I didn’t know where to put this, Kids, so move it if you need to - SORRY!
I also don’t know how to make a poll… so…
Which is it?
For me, it’s gotta be… BS&T… because of the jazz and David Clayton T.!
(Did I just rhyme something? Damn! Maybe I’m not as bad off as I thought, Dude!) 
Chicago’s got a wider range. I’d say BS&T was better at what they did, but Chicago can hit more of what particular mood you’re in because they go from the sublime (with a song like Beginnings) to some toe-tappers and a lot of stops in between.
I am a big fan of Chicago’s first 5 albums. I’m a huuuuuge fan of BS&T’s first album.
Actually…
CTA vs. Child Is The Father Of Man, I’d go with Child (but they both rock)
After that, I think Chicago slightly outpaces BS&T with “radio hits” that I like.
I am sooooo lucky that my high school band director is a trombone player who’s totally into jazz. We did a Chicago show when I was in 11th grade and BS&T when I was in 12th. None of the shit 80s songs either. The trombone parts were KICKASS!
I’d go with Chicago. I love the sound of DCT’s voice and some of their songs are great, but as I have related in at least one previous thread, their cover of Billie Holiday’s God Bless the Child points out too many of their shortcomings - hokey arrangement and DCT comes across like he is selling the lyric all wrong. You don’t mess with a song like that.
Before Pete Cetera took over the band and drove them to easy-listening pop-hit dreck-i-tude like Phil Collins did with Genesis, Chicago rocked. Terry Kath was a great guitar player and singer and their horn parts were tight.
Personally I think the Al Kooper-era BS&T was far better than the David Clayton Thomas version, but that’s another discussion.
The very best of both bands is excellent. Maybe I’d give a slight edge to BS&T’s very best, but it really depends on what kind of mood I’m in. And I agree with johnspartan that Chicago showed a wider range. Overall, I think Chicago’s lesser stuff reaches a higher level than the lesser stuff of BS&T, and Chicago certainly has longevity in their favor.
Edge to Chicago.
I vote Chicago, for most of the reasons **kunilou **stated. When BS&T were at their most awesome, they oustripped Chicago, but for sheer number of radio hits of every type (the congas on “Only the Beginning”!! “Questions 67 and 68!” “Feelin’ Stronger Every Day!” Never mind the limp stuff like “No Tell Lover” and turn up the radio.
Responding to a nitwit like me!!!
I do agree with y’all in a sense that I couldn’t make my mind up when they both first appeared?
But that CTA double album rocked, didn’t it?
I still remember having to learn that damn drum solo for the band I was in at the time!
Jesus! I’d just rather “Ringo” it and play time.
And I know my fellow drummers will know what I am talking about!
I met Joe Morello at a clinic once (his eyesight was completely gone by then) and that’s what he told all of us who came to play for him: “Play me some time.”
My dad had that shit down too. Time, I mean…
Oh hell. Look at me! I have veered us into a ditch!:eek:
Okay, still sticking with BS&T and Bobby Colomby as their drummer!
Q
Quasi you love David Clayton Thomas so much…what do you think about Al Kooper?
I think Kooper’s BS&T album blows away all the Clayton Thomas ones.
Child Is Father to the Man is so far superior to anything else by either band that it alone gives BST the edge.
While David Clayton Thomas-era BST suffered slightly from that kind of Vegas-y vibe, they were at least fun. I could never really get into Chicago, who even at their best were always too shiny-smooth; too cold and sterile; all perfect, polished surface and no funk.
“Feeling Stronger Every Day” is still a terrific song, though.
Ditch or not, Morello is a god.
Precisely.
Using the more generally known versions of the band, it’s a toss up. BS&T (the one most people think is their first album) is by far the best album by either group (not counting “Child”), but the other BS&T albums are lame and a half. Chicago has some high spots, but much too much fill due to their habit of only putting out double-length albums. And anything after Chicago II is pretty crappy.
Zip: Okay, you’re gonna have to give me some time to dig out Child Is Father. I will give it a listen and get back to you tonight, Dollink, ja?
Q
I probably like more Chicago songs, but think BST had more (unrealised) potential.
I mostly came in here to point you toward this compilation by a band called If. The only CD I’ve heard is a compilation that Amazon says is out of production, but I think you might like them.
There was another “trumpet playing band” called Dreams that you might like, but everything Amazon has available is priced way too high (1 used and new starting at $149.99). They were a short-lived band featuring the Becker brothers, Billy Cobham, John Abercrombie and others. If you spot a copy somewhere you might want to check it out.
Next topic: Tower of Power!
Tower of Power has a really tight horn section, but I can’t say I really dig their lyrics. There are only so many plays on words that you can make with the word “soul” before it starts to become really tiresome. There’s one Tower of Power album that has the songs “Soul Vaccination,” “Souled Out,” and like 4 other songs where the chorus is some pun on the word “soul”. Their singer also isn’t as good, and their arrangements are honestly not that diverse from song to song.
I would give Chicago the nod here, honestly. I grew up listening to their early stuff - I knew that Terry Kath shot himself in the head when I was five years old, because my dad was always telling me trivia about the band. Supposedly even Jimi Hendrix said that Terry Kath was the greatest guitarist who ever lived, and I can’t say I disagree with him. The “Introduction” from Chicago Transit Authority alone is proof that this is one of the most kickass and widely-ranging bands in history. I also love “Song For Richard And His Friends,” an incredibly hard-rocking tune making fun of Richard Nixon. (Live recording here.) There have been Chicago songs where I honestly thought I was listening to heavy metal until my dad told me it was Chicago. Their range of sounds is really tremendous - I’ve long held that Chicago was the Red Hot Chili Peppers of its day (or that the Red Hot Chili Peppers are the Chicago of their day.) The band just has a “huge” sound.
That was a joke, really, about Tower of Power, but I think “What Is Hip” is a fun song.
My husband loves Chicago. So I took him to see them, post Peter Cetera, in concert back in the early 90’s. They were, by far, the worst live concert I have ever attended. I have seriously heard high school bands that sounded more professional. The singing was off key, the instruments were not in synch, and I was embarrassed for them.
Cetera is a hack singer and he’s not the world’s best songwriter, but he is an AMAZING bassist. A lot of people just tune out the bass part in a song; if you do this, you’re missing a huge part of the song. Cetera in particular was a very melodic bassist, and his playing on Introduction is practically a solo in itself. He was really in tune with the melody of the song and his bass parts always complemented it perfectly.
Re: #17
I was a big fan of Chicago in the early-mid 70’s. I wish I had seen them in concert before Kath shot himself and they turned into a Cetera backing band.
Sorry, but I have to reject the premise. I like them both…TRM