Chicago - The Very Best of Chicago: Only the Beginning
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Free Music Notes for The Very Best of Chicago: Only the Beginning
Free Music Review: You'll Hear the Evolution of a Band Over 2 CDs
Hit: 4 Stars
There are many bands that basically have spanned my entire lifetime and continue to produce music - but Chicago is one of those bands. At the writing of this review, Chicago has been a band for 37 years. With a few exceptions, the nucleus of the band has stayed in-tact (Robert Lamm, Lee Loughane, James Pankow, and Walter Parazider), but it is natural that band that has been around so long will go through personnel changes (Terry Kath's tragic death, Peter Cetera and Danny Seraphine's departures from the band). During this period Chicago changed its musical style a great deal - they started out as one of the first bands of the rock era to incorporate a horns section as a regular part of the music. They then went through some transitions and wound up being a very successful Adult Contemporary band. Many will criticize the changes, but one way to think about it is that the band basically was successful within two genres of Rock. In addition, how many bands can claim to have a #1 song ("Look Away") on their 19th studio album? Better yet, how many bands make it to a 19th studio album? Yes, there are other Greatest Hits sets, but this "Chicago - Only the Beginning" will do a nice job at taking you through the history of the band as well as the changes the band underwent during their span.
To understand my review, I can break down Chicago's career in terms of four eras. These eras are closely tied to the producers that Chicago worked with. The first era is the 'James William Guercio Era'. This covers 1967 - 1977 (Albums "Chicago Transit Authority through "Chicago XI"). This is the classic era of Chicago in which the horn sound was very much at the forefront of most of the music. The second era is the 'Transition Era'. This covers 1978-1981 (Albums "Hot Streets" [Chicago 12] through "Greatest Hits Volume 2 [Chicago 15]". During this period the band did two albums with legendary producer Phil Ramone and one with Tom Dowd. It was during this period that the band picked up the pieces after the tragic death of Terry Kath and began to explore different avenues - such as incorporating a disco sound into their music. While the Guercio Era had commercial success, the Transition Era was more of a struggle both commercially and critically. Thus the third Era brought in producer David Foster for the 'David Foster Era'. This era covered 1982-1987 (Albums Chicago 16 through Chicago 18). It was here where the band began to move toward an Adult Contemporary Sound. Many criticized this change, but Foster got the band back on track commercially and still respected Chicago's brass horn roots. In the Fourth Era covering 1989 to the Present ("Chicago 19" to present), this the 'Modern Era'. Chicago worked with producers Chris Sandford, Ron Nevison, Bruce Fairbairn, and Roy Bittan. This was the era where Chicago completely transformed into an Adult Contemporary Band, moved away from its brass horn roots, and for the first time - had a dependence on third party songwriters. The most notable of these songwriters was Diane Warren. Many question why Chicago decided to do this, but they did get some commercial success.
For the most part, the collection goes in chronological order - there are a couple of exceptions and I'm not sure why this was done (you will see in the liner notes some of the songs are slightly out of sequence). While "Chicago - Only The Beginning" does a nice job at taking you through a history of the band through their music, it doesn't represent the four eras equally. The Guercio Era is represented very well. The whole first CD is devoted to this era and it does a nice job at including the songs. What I like is that the fan who is new to Chicago will be introduced to songs such as "Questions 67 and 68", "I'm a Man", and probably the best and most innovative Chicago song - "Dialogue (Part I and II)". There are some different edits of "Make Me Smile", "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is", "I'm a Man", and "Beginnings". While "Dialogue" is included, it is a shortened version of Parts 1 and 2 (still pretty good). The first three songs of Disc 2 also are Guercio Era.
The Transition Era is only represented by two songs from "Hot Streets" ("Alive Again" and "Hot Streets"). There is nothing from "Chicago XIII" and "Chicago XIV" - and most notably missing is "Streetplayer". This is probably the finest song of that era and its disappointing it's not included. I think the David Foster Era is represented very well with 8 songs. The biggest disappointment is that there seems to be a slant toward the Modern Era with 5 songs from "Chicago 19". While "Look Away" was a #1 hit for Chicago, I don't consider Chicago 19 to be an album worthy of getting the most songs on a Chicago Collection. There is one song from the "Night and Day: Big Band" album called "Sing Sing Sing". This does bring the band back to their brass roots - but this is obvious since its a Big Band album.
The liner notes are solid with this collection. Although there are no lyrics, there is a good listing of each album and the production credits. Each song included on this collection is mapped back to its studio album and there also is a release date as well as how it ranked on the charts. You will also see songwriting credits listed. There is a terrific history of the band by Bill De Young included as well. The double CD is packaged in a single CD depth jewel case, so it will easily fit into your CD rack. If you are looking to build your Chicago collection, this CD will satisfy.
Free Music Review: And 2 stars for the second disc.....
Hit: 5 Stars
A good title for this CD collection should be The Death Of A Great Band. Disc one is the Chicago you know and love. I skipped through nearly every track on Disc two.
To be honest, there is some good songs on disc two. Old Days, Baby What A Big Surprise, and Take Me Back To Chicago hold up to the brilliance on disc one. And not all the power ballads on disc two are so bad. Hard To Say I'm Sorry, Hard Habit To Break, and You're The Inspiration are all enjoyable. But the rest is so, so bad I could not believe it. Nothing but formulaic, synth-power-pop ballads. UGH! It's very sad. The final track, Sing Sing Sing, doesn't hold a lot of promise for the future.
Get Chicago IX: Chicago's Greatest Hits instead.
Free Music Review: Great Songs, Great Sound, Great Title
Hit: 5 Stars
While not as influential as The Beatles and The Beach Boys or as notorious as The Rolling Stones, Chicago still managed to sell millions of records and become on the best known rock and roll bands of all time. And when you reach the level of success that Chicago has reached, countless unnecessary and incomplete hits collections are bound to pop up every so often. Fans were angry over these shoddy, single - disc sets but not angry enough to fork over the pricey boxed set. Rhino Records solved that problem in 2002 with "The Very Best Of Chicago: Only The Beginning", a 2 - cd set with nearly all their top 40 singles plus some nice obscurities.
Disc 1 contains all the big hits from their early years, 1970 - 1976. Chicago was a 7 - piece group of talented singers (most notably Peter Cetera), musicians (Danny Seraphine and Cetera are underrated; their rhythm work is excellent) and songwriters. Their blend of jazz, blues and rock was unique at the time but people took to it immediately, enabling the group to fire off a string of radio - friendly pop hits that were always fresh and different. Chicago alwasy opeened up themselves up to new sounds; their music ranged from hard rockers ("25 Or 6 To 4"), midtempo, poppish numbers ("Make Me Smile", "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is", "Beginnings", "Saturday In The Park") and tender love songs and ballads ("Wishing You Were Here", "Colour My World", their first number one "If You Leave Me Now"). Believe it or not, these were just a few of the songs that launched Chicago into the pop music stratosphere.
Disc 2 begins with "Old Days", a 1974 song that should've been on disc one but makes for a nice opener. This is followed by the gorgeous 1977 smash ballad "Baby, What A Big Surprise". This song effectively ended Chicago's first hit streak. "Take Me Back To Chicago" featured Chaka Khan and was a nice song, but missed the top 60. Group member Terry Kath accidently accidently shot and killed himself in 1978. Though badly shaken by his passing, the group pressed on. 1978's "Hot Streets" was a commercial disappointment. The top 20 singles, the disco - tinged "Alive Again" and the gorgeous "No Tell Lover", were hits but not big ones. It seemed Chicago was quickly going downhill. Then in 1982, Peter Cetera wrote the lovely ballad "Hard To Say I'm Sorry". Whymost didnt care for it, it was insisted that they record it and song went all the way to number one. With their fame bck to its old status, Chicago was criticized their old jazz/rock sound for more romantic, commercial ballads (I wouldn't call them power ballads, they more soft rock with a bit of an edge). And some people must have liked "Hard Habit To Break", "You're The Inspiration", "Will You Still Love Me", "I Don't Wanna Live Withut Your Love", "Look Away" (another number one single), "You're Not Alone" and "What Kind Of Man Would I Be", since they all became top 10 hits. This set closes with a nice, contemporary update of the Louis Prima song "Sing, Sing, Sing", a collaboration with the Gypsy Kings.
Some fans may complain tht, even though it's a high - quality compilation, that many tracks are missing. I personally would have liked to have seen the lone top 40 hit (Billboard # 13) missing, the odd tribute "Harry Truman". Other fans may have wanted to seen minor hits like "Brand New Love Affair", "Thunder And Lightning", "What You're Missing", "Niagra Falls" and "Hearts In Trouble". But in the end, if I may quote a line from "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is", "does anybody really care"?
Free Music Review: A great album from THE greatest music group EVER!
Hit: 5 Stars
This is the helluva great album, I recommend it to everyone out there who enjoys music, and of course is a MUST for all Chicago fans!!!!! I loved the album so much, I got 8 more copies for friends and my family!!!Free Music Review: No Question .... One of the All Time Great Groups!
Hit: 5 Stars
If you don't know about Chicago, you should!"25 0r 6 to 4," "Beginnings" and "Questions" are just some of the popular masterpieces. I saw them in 1997 in Fond du Lac, WI
...hadn't lost any of their luster.