{"id":1809,"date":"2012-07-09T16:04:10","date_gmt":"2012-07-09T22:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/?p=1809"},"modified":"2024-05-11T20:52:26","modified_gmt":"2024-05-12T02:52:26","slug":"the-story-of-chicago-book-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/?p=1809","title":{"rendered":"The Story of Chicago – Book I"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m digging very much the groovy sounds made pre-1975 by this formerly fine band.\u00a0 And I think it’s a crying shame that their earlier reputation for making adventurous, jazz-influenced rock has been sullied and beaten and eventually run over by a fleet of fucking limousines by none other than the exact same band in the 1980s and onward.<\/p>\n

So here is a quick and no doubt wildly inaccurate rundown of the band’s creative output and career, as I was able to glean it from reading Wikipedia.\u00a0 I will break it down album-by-album because I am such a nerd when it comes to music.<\/p>\n

1969 – “The Chicago Transit Authority”<\/span><\/p>\n

Probably one of the best debut albums I’ve ever heard and certainly the longest.\u00a0 Not many songs on this album that I would write off as shitty (“Free Form Guitar” only needs to be listened to once though) and a genuine, bona fide hit song in “Questions 67 and 68”.\u00a0 A lot of the material is a little too “poppy” for my tastes, but there are great extended numbers like “Introduction”, “Poem 58” and “South California Purples”.\u00a0 Very ambitious, and it comes together extremely well.<\/p>\n

1970 – “Chicago” (AKA Chicago II)<\/span><\/p>\n

Chicago Transit Authority was actually the full name of the band before the actual CTA threatened to sue them.\u00a0 So wisely, the band changed their name to simply “Chicago” and put out their second album titled the same.\u00a0 This one is a lot more “poppy” and radio-friendly than the debut album, though it contains the wonderful suite “Ballet For a Girl In Buchannon”.\u00a0 Even though this suite contains two of their biggest hits from this era, it’s still a great, progressive kind of track that I really like.\u00a0 There is an odd kind of classical-music-inspired suite called “Memories of Love”, but it comes off as a bit of a dud to my ears.\u00a0 “It Better End Soon” and “Poem for the People” are much more to my liking even though they’re a little too “political song” for “political song’s sake”.\u00a0 “Where Do We Go From Here” is much more sincere and effective at this, and the song is ended before the chord cycle finishes, which is in tune with the lyrical content.\u00a0 Brilliant.\u00a0 Give it a listen.<\/a>\u00a0 Yes, this is me praising the work of Peter Cetera, whom I called The Devil in a post below.<\/p>\n

1971 – “Chicago III”<\/span><\/p>\n

The 3rd straight double album.\u00a0 Holy fuck, that’s a lot of music.\u00a0 A lot of filler, but a lot of amazing stuff too.\u00a0 Most bands couldn’t pull this off… they could get nowhere near this amount of original work done in such a short amount of time.<\/p>\n

The album starts with something that is just awesome, a strutting jazzy, bluesy, rock ditty about old time pop stars from a bygone era.\u00a0 And did I mention it rocks?\u00a0 There are some more great moments on this album, like the “Travel Suite”, “An Hour in the Shower” and “Elegy”.\u00a0 And there are some flat out rockers that make great use of the horn section, like “Lowdown” and “I Don’t Want Your Money”.\u00a0 The latter features Kermit The Frog on vocals, I believe.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nAll in all, they toned down the poppiness and the political rhetoric a notch and just went all out firing on all cylinders when they recorded this.\u00a0 And that’s a little bit odd to consider what came out because they were exhausted from non-stop touring by this point.\u00a0 But what came out of the press is one of their best.<\/p>\n

Oh, and the late Terry Kath, really, REALLY loved him some Spam.<\/p>\n

1971 – Chicago at Carnegie Hall (AKA Chicago IV)<\/span><\/p>\n

How long do you have?\u00a0 Seriously, how long do you REALLY have to listen to a live album?\u00a0 I believe that this is the very album that gave the term “Box Set” its name.\u00a0 It’s a double double album.\u00a0 The original release contained 4 vinyl records, and the 2005 remaster release contains all that plus an extra CD of bonus material thrown in.\u00a0 It took me 4 days to get through this one on the bus and train on my way to and from work.\u00a0 It’s 3 hours and 44 minutes long.\u00a0 And the horns weren’t miked properly.\u00a0 At lease not for a venue like Carnegie Hall, which wasn’t designed and build for amplified music.\u00a0 But there is a gem on here that you won’t find anywhere else.\u00a0 “Song for Richard and His Friends” is 7 minutes of damn fine proggy, jazzy funky even rocking and rollicking about “wishing President Nixon would quit”.\u00a0 But there isn’t much on this set that you won’t hear on Chicago I, II and III, so it’s really not worth getting unless you NEED the aforementioned song or just want it for some other reason.<\/p>\n

1972 – Chicago V<\/span><\/p>\n

A short album.\u00a0 Only 45 minutes, which was actually kind of long for a single album back then.\u00a0 But this one is all good start to finish.\u00a0 Even the overtly poppy stuff is nicely done, and not too grating on my nerves.\u00a0 The opener “A Hit By Var\u00e8se” is a little reminiscent of “Tarkus” by ELP, but that’s okay.\u00a0 This album has the band follow their jazz influences about as far as they would go.\u00a0 It wouldn’t be the last time they would record great and adventurous instrumental passages and pieces, but those days were sadly about to come to an end.<\/p>\n

1973 – Chicago VI<\/span><\/p>\n

Cue the first blatantly bad things I have to say about Chicago.\u00a0 The cover of this album is stylized to look like American paper money.\u00a0 The first song is called “Critic’s Choice”, and the opening line is “What do you want?”<\/p>\n

Sadly, this is all quite literal.\u00a0 Robert Lamm was unhappy with what he had been reading about Chicago in the likes of Rolling Stone magazine, and that song was him asking the critics “What do we have to do to get in your good books?”\u00a0 Sigh.\u00a0 I’ve seen this album described as containing “shorter” and “more direct” songs, but to me, the adventurous spirit is just absent.\u00a0 You’ve got 7 extremely talented guys in the band who can make all kinds of amazing sounds… and you churn out stuff like “Just You ‘N’ Me”?<\/p>\n

Okay, rock musicians have to eat too.\u00a0 And to be fair, this happened to damn near every band in the 70s.\u00a0 They sold out.\u00a0 Radio stations want to play hits and most people want to hear catchy songs about love.\u00a0 Most people don’t want to hear “A Hit By Var\u00e8se” and other odd-metered, weird-ass shit that I personally like.\u00a0 If I operated a radio station, no one would listen to it.<\/p>\n

This album also marks the rise in prominence of Chicago’s “Soft Rock” sound.\u00a0 Hey, turn those amplifiers down!\u00a0 Quit hitting those drums so hard!<\/p>\n

1974 – Chicago VII<\/span><\/p>\n

The last hurrah for the jazzy side of things.\u00a0 The first half of this double album set (for all intents and purposes, their last double album set) contains a great jazz-rock fusion workout with very few standard rock or even lyrical moments.\u00a0 The first half is in fact very avant-garde and progressive.\u00a0 There is stunning playing from each member, and it’s easy to tell that they are genuinely into this music as they are playing it.<\/p>\n

But it’s over way too soon.\u00a0 The second half is much like Chicago VI, and though it’s not very bad, it’s not very good either.\u00a0 Plus it contains a song I truly fucking hate – “Call on Me”.\u00a0 This is muzak.\u00a0 This is a fucking snoozer.\u00a0 This is crappy sappy bubblegum snappy pop.\u00a0 Unsurprisingly, it was a big hit.<\/p>\n

And with that, the band laid their jazz, progressive and instrumental elements to rest.<\/p>\n

1975 – Chicago VIII<\/span><\/p>\n

Straight ahead rockers, surprisingly energetic considering the direction things would take in the following releases.\u00a0 Not bad, but nothing like what the band used to be able to do.\u00a0 Under 40 minutes too.\u00a0 Somebody’s tired…..<\/p>\n

1975 – Chicago’s Greatest Hits (AKA Chicago IX)<\/span><\/p>\n

I used to see this CD in record stores (remember those?) and think “What kind of band needs 8 members?” and “What instrument does the dog play?”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nThis is long out of print and contains pretty much only the songs I poo-pooed all over in the text above.<\/p>\n

1976 – Chicago X<\/span><\/p>\n

Ugh.\u00a0 The cover art looks like a chocolate bar being unwrapped to reveal the band logo.\u00a0 This album is the nutritional equivalent of a chocolate bar.\u00a0 Where you could still get a proper meal with the first 5 albums, and even a great snack on Chicago VI and VIII, this one won’t fill you up at all.\u00a0 The rock sounds contrived and the new danceable songs come off as a band trying a new style they don’t really understand.\u00a0 I’ll also criticize the production on this.\u00a0 Up til now, James William Guercio had produced the bands albums, and made them sound great.\u00a0 There’s not much I would criticize about the way he made the previous albums sound, but this one sounds flat.\u00a0 A new approach was needed for the change in style.<\/p>\n

1977 – Chicago XI<\/span><\/p>\n

Ugh II.\u00a0 I’m not sure if this one is just as bad or even worse than Chicago X.\u00a0 I’ve only listened to it once, and that might be all I give it.\u00a0 After this album, the band decided to ditch Mr. Guercio, as he had become a little too controlling in their affairs anyway.\u00a0 But the biggest change to hit them would be the death of Terry Kath.<\/p>\n

Accidental Suicide.\u00a0 Seriously.\u00a0 Damn it, he was a great guitarist.<\/p>\n

1978 – Hot Streets (AKA Chicago XII)<\/span><\/p>\n

Disco.\u00a0 Fucking disco.\u00a0 Somebody get a mirror and a blade, cause I got the coke.<\/p>\n

So after Mr. Kath put a bullet in his head by accident… oops… The band thought about quitting.\u00a0 But they didn’t.\u00a0 To their credit, they did become far more successful in the 80s than they had been in the 70s, but I’m getting ahead of myself.<\/p>\n

New sound, and a new producer.\u00a0 And there are actually 3 very good songs on this.\u00a0 Might as well get them out of the way before I slash and burn the rest.\u00a0 “Alive again”, “Hot Streets” and “Ain’t it Time” are good.\u00a0 There.\u00a0 I said it.\u00a0 So even while these guys were looking like pathetic has-beens trying to cling to whatever fame they had, they were actually making some great stuff.\u00a0 A small amount, however.<\/p>\n

And how bad is the rest of the album?\u00a0 Disco died for a reason, you know.\u00a0 And so did the career of one Donnie Dacus.\u00a0 He was the guitarist\/vocalist they got to replace Terry Kath.\u00a0 Meh.\u00a0 He’s okay.\u00a0 He sure couldn’t hold a candle to Terry’s guitar playing.<\/p>\n

There’s not much more to say about the bad songs on this album than they are embarrassing disco schlock.\u00a0 “Little Miss Lovin'” is particularly bad though.\u00a0 Not only does it feature the actual fucking Bee Gees on backing vocals, but it’s about\u00a0 a 30-ish year old man ogling a slutty 16-year old girl in very tight disco pants.\u00a0 Come on.\u00a0 This kind of shit made new-wave look respectable.<\/p>\n

1979 – Chicago XIII<\/span><\/p>\n

Disco II – Electric Boogaloo.\u00a0 I shouldn’t joke about that actually.\u00a0 This was pretty close to that era, and in another timeline, it might have been the title of the album.<\/p>\n

Moving right along, this one is somehow worse than “Hot Streets”.\u00a0 There aren’t really any good songs on it, though “Must Have Been Crazy” by Dacus and “Reruns” aren’t bad.\u00a0 It’s saying something when one of the decent tracks on the album sounds nothing like Chicago.<\/p>\n

And what of Mr. Dacus after he was… ahem… ejected from this band?\u00a0 He was last seen as part of the cast of “Cats”.\u00a0 Lol.\u00a0 I mean, quite heartily, LOL.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nRock on, man.<\/p>\n

1980 – Chicago XIV<\/span><\/p>\n

The last hurrah for doing things like an actual band, I guess.\u00a0 And it’s not actually that bad.\u00a0 I’ve only listened to it once so far, and I don’t think it deserves the reputation it’s gotten for being so terrible.\u00a0 It’s certainly better than Chicago XIII.\u00a0 No disco on here, and no Donnie Dacus.\u00a0 Some other guitarists are present, and for the most part, the band does the quick and poppy kind of love songs that they first tried out on Chicago VIII.\u00a0 But this one has a kind of New Wave feel because, well, it was 1980.\u00a0 The first track “Manipulation” stands out as being very energetic and fun to listen to, but the rest of it is… um… made out of cardboard.\u00a0 Yes, the sound of this album is made out of cardboard.<\/p>\n

That’s where I’ll stop for now.\u00a0 Christ, this band put out way too many fucking albums.\u00a0 It’s a good thing I’m way too scatterbrained to actually write full, proper reviews of them.\u00a0 And I’m also really glad I can actually enjoy life, not like that stick in the mud Robert Christgau.\u00a0 Have you ever read his reviews?\u00a0 He calls himself (I’m not making this up) the “Dean of American Rock Critics”.\u00a0 Damn.\u00a0 That sounds serious.\u00a0 Has he seen a doctor about that?<\/p>\n

Every time I’ve seen one of his record reviews, it’s a one or two sentence dismissal that looks like something he’d scrawl on a piece of paper just before slicing his wrists open.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’m a regular explosion of ball lightening when it comes to fun.\u00a0 I don’t know what that means, so please don’t ask me to explain.<\/p>\n

I am a one-man Dukes of Hazzard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m digging very much the groovy sounds made pre-1975 by this formerly fine band.\u00a0 And I think it’s a crying shame that their earlier reputation for making adventurous, jazz-influenced rock has been sullied and beaten and eventually run over by a fleet of fucking limousines by none other than the exact same band in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[184],"tags":[69,101,46,405,406,57,412,413],"class_list":["post-1809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","tag-60s","tag-70s","tag-80s","tag-chicago","tag-jazz-fusion","tag-progressive-rock","tag-rock","tag-sell-out"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1809"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13866,"href":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1809\/revisions\/13866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}