So I am obsessing over Chicago, I will admit.
This all started when I noticed that much of the XTC catalogue had been upgraded and issued in terrific blueray/CD editions. I got a few, and they do sound fantastic. Much of the praise centered on one Steve Wilson, who remixed and remastered the albums and who is a musician himself in a proggy vein. Turns out he’s also worked his magic on much of the Yes catalogue, as well as bunch of ELP, Jethro Tull, and King Crimson. And sticking out like a sore thumb, Chicago II.
But listening to it again—and some of the mid-70s stuff—I hear a distinct proggy strain in much of Chicago’s stuff. In fact, I can quite easily see how a Genesis fan would like “Song of the Evergreens” or “Byblos” from Chicago VII; and by mixing in the poppier stuff, they anticipated Genesis’s survival strategy by a few years. Also, Terry Kath had a Ray Charles–quality voice and (per the Netflix Chicago documentary) was, according to Hendrix himself, doing things Jimi Hendrix wasn’t doing. And, perhaps due to their musical training at DePaul or simply the necessity of scoring for horns, they were doing some pretty sophisticated harmonic stuff—which only means that I find still find it interesting to listen to in a way that I don’t much 70s era rock. And they always had a Latin thing going on in the background, which meant their rhythmic approach could be complex but always swung.
And I remember the climax of “Make Me Smile/Now More Than Ever” from II being used as theme music for Monday Night Football for a season or two, and it is one of those musical pieces—like the Theme from Tommy and “Classical Gas”—that got stuck in me at an innocent age and I will never ever tire of hearing and finding thrilling.
– Tom Fredrickson is the proprietor of the unparalleled music blog, Lost Wax Method.
Comments
Few rock bands could ever match the musicianship of Chicago. The high school band I was in played a couple of their songs; we had a trombonist, but never got the rest of the brass section. But I could definitely appreciate what great artists these guys were by the complexity of their chords, the unbelievable horn arrangements and the inimitable solos.
Thanks for letting us know about the Chicago documentary. Netflix’s algorithm has not yet suggested it to me, despite my having watched a number of other documentaries about rock bands.