A trove of 8-track tapes were discovered in the attic, causing this writer to be reminded of musical tastes circa 1970.
Although an appropriate playing device exists, investment in remastered CDs seemed a more logical choice, and as such, I’ve been involved in a retro-flashback of hair, polyester suits, and great music.
While fabulous horns, the joy of sax, and the vocals of Cetera, Kath, et. al., made Chicago such a great group, I’m curious how many Dopers felt influenced by the band, including those who lost their virginity accompanied by Colour My World?
I loved Chicago, especially the horns. Terry Kath’s solo on “25 or 6 to 4” is a classic. I would definitely consider myself influenced by them to some degree.
Agreed twickstwer.
Also I’ve been playing guitar since 1966 (and boy are my arms tired !!!) and I’d also have to add that Chicago (aka Chicago Transit Authority) has had NO musical influences on me either.
A bit of trivia…Chicago Transit Authority was what they were originally named. But the Chicago Transit Authority thought they needed the name more. So it was shortened to Chicago.
Chicago did some very good work in their first two albums. “25 or 6 to 4” and “Ballet for a Girl in Buchanan” (which included “Make me Smile” “Color My World,” and “Now More than Ever”). “Does Anybody Know What Time it Was” was a good tune, with particularly awful lyrics.
However, starting with Chicago III, the group put out one crappy albums after another, filled with filler (since they insisted on double albums each time) and third rate songs.
The group itself was hardly innovative – Blood Sweat and Tears (the Al Kooper version) included horns with a rock section a year earlier, and their second album (after Kooper left) was much more popular than Chicago’s first.
And, really, how much innovation can come from a group that can’t think of original names for its albums?
Well, Chicago 17 and 19 have some very meaningful songs wrt to my love life as a teenager and in college. I have never thought much of the idea of going to concerts, with the result that the only concert I have attended in a traditional arena was the 86 Chicago concert at the USF Sundome in Tampa. So yes, they have had a lot of meaning in my life.
Oh I don’t know, the laziness and non-rhyming nature of the lyrics matched the mood of the song perfectly, IMO. It’s like, “I’m happy, I don’t care what time it is, I don’t even care about the meter of this song because I’m in a good mood and don’t spoil it for me with worldly matters” type of vibe.
I concur, they spent all their creative energy on their first 2 double albums, and everything they’ve done since (especially once they got into Cetera-penned adult-oriented radio hits) pretty much sucks ass. Chicago 16 had some good numbers, though.
Chicago was my favorite band for most of my teenage years, but I quit listening to them when I discovered Jimi Hendrix, Van Morrison, jazz, and blues. I don’t think I’ve listened to an entire album since XII.
I don’t think most of their music, with the exception of Chicago I and VII and a few isolated songs like “Feelin’ Stronger Every Day,” “Dialogue,” and “Happy 'Cause I’m Going Home,” has held up very well.
IMO, Lamm, Kath, and Cetera tried to place too much emphasis upon themselves and rarely let that excellent horn section cut loose. Seraphine is a highly underrated drummer, tho’.
The first Chicago* album was a great one. I especially loved “Only the Beginning.” This was in the day of adding horns to the basic rock band, pioneered by Mike Bloomfield’s Electric Flag and Al Kooper’s Blood, Sweat and Tears, and copied by the Ides of March and several others. This was and is, no matter how many punk bands come into being, a good idea, leading to a fuller and more complex sound.
Unfortunately, Chicago soon began to kill complexity in favor of soft rock stardom and the whole notion faded among white rockers, although black bands like Earth, Wind & Fire, Parliament Funkadelic and more rode it for another decade.
It’s still a good idea if done right. The Brian Setzer Big Band isn’t rock, but it sure can rock.
*Chicago wasn’t the only one to have to shorten their name. Pacific Gas & Electric became PG&E.
I seem to remember sometime around the “Summer of Peace and Love” (1969) they briefly billed themselves as “CTA.” Many of us had called them that anyway, and they may have picked up on it before going to the more geographical “Chicago.”
I still have a couple of posters around here somewhere with them billed as CTA.
I think Chicago’s good stuff was very good indeed. There just wasn’t enough of it. Most Chicago albums have 2 or 3 excellent songs and a lot of very forgettable filler.
We recently found a used copy of the original CTA album on vinyl. Our local music store, usually very much on top of things, sold it to us for $1.
The condition is perfect. My life is complete.
I can’t say I was influenced, as by the time my virginity was called into question Chicago 17 was tearing up the charts. In other words, complete dreck. But back in the beginning they did some damn fine work, IMHO.
I got to agree with you on that. I’m also from that era, and the only CD of theirs I have is Greatest Hits(Chicago IX) from 1975. Early stuff, no filler.
Being a drummer, Danny Seraphine was one of the main reasons I connected with Chicago, besides the horns. I thought he had a nice vocabulary and did some nice things with odd times signatures. I also had the pleasure of studying jazz drumming with Chuck Flores, who was one of Danny’s primary teachers. That helped me relate to Danny’s style a little more, I suppose.
I should also clarify my remarks by saying that I was referring to the early days, rather than the sappy pop stuff later on. No offense to those who like it, it just wasn’t my thing. The songs that I loved most were:
Saturday in the Park (Especially where they start swinging in the middle, then return to the straight feel)
Make Me Smile
25 or 6 to 4
Only The Beginning
Dialog
Feeling Stronger Every Day
I never could stand “Colour my World”. Interesting chords but sappy as hell.
Chicago was and is a great band. Original, versatile and successful throughout the years, even their graniest efforts are worth listening to. And I love their concerts–a bunch of talented guys who put on a great show, all the while looking as if they’re having a blast doing so.
Oh, and by the way, although not the first rock band to incorporate widespread use of horns in their music, they did do so before Blood, Sweat and Tears was officially even a group. CTA’s previous incarnations as the Missing Links and the Big Thing both employed use of horns. Besides, Blood, Sweat and Tears focused more on the jazz side with horns, while Chicago played theirs differently–combining their efforts for a rock sound.
My first introduction (as far as I knew back then, at any rate) to Chicago was when their 17 came out. As a kid who loved pop music in the 80s, I really enjoyed their (yes, true: sappy) love songs and power ballads. In fact, it wasn’t until I was 16 and someone gave me a vinyl copy of IX that I even cared about their existence before 17.
One thing to keep in mind about Chicago is that they were never meant to be a “Top 40” band. Rather I have always thought of them(especially the early years) as a progressive rock band with horns instead of a mellotron or synthesizer.
Jimi Hendrix himself was quoted as saying “Terry Kath is a mother----er”.
What a lot of you think as “filler” is actually some pretty amazing and complicated stuff, its just not “pop” or “top 40”.
When they made their “comeback” in '82 there was a conscious decision to move away from the horn sound to a synthesizer sound, ostensibly to make the band sound “modern” when all it did was make that music sound dated.
I still hold out hope that Chicago will record a “back-to-basics” album that celebrates their progressive roots and strongly utilizes the horn section, without so much of an ear towards “top 40”.
Chris W
PS There is no Chicago XII. That album is called “Hot Streets”
They did this in some part on their unreleased Stone of Sisyphus album. A few of the songs were, IMHO, a bit too close to the bland 21 release, but overall a better effort than 21, definitely.
