; eight if you count "If You Leave Me Now".

An interesting inclusion is "Never Been in Love Before" from Chicago VIII.  I've always liked that song, although "Brand New Love Affair, Part I & II" might have been a better choice from that album, as it actually charted.  It only reached #61, but I don't think "Never Been in Love Before" was even released as a single.  If it was, it didn't break the Top 100.

"Hard to Say I'm Sorry/Get Away" are here together, so that's good.  It's still the one 80's track that I'll listen to when it comes on the radio, just to hear "Get Away".  Sometimes I wonder if they did that on purpose, to appease fogies like myself.  Yeah, probably.

Love Songs was released in late January 2005, just in time for the Valentine's Day market (note the clever artwork and marketing tie-in), and reached #57 on the U.S. Album charts.  Hey, whatever works.

[Nel]

It should have been a reissue of 25, now with 6 "bonus tracks".

Very much agree. Rhino's really good about these things otherwise.

As for Love Songs, it's nothing I'd ever buy (not a compilation guy), but I do like the album cover, cheesy as it is.

[sueño]

The other logical choice was "After the Love Has Gone".  I mentioned way upthread that Bill Champlin was hired not just for his voice and the fact that he played both guitar and keyboards, but because he's a Grammy-winning songwriter.  "After the Love Has Gone" was a hit for Earth, Wind & Fire, but Bill wrote it (technically he shares the Grammy with David Foster and Jay Graydon) before joining Chicago.

Did not know that (that song is awesome!).  EW&F is one of my favorite bands (got to finally see them live in 2009) and I can definitely see the kindred spirit between them and Chicago.   

Still loving your write-ups, Orbert!   

[Orbert]

I've been a fan of Earth, Wind & Fire almost as long as I've been a fan of Chicago.  I started following Chicago in 1974, EWF in 1975.


By the way, when you put two bands, each with their own horn section, on stage at the same time, it gets pretty crowded.