The group Chicago has, for a number of years now, been wrongly consigned to the soft-rock ’70s hit parade and viewed as a classic rock boomer summer touring act. While it can be easy to describe the group this way, they created some of the most ambitious albums of the end of the ’60s and first half of the ’70s, and their hits are enduring evergreens that can satisfy both fans of ’70s FM ballads and fans of the cream of classic American ’70s rock.
Anyone who truly thinks they know the group, but who has not heard their first three studio albums, which are all double albums, and their first live four-album set (Chicago at Carnegie Hall), doesn’t really know the full breadth of their music and is missing out on some of the best albums released in the late ’60s and early ’70s. The band would continue to make fine albums and after two more studio albums would make another double album, but those first three studio albums are truly special.
Their self-titled first album, Chicago Transit Authority, released in 1969, their one and only album under that band name, displayed all the characteristics of what made them so special. While groups like Blood, Sweat and Tears were also focusing on being horn-driven rock bands, Chicago was so much more than that. Along with three horn players (Lee Loughnane, James Pankow, Walter Parazaider) and a drummer (Danny Seraphine), the group boasted three bona-fide frontmen who could sing, write, and play.
While guitarist Terry Kath in many ways drove the edgier side of the group, he wrote and sang beautiful ballads. And conversely, keyboardist Robert Lamb and bassist Peter Cetera, along with writing poppy love songs, could also write and sing bracing rockers, with all three being the base for soaring harmonies. To add to all of this, the group’s albums in this period were ambitious, sprawling affairs, that encompassed rock, pop, jazz, and soul, but with carefully crafted arrangements and occasional song suites that had movements like a classical music album structure.
The group’s first album had an exciting raw punch, occasionally overt political messaging, and clearly reflected the urban grit of their town and spawned the huge hit “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” along with two bona-fide FM staples of the time (“Beginnings,” “Questions 67 and 68”) and a killer cover of the Steve Winwood-penned “I’m A Man.” Instead of being a possible sophomore letdown after the group’s dazzling debut, it was an even more accomplished album that ruled the crowded FM airwaves of the time.
Chicago’s music has been reissued many times in many different formats over the years. A new reissue of the group’s second, self-titled studio album has just been released with a remix by superstar remix legend Steven Wilson. Wilson is probably most known for his work remixing albums of such ’70s prog legends as Yes, Pink Floyd, and Jethro Tull, among many others.
Wilson has his fans and even a few detractors, depending on the project. Overall, he clearly knows the music he works on and respects it, but isn’t too precious when approaching the material. Thankfully, his contribution here on this classic album works wonders. This mix is from 2016, but with this vinyl reissue, while different from previous original vinyl pressings, the focus is on improving the sound from those often poor ’70s American pressings.
The mix here is not as loud as pressings from ’70s or later pressings, and thankfully not as harsh and shrill in spots, which was the case on some parts of this album on lesser grade vinyl issues. That is really the biggest difference and Wilson does this without muffling or minimizing the brassy horns, gritty guitars, or soulful vocals. That’s quite a feat considering the original recordings, helmed by James William Guercio (who produced their first nine studio albums), were studio perfection.
Right from the beginning of this new mix, the music sounds smoother, with the instruments and vocals blended perfectly together. The jazzier moments in the beginning of the album are more pronounced without being overwhelming, and vocally it sounds like the singers are right in the room.
On “Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon,” the name of the suite that takes up all of side two after for the opening track “Wake Up Sunshine,” the mix of rock and the classical song suite approach is particularly pronounced with impeccable arranging. At times brassy, with gritty guitar work that has never sounded so good, the suite includes perhaps the group’s biggest early hit, “Colour My World.”
Wilson’s new mix allows the sound effects on the beginning of side three on “Fancy Colours” to be clearer than on the original mixes and again, the group’s jazzier side comes through beautifully. “25 or 6 to 4” is the other track here that received considerable FM airplay. Lyrically, the killer ending songs of the album could have been written about what is happening politically and socially today. Unfortunately, some of the more overtly political lyrics from rock songs in the ’60s and ’70s are even more relevant now.
The music here was mixed from the original analog tapes. The album’s original packaging is replicated in a gatefold, with updated poly-lined sleeves and the original large fold-out poster.
After picking up this gem, listeners should seek out the group’s debut album, the studio album after this one (Chicago III) and their Chicago At Carnegie Hall four-album box set.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A+
