With four gold multi-disc LPs and twice as many hit singles to its credit, Chicago issued its fifth effort, the first to clock in at under an hour. What they lack in...
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Road-weary and running low on steam, the members of Chicago began tinkering with their formula on the nostalgic Chicago VIII. Robert Lamm continued to loosen his grip on the...
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On Chicago X (1976) the band continued blending progressive jazz arrangements with decidedly more accessible pop tracks. This title is the follow up to Chicago IX (1975),...
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The band's 11th effort and ninth studio release began to show signs of Chicago's somewhat formulaic approach to record-making. A few weepy and introspective ballads, a few...
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With tracks like "Free Form Guitar," "Questions 67 And 68" and "Prologue (August 29, 1968)," Chicago's debut is very much a product of the times; despite its double length,...
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Good songs ("Colour My World," "Make Me Smile," the wah-wah driven "25Or 6 To 4") more than make up for the indulgences of this rambling double album; along with the...
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The Chicago Transit Authority recorded this double-barreled follow-up to their eponymously titled 1969 debut effort. The contents of Chicago II (1970) underscore the solid...
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Hits "Just You 'N' Me" and "Feelin' Stronger Everyday," not to mention sharp album tracks like "Hollywood" and "Critics' Choice" show that the band still had some creative...
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This is the sixth album from the jazz/pop/rock combo Chicago, and was likewise the first to be recorded at the plush, well-lit, and custom-built Caribou Studios in...
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Although commercially successful, Chicago's previous long-player, Chicago VI (1973), had not been received as warmly from both the critics as well as from some bandmembers....
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Does anyone need another Chicago album besides this one? For the casual fan, the answer is definitely no. The 1975 blockbuster includes all the band's hits from its prime....
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Although it was their tenth release Chicago X (1976) was actually the band's eighth studio effort -- as Chicago IV (1972) had been a live set from Carnegie Hall and Chicago...
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Terry Kath's last record--ironic, given that "Take Me Back To Chicago" and "Vote For Me" indicated life beyond the sappy Cetera balladry of "Baby What A Big Surprise." 'Twas...
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Chicago XI (1977) was the final studio effort to feature the original septet, who by this time had been performing and recording for nearly a decade. In late January 1978,...
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One of the interesting things about Chicago from 1969-1974 was that their albums always contained a combination of material that sounded great on AM radio alongside very...
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Weighing in at four discs and 63 songs, Group Portrait offers an excellent, comprehensive overview of Chicago's prime period. Be forewarned: this does not dip into the...
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Although Chicago tragically marked its decade anniversary with the bitter loss of lead guitarist Terry Kath, Hot Streets (1978) was not only the first release without him,...
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Columbia leases to the discount label Pair the right to compress Chicago's first two albums into a "double play" album. Pass it by. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music...
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While it might be a stretch to claim that disco in effect killed Chicago, as this effort exemplifies, the dance craze certainly didn't help the band, either. After the...
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Despite containing a few hidden gems, Chicago's 14th long player went primarily unnoticed when first released in the summer of 1980. The concurrently popular music styles of...
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With its back to the wall, Chicago switched record labels, dropped Donnie Dacus in favor of Bill Champlin (of the Sons of Champlin), brought in producer David Foster as new...
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Chicago's best-selling record (and that's saying something), thanks to melodramatic hits like "Stay The Night," "Hard Habit To Break" and "You're The Inspiration." Peter...
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With sales of four million, Chicago 17 is the biggest-selling regular studio album the band made to date. That's what happens when you really go for the ballads: "Stay the...
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It is an article of faith in corporate lore that everyone is expendable, and Chicago Music, Inc., responded to the departure of Peter Cetera by hiring another blonde,...
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This album contained four Top Ten hits, "I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love," "Look Away" (which hit #1), "You're Not Alone," and "What Kind of Man Would I Be?," yet did...
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Chicago returned from a career dip in 1982 with "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" and continued to hit with power ballads, among them "Hard Habit to Break" and "You're the...
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The '90s found Chicago's lineup minus drummer Danny Seraphine, but with guitarist DeWayne Bailey, who had been a sideman, a full-fledged member. It also found the group at...
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Generally, when contemporary performers have taken on retro projects like this one, they have tended to emphasize their fidelity to the sources -- consider Linda Ronstadt...
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This double-CD set, not the "legendary" triple-CD (four-LP) Carnegie Hall concert, is the one to get to hear what Chicago sounded like in their classic early period. In...
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Heart of Chicago 1967-1997 is a cheap way to celebrate Chicago's 30th anniversary. Featuring 13 arbitrarily picked hits from throughout the band's career -- from "Saturday...
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The Heart of Chicago 1967-1998, Vol. 2 follows the pattern of its predecessor by offering an arbitrary selection of hits -- "Love Me Tomorrow," "Baby, What A Big Surprise, "...
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Consisting of their biggest jazz-rock hits from the first stage of their career, Chicago's In Concert is a good (if muddy) live album that shows the band at their creative...
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Chicago's third effort, much like the preceding two, was initially issued as a double LP, and is packed with a combination of extended jams as well as progressive and...
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With four gold multi-disc LPs and twice as many hit singles to its credit, Chicago issued its fifth effort, the first to clock in at under an hour. What they lack in...
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After issuing three consecutive studio double LPs, Chicago topped themselves with this four-album live box set. As the title suggests, At Carnegie Hall, Vols. 1-4 (Chicago...
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Road-weary and running low on steam, the members of Chicago began tinkering with their formula on the nostalgic Chicago VIII. Robert Lamm continued to loosen his grip on the...
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Perhaps a Chicago live album sounds terribly unfashionable. Indeed, the band fell into decline in the early '90s, but by decade's end, the hit-making group known for its...
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Rhino began its elaborate Chicago reissue series in 2002 with Chicago's Complete Greatest Hits: Only the Beginning, a double-disc set that covers 39 hits from all of...
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It's fair to say that most of Chicago's hit singles were love songs, which makes compiling an album like Rhino's 2005 collection Love Songs a bit of an easy task. There's...
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This 2003 CD reissue of Chicago XIV includes three bonus selections -- the funky "Live It Up" from James Pankow (trombone) as well as a pair of Robert Lamm rockers, "Soldier...
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