― Heidy- Ho, Monday, 14 February 2005 05:08 (nineteen years ago) link
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 14 February 2005 05:38 (nineteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Monday, 14 February 2005 05:43 (nineteen years ago) link
The lyrics to "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is" have blown my mind on mutiple occasions, also.
― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 14 February 2005 06:26 (nineteen years ago) link
My high-school marching band played this. That's the first time I heard the song.
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Monday, 14 February 2005 06:33 (nineteen years ago) link
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Monday, 14 February 2005 06:34 (nineteen years ago) link
actually JB i haven't heard "25 or 6 to 4" in a while (amazingly enough), so I will have to go back and evaluate what's going on in that particular track. and yeah, I DO get what eddie is saying about the vocalizing on the chorus there, I can see where one could find it annoying. I apologize for my harshness. Truth be told it's never been one of my favorite tracks of theirs.
BUT i still think that first album is flawless. I mean, it's not about just "grafting" horns onto a guitar-rock band, like they're fucking slapped on their like ketchup on a hot dog or whatever. They DID have great arrangements a lot of the time, and if you can't get off on that, well... And anyway rock bands had been doing that, it ain't like they were first. And eddie, didn't you just say the other day that you loved Exile? a rock band "with horns"?
I mean, I listen to the "Part 2" of "Dialogue, Parts 1 & 2", and all I hear is a bunch of guys really enjoying the fact that they are playing instruments, playing well with each other, in love with syncopation and breaking up the bar in a nice way, some fun wah-flecked freakage from Kath .... and that's enough for me. Even if they WERE white as hell.
― Stormy Davis (diamond), Monday, 14 February 2005 06:55 (nineteen years ago) link
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 14 February 2005 07:01 (nineteen years ago) link
No shit? So did ours! We also played School's Out, China Grove and various other '70s classic rock that I can't remember at the moment. Those must have been popular arrangements for high school band directors to buy.
― walter kranz (walterkranz), Monday, 14 February 2005 08:19 (nineteen years ago) link
My take on "25 or 6 to 4" is that it was a musical prophecy of last fall's Penn State-Iowa football game -- won by the Hawkeyes with the unusual score of 6-4.
― John Fredland (jfredland), Monday, 14 February 2005 12:43 (nineteen years ago) link
The stylist was probably a long suffering goth.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 14 February 2005 16:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― Herky, Monday, 14 February 2005 16:58 (nineteen years ago) link
Absolutely, "Dialogue" is one of their best, I think. Also, "Introduction" off of the debut and "Movin' In" on II...love those horn solos, like Parazaider's kind of free jazz switching to Loughnane's tijuana thing. "In the Country"...they had a lot of great songs just early on.
― Joe (Joe), Monday, 14 February 2005 17:16 (nineteen years ago) link
The first Chicago incarnation is toe-tappable when I remember it but don't actually listen to it.
The Cetera-heavy incarnation is the worst shmaltz imaginable.
― dave225 (Dave225), Monday, 14 February 2005 18:00 (nineteen years ago) link
i think there's even a peter cetera solo single i like, but i can't remember the name.
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 14 February 2005 19:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 14 February 2005 19:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 14 February 2005 19:54 (nineteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 14 February 2005 19:55 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 14 February 2005 19:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 14 February 2005 20:28 (nineteen years ago) link
Yeah, I'm being dicty about Kath I guess. I dunno, he could play, I get that--I suppose it's my prejuidice against that *kind* of guitar-playing, maybe? Like I could say the same thing about Zappa--good, yeah, but I am put off by the linearity of it all, that post-west-coast single-string shit. And I know, I know, Kath did other things. I have bad memories of hearing that stuff as a child, too, I always hated "25 or 6 to 4" and "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is." I'm biased toward rhythm guitar players, I guess, and Chicago just always seemed like one thing superimposed on another, and the guitar always sounded tacked on somehow. But I actually do like "Wishing You Were Here" OK, and even "Harry Truman" (Randy Newman missed him) is tolerable. And that one with the wood-like cover ("Chicago V"?) is one I kinda remember liking somewhat. And, I was in high-school jazzband and all those guys were always talking about Maynard Ferguson and Chicago and BS&T and Bill Chase, meanwhile I was listening to Howlin' Wolf and Junior Parker and Stax, so I guess also, to lay it all out in shuck-and-jive, I always associate Chicago with those jazz-head motherfuckers and their "charts" and all that crap--that jazzbo snobbery of their "good music."
― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Monday, 14 February 2005 20:39 (nineteen years ago) link
― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Monday, 14 February 2005 20:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Monday, 14 February 2005 21:08 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 14 February 2005 21:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 14 February 2005 21:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 02:04 (nineteen years ago) link
it exists until the cta starts renovating the fullerton stop. i don't know when that will happen.
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 05:04 (nineteen years ago) link
― PDAS, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 22:39 (nineteen years ago) link
― veronica moser (veronica moser), Monday, 23 January 2006 15:12 (eighteen years ago) link
Their '80s hits may be better or they may be worse, I can't tell. But they're definitely more frequently played on the radio, so I'm sure to be uncharitable. Dunno if I've heard Pete Cetera's solo stuff and don't care.
― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 23 January 2006 15:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― irrigation can save your purple, Sunday, 12 February 2006 10:07 (eighteen years ago) link
― Joe (Joe), Sunday, 12 February 2006 13:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 12 February 2006 16:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 12 February 2006 23:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― aworks (aworks), Monday, 13 February 2006 01:23 (eighteen years ago) link
Actually, I implicitly praised it in my blanket-endorsement of all their 70s singles. :)
― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 13 February 2006 06:00 (eighteen years ago) link
― Jeff Sumner (Jeff Sumner), Monday, 13 February 2006 17:50 (eighteen years ago) link
The former just blows the shit out of the latter though by a googol country miles... if not for, well, every song "Questions 67 and 68", "Free Form Guitar", "I'm A Man" (that endless drum break!), "Liberation" once it gets warmed up...
So, my question, the followup to Chicago (would that be Chicago III since it's the third album? or is it Chicago II, therefore making the numbering/naming convention off by one?)... worth getting, if I absolutely love the first one, and kinda sorta dig the second?
― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Saturday, 24 June 2006 06:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Saturday, 24 June 2006 06:51 (seventeen years ago) link
"Dialog" is an INCREDIBLE song. Ditto "Feelin' Stronger", "Wishin' You Were Here" and a number of even their later hits. The drums on every song I've ever heard are creative as Hell, too. And I'm partial to the other singer, the rough-voiced guy who sang "Listen".
― matt the queeg (veal), Saturday, 24 June 2006 12:41 (seventeen years ago) link
I would say Chicago V is a pretty underrated, one. I read somebody call it the greatest Canterbury prog album an American band ever made, which is a funny description (probably because of the first song, "A Hit by Varese", with the Fender Rhodes, etc.).
Chicago VI is the most lackluster of the first seven, IMO. Chicago VII, I think, is the one with the fusion-instrumental stuff on it, right?
― Joe (Joe), Saturday, 24 June 2006 13:41 (seventeen years ago) link
― indie disco dancer, sweet romancer (haitch), Saturday, 24 June 2006 14:03 (seventeen years ago) link
― Sundar (sundar), Sunday, 25 June 2006 00:33 (seventeen years ago) link
Speaking of stuff bringing people to tears, I have to say, "Wishing You Were Here" has always done that for me. Even when I was a little kid and mostly hated them. I always liked "Colour My World" for its weirdness. I mean, listen closely, it is really weird.
Compositionally they are unassailable. Most people hate them for their sound.
― โตเกียวเหมียวเหมียว aka Don Nots (Mount Cleaners) (Mount Cleaners), Wednesday, 25 January 2012 21:54 (twelve years ago) link
New doc coming out:http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OeZ2BRHojTs
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 31 January 2014 18:14 (ten years ago) link
Some of their stuff is pretty good. I echo the "Make Me Smile" comments up there, and i saw a video from Tanglewood '70 where the guitar solo on 25 or 6 to 4 was mindblowing, has to be seen/heard to be believed.
― Prince Kajuku (Bill Magill), Friday, 31 January 2014 20:07 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, the earlyish records definitely have their moments. But the MOR ballads (and Terry Kath's "don't worry, it's not loaded") were their death knell. There aren't many bands I hate more than ballady/post-accidental-suicide Chicago. Fucking "Stay The Night" is such an irredeemable ball of shit.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 31 January 2014 20:27 (ten years ago) link
That later period Chicago is really bad.
― Prince Kajuku (Bill Magill), Friday, 31 January 2014 20:43 (ten years ago) link
the mid-seventies ballad stuff I hated when I was a kid but it reaches me now - "if you leave me now," "hard to say I'm sorry"
― joe perry has been dead for years (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Friday, 31 January 2014 21:06 (ten years ago) link
"wishing you were here" is drop-dead beautiful. the intro could easily lead into a dark pink floyd ballad (like, oh, "wish you were here"), but instead it opens up into a full-on beach boys gospel.
― fact checking cuz, Friday, 31 January 2014 21:55 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tzxXh9n4iM
― ...out of that weakness, out of that envy, out of that fear.. (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 31 January 2014 22:05 (ten years ago) link
i guess that, since peter cetera did his best work on his own (the peerless Glory Of Love), you can't really defend the band he was in.― fsharp, Sunday, February 13, 2005 1:20 PM (10 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― fsharp, Sunday, February 13, 2005 1:20 PM (10 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
i'm glad there is at least one other person here who unashamedly likes this song. (hits the same sweet spot as that REO Speedwagon ballad, "keep on lovin you" or whatever.)
"old days" is incredibly obvious but it can kinda get to me at the right moments, you know?
chicago strikes me as an interesting (in theory; sometimes in reality) melding of progressive rock with the horn charts-heavy mid-late 60s blue-eyed soul strain of e.g. the buckinghams. that's not a combination that one associates with many other bands.
i like how even when peter cetera isn't multi-tracked he somehow sounds like he is harmonizing with himself. how does he do that?
― wizzz! (amateurist), Tuesday, 29 September 2015 23:33 (eight years ago) link
Look Away, the greatest of Chicago sonsg.
― I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 10 November 2018 02:31 (five years ago) link
i heard a chicago song on the radio today, one i'd never heard before: "make me smile"
i kind of like it. sounds maybe like the grass roots covering a van halen tune
i see Alfred gave it "good to great" status back in '19
― budo jeru, Wednesday, 22 June 2022 01:25 (one year ago) link
"Make Me Smile" is great, one of Kath's better vocal performances. also on a killer album (Chicago 2)
― Slowzy LOLtidore (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 22 June 2022 02:24 (one year ago) link
I've never been a fan, but I eventually found a way to enjoy some of their stuff. I borrowed the Group Portrait box set (the one with the awful cover everyone hated) and even though I didn't like a lot of it, I ended up burning a disc for reference - pretty much every single from CTA to VIII but using the full-length LP versions found on the box set. It wound up being a fairly decent listen for me, leaving behind much of their worst while presenting their most likable stuff in a far more palatable context. ("Make Me Smile" is on there.)
― birdistheword, Wednesday, 22 June 2022 03:50 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La0RQucMSlY
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 22 June 2022 04:08 (one year ago) link
Even their early "good records" are highly inconsistent, but there's a number of interesting deep cuts up to Chicago VII. Terry Kath's guitar prowess is well-known, but Peter Cetera was actually a really dynamic bassist and maybe the best player in the group. There are even passages on III that could pass for contemporary Soft Machine (check out the duelling trombones over 5/8 backing in "Mother").Songwise their peak is probably V, when Robert Lamm was doing most of the writing. The production goes really soft on VI, and though I love the melody of "If You Leave Me Now", they soon ran the ballad approach into the ground.
― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 22 June 2022 04:38 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_torOTK5qc
Leonid & Friends - When you want to hear a bunch of Russian musicians absolutely killing it on Chicago tunes (and other '70s horn bands like EW&F and Tower of Power).
Plus, you won't get caught with "Chicago" in your YouTube search history.
― Hideous Lump, Wednesday, 22 June 2022 04:56 (one year ago) link