CHICAGO: Anything good / recommendable after VII ?

[Mr.Krautman]

I have and like all CHICAGO (C.T.A) albums up to (and including) VII which I consider amongst their very best, at least up to the last (4th) side where musically it starts to take the wrong path (for us, prog/fusion/jazz lovers) with sirupy strings loaded AOR songs like Wishing You Were Here, announcing the new artistic orientation the band will follow in their next records. Sure they did it, with great commercial success and international recognition but for some of us it was only the start of an (irreversible ?) artistic decline. It's there where I stepped down and lost interest in the band. Now that they're are over XXX albums I'm wondering if there's is something valuable/recommendable post- VII in their huge discography ? I've listened to a few samples here and there but found nothing appealing to my ears, but I must admit being too lazy to go through 23 records trying to find some undiscovered gem(s), which I'm not even sure exists. Did I missed something ? I hope so, and that some of you can recommend me the good (post-VII) ones, if possible including great instrumental/jazz/fusion sections, and not the easy-listening song-oriented ones.

[miamiscot]

I'm actually a big fan of Chicago VIII. "Harry Truman" is one of my favorite songs from them. The rest of the album is good too but gone are the jazzy suites of VII. Instead we see a little of the pop future these guys would soon be exploring full bore.

Nothing since has really caught my fancy though. A few songs here and there...

[flowerking]

Nothing compares to the earlier Chicago (I, II, V) but the later releases do have a few songs worth a listen. Specifically, XIII has Old Days which is probably their best last composition, and while I'll probably get ridiculed for saying this, I really like Alive Again on Hot Streets. I can't recommend any of their albums post VII though, just a few songs here and there.

If you saw the documentary aired on CNN a couple of months back, you can see what started happening to the band. Peter Cetera came into the spotlight and ran with it and the record company and producers wanted to capitalize on his singing and ballads to the detriment of the jazz and harder edged rock they were known for.

[the winter tree]

They made some truly weak albums ( 13, 14, 19, 20) but even on those albums there's usually 1 or 2 decent songs(usually by Robert Lamm). I'm kind of fond of the three Foster produced albums.

[ThomasKDye]

"Harry Truman" is one of my favorite songs from them.

+1

[profusion]

I enjoy the last three albums with Terry Kath--VIII, X and XI. They were more pop-focused, but a lot of the people think of them strictly in terms of the singles, when the albums are actually quite eclectic. I feel like they lost the plot after Kath died, however.

[Tangram]

They made some truly weak albums ( 13, 14, 19, 20) but even on those albums there's usually 1 or 2 decent songs(usually by Robert Lamm). I'm kind of fond of the three Foster produced albums.

Generally agree but I would swap 19 for 21. And your never going to see them go back to their heyday, but Night and Day Big Band reinterprets many standards with very good results. The horns return after being mostly on hiatus since the Foster years. Chicago's last album 'Now' Chicago XXXVI is also very good album again with prominent horns plus Robert Lamm has a writing credit on about half of the songs. IMHO, it's their best album in decades.

[MoZo]

I would recommend the 'lost' Stone of Sisyphus CD (it has an interesting backstory). I would also recommend a solo CD by Robert Lamm, called "Subtlety and Passion". It's a great Chicago CD without being called Chicago. Their most recent (Chicago XXXVI) is also really good. It has one of their more 'progressive' songs (Naked in the Garden of Allah). Also, Trent Gardner (Magellan) has been collaborating with both the band and Robert Lamm in recent years.

[the winter tree]

Agree with the above comments.
Forgot about the bland and pointless exercise "XXX". Half of Nashville plays on it.
I really like " Now", but still perplexed why so many session guys were used when the band has such talented musicians within its ranks. The title cut only has their voices and a solo by Keith Howland. Strangely, it was the only song they performed live when In saw them right after NOW was released.

[yamishogun]

Agree with the above comments.
Forgot about the bland and pointless exercise "XXX". Half of Nashville plays on it.
I really like " Now",　

I especially like three songs on The Stone of Sisyphus but the entire album is solid. I just ordered Now after almost getting that when it came out. Thanks for the reminder! I like 18 a lot even though I haven't listened it for years. Yeah, I'm well aware it's pop Chicago but I only like a few songs off of 16 and 17 and haven't bought 19 or 21.

[ThomasKDye]

Also, Trent Gardner (Magellan) has been collaborating with both the band and Robert Lamm in recent years.

"Had." Sigh.

[arturs]

Another for VIII. Harry Truman. Old Days. Great album. I lost interest after that.

[Score2112]

Recommending Terry's last album, XI. Good material on that one, particularly his Mississippi Delta City Blues.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[progmeister]

I have and like all CHICAGO (C.T.A) albums up to (and including) VII which I consider amongst their very best, at least up to the last (4th) side where musically it starts to take the wrong path (for us, prog/fusion/jazz lovers) with sirupy strings loaded AOR songs like Wishing You Were Here, announcing the new artistic orientation the band will follow in their next records. Sure they did it, with great commercial success and international recognition but for some of us it was only the start of an (irreversible ?) artistic decline. It's there where I stepped down and lost interest in the band. Now that they're are over XXX albums I'm wondering if there's is something valuable/recommendable post- VII in their huge discography ? I've listened to a few samples here and there but found nothing appealing to my ears, but I must admit being too lazy to go through 23 records trying to find some undiscovered gem(s), which I'm not even sure exists. Did I missed something ? I hope so, and that some of you can recommend me the good (post-VII) ones, if possible including great instrumental/jazz/fusion sections, and not the easy-listening song-oriented ones.

NO

[miamiscot]

Another for VIII. Harry Truman. Old Days. Great album. I lost interest after that.

You're very wise and have excellent taste.

[Rangershockey7]

I feel VIII is still solid with some still challenging material.
X & XI see Cetera writing a bit more, some great pieces from some of the other writers (Take me Back, Little One, You are on My Mind, ...).
Hot Streets has a couple I enjoy, especially the title song.
13 is pretty difficult to find much to listen to. The Lamm songs are just about it for me.
XIV I think is vastly underrated. I think part of the band is pushing back from the syruppy stuff and and it is a little more cutting edge than what came just before and just after. For sticking out like a sore thumb, it is the Stone of Sisyphus of that time.
16 is a Cetera solo record. There are two songs I enjoy once in a great while but most of the album I can't enjoy at all.
17 is only slightly better than 16.
18 I really liked a lot when it came out, and I kind of enjoy the bastardization of 25 or 6 to 4. A few good songs and no Cetera.
19 a Bill Chumplinfest. 2 songs I can stand
21 only slightly better than 19
Night & Day - I love. Great reinterpretations of almost every song there.
Stone of Sisyphus - Not great, but enjoyable, and a couple of songs that stand up well against their classic stuff. Never thought Scheff was a great writer but I though his song for his dad, "Bigger than Elvis" was a pretty coo ode to his day.
XXX - I like the song feel, mainly because of Lamm's vocals. Not much else.
NOW - very interesting album. I don't hesitate to recommend this one at all.

Also worth visiting is the Lamm Solo Album "Living Proof". Contains several songs I really enjoy, but check out a great song about how Kath is still alive in his life titled "Out of the Blue" which also features Trent Gardner. Good video for this song.

[Rangershockey7]

I feel VIII is still solid with some still challenging material.
X & XI see Cetera writing a bit more, some great pieces from some of the other writers (Take me Back, Little One, You are on My Mind, ...).
Hot Streets has a couple I enjoy, especially the title song.
13 is pretty difficult to find much to listen to. The Lamm songs are just about it for me.
XIV I think is vastly underrated. I think part of the band is pushing back from the syruppy stuff and and it is a little more cutting edge than what came just before and just after. For sticking out like a sore thumb, it is the Stone of Sisyphus of that time. However, DO NOT listen to Birthday Boy. You will never listen to another Chicago song ever again.
16 is a Cetera solo record. There are two songs I enjoy once in a great while but most of the album I can't enjoy at all.
17 is only slightly better than 16.
18 I really liked a lot when it came out, and I kind of enjoy the bastardization of 25 or 6 to 4. A few good songs and no Cetera.
19 a Bill Chumplinfest. 2 songs I can stand
21 only slightly better than 19
Night & Day - I love. Great reinterpretations of almost every song there.
Stone of Sisyphus - Not great, but enjoyable, and a couple of songs that stand up well against their classic stuff. Never thought Scheff was a great writer but I though his song for his dad, "Bigger than Elvis" was a pretty coo ode to his day.
XXX - I like the song feel, mainly because of Lamm's vocals. Not much else.
NOW - very interesting album. I don't hesitate to recommend this one at all.

Also worth visiting is the Lamm Solo Album "Living Proof". Contains several songs I really enjoy, but check out a great song about how Kath is still alive in his life titled "Out of the Blue" which also features Trent Gardner. Good video for this song.

[bRETT]

Believe it or not, the Christmas albums are really good, especially the first one where Roy Bittan was the producer. Nothing very progressive of course, but a good, meaty live-band sound with interesting arrangements, including a couple of fairly ambitious ones from Lamm, and much of it kept on the upbeat side. Very much worth digging up in about ten months.

[Digital_Man]

They made some truly weak albums ( 13, 14, 19, 20) but even on those albums there's usually 1 or 2 decent songs(usually by Robert Lamm). I'm kind of fond of the three Foster produced albums.

If I'm not mistaken 20 appears to be a greatest hits album.

[the winter tree]

I meant "21". It gets a bit confusing;-)

[Vic2012]

I heard a few tracks from Stone Of Sysifus and thought it was crap. To me their best album is Chicago Transit Authority. That is a desert island disk.

[Mr.Krautman]

Thanks to all for your inputs which tend to confirm that there's not much material to be saved after VII. Ill' probably venture into VIII (Harry Truman had been recommended many times) and that's all... I had some expectations in the "lost album" Stone of Sisyphus/XXXII (being then rejected by the record company was a good sign) but from the excerpts I've heard so far I would say no...
And yes, C.T.A is amongst the best albums ever.

[yamishogun]

Thanks to all for your inputs which tend to confirm that there's not much material to be saved after VII. Ill' probably venture into VIII (Harry Truman had been recommended many times) and that's all... I had some expectations in the "lost album" Stone of Sisyphus/XXXII (being then rejected by the record company was a good sign) but from the excerpts I've heard so far I would say no...
And yes, C.T.A is amongst the best albums ever.

Not to be rude, but how could you possibly expect a "lost album" made in 1994, almost two decades after you thought Chicago lost the plot, to put out an album that you would enjoy?

"Cindy was such a cutie until...well age 30. Wow, she might be hot at 50!"

[unclemeat]

https://burningshed.com/chicago_chic..._category=true

Chicago: VI Decades Live (This Is What We Do)

"A 4CD/1DVD box set capturing the best of Chicago live between 1969 and 2014.

The first two discs - which represent a brilliant snapshot of a band on the verge of stardom - are dedicated to the entirety of Chicago’s headlining performance at the Isle of Wight Festival on August 28, 1970. The remaining discs include live performances selected from over six decades of performances.The DVD includes Chicago's February 12, 1977 performance on the German music television show Rockpalast. A superb overview of the band’s career to that point, it contains unforgettable performance of Saturday In The Park, Just You ’n’ Me, Call On Me and (I’ve Been) Searchin’ So Long/Mogonucleosis. As a bonus, the DVD also includes the band’s fan favorite performance of What’s This World Comin’ To. The set comes with a 24-page booklet illustrated with rare images selected from the band’s vast archive."

Discs One & Two: Isle Of Wight Festival (8/28/70) *

1. Introduction
2. South California Purples
3. Beginnings
4. In The Country
5. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?
6. Mother
7. It Better End Soon
8. Ballet For A Girl In Buchannon
9. 25 Or 6 To 4
10. I’m A Man

Disc Three *

1. Poem For The People (Paris, France, 8/14/69)
2. 25 Or 6 To 4 (Paris, France, 8/14/69)
3. Liberation (Paris, France, 8/14/69)
4. Goodbye (The John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts, Washington D.C., 9/16/71)
5. Now That You’ve Gone (Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, Australia, 6/26/72)
6. A Hit By Varèse (Chicago Stadium, Chicago, IL, 8/13/73)
7. Takin’ It On Uptown (Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA, 12/1/77)
8. If You Leave Me Now (Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA, 12/1/77)

Disc Four *

1. Hot Streets (Greek Theater, Los Angeles, 8/11/78)
2. Little One (Greek Theater, Los Angeles, 8/11/78)
3. Forever (Pensacola Civic Center, Pensacola, FL, 3/21/87)
4. Medley: In The Midnight Hour/Knock On Wood/I’m A Man/Get Away (Pensacola Civic Center, Pensacola, FL, 3/21/87)
5. You’re Not Alone (Starplex Amphitheater, Dallas, TX, 5/30/92)
6. The Pull (Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas, NV, 3/20/94)
7. In The Mood (Caesar’s Palace, Atlantic City, NJ, 7/28/94)
8. Don’t Get Around Much Anymore (Caesar’s Palace, Atlantic City, NJ, 7/28/94)
9. Look Away – A&E Network, Live By Request, 9/5/02)
10. America (WHYY, The Grand, Wilmington, DE, 5/7/14)

DVD: Rockpalast (2/12/77) *

1. Anyway You Want
2. Saturday In The Park
3. Skin Tight
4. Just You ’n’ Me
5. Hope For Love
6. You Are On My Mind
7. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?
8. Ballet For A Girl In Buchannon
9. Beginnings
10. Scrapbook
11. A Hit By Varèse
12. Call On Me
13. Takin’ It On Uptown
14. If You Leave Me Now
15. Once Or Twice
16. (I’ve Been) Searchin’ So Long”/“Mongonucleosis
17. 25 Or 6 To 4
18. Got To Get You Into My Life
19. I’m A Man

* Previously Unreleased

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

It's tempting ... but not _that_ tempting... Though it *does* contain a couple of songs from Kath's last performance...