CD Review: Chicago XI
Published March 25, 2006
Lee Loughnane's vocals serve as a relaxing comedown on "This Time," though Kath still puts in some blazing work during the song's break. The song is good, but is not particularly noteworthy — just a matter-of-fact song about a troubled relationship's chances of working out for the better.
The next three songs in a row are part of a larger package, the album's fin de siecle. This is a lot like the Chicago of old, where a common theme ran across several songs. "The Inner Struggles of a Man" is completely classical, written by the band, but not one note actually comes from them. It builds in crescendo and peaks at the point where "Prelude" begins. Terry sings about a woman he once knew over Lamm's quiet keyboard work. After some nice but eerie horns, Danny's "Little One" starts. Although Danny wrote the song for his daughters, Kath sings it. It is hard to say whether the song is happy or sad. Hopeful is probably the best word for it. But one is hard-pressed to listen to Kath singing, "Don't fear for the future, 'cause I will always be there," knowing he'd be dead only four months after he sang that. And the song ends on a poignant note, literally.
But I think the raw emotion packed into Chicago XI makes it, if not their best album, then certainly their most noteworthy. The band changed forever after its release, and it was the last we'd ever heard of the "old" Chicago. Though the band continues to tour and record — and though Robert Lamm, Walter Parazadier, Lee Loughnane, and James Pankow remain in its lineup — I don't expect to hear another effort like this one from them again. The band reached its peak with Chicago XI and it was a glorious end to the first stage of their career.
Mark Edward Manning grew up in Boston, MA and now lives in London, England. He wrote commentaries for The Boston Herald in the mid 1990s.
- CD Review: Chicago XI
- Published: March 25, 2006
- Type: Review
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Blues, Music: Pop, Music: Rock
- Writer: Mark Edward Manning
- Mark Edward Manning's BC Writer page
- Mark Edward Manning's personal site
- Spread the Word
- Like this article?
- Email this
Save to del.icio.us
Comments on this articleComments
Thanks, Mark. Hot Streets did mark quite a departure for the band, though not so much in sound - that wouldn't become evident until 1982 with the release of Chicago 16. In a way, Hot Streets made a powerful statement, best expressed in the song "Alive Again." "No Tell Lover" also preserved some of Chicago's old sound. But, considering they'd lost Kath, getting used to a new guitarist in the process (Donnie Dacus), and jettisoning Guercio as their manager - that, for me, was the start of their second phase. (Phase 3 started once Cetera left.) Also, it was the first time since their debut album that they did not use a number. Naming the album something like "Hot Streets" was quite surprising for them, at the time. It was definitely the end of Chicago as the world knew them from '69-'77.
I'd almost forgotten about this album until I landed on this page by accident during a search for reviews of Chicago XXX. I grew up listening to Chicago. The 70's were all of my adolescence and Chicago was it as far as I was concerned. I bought all of their records on the day of release (well starting with Chicago VI, that is. I bought the earlier ones not long after that).
I personally felt the band made a number of mistakes (or their management/record label did) with regard to choices for what songs would be singles. Some of their best work was probably never heard by a lot of people who weren't getting into what they were hearing on the radio.
Chicago VIII and X were good examples of this. The weakest songs were the singles and the best were not.
VIII didn't do that well, but X was a huge hit thanks to that schlock known as "If You Leave Me Now".
I loved virtually everything about X except that one song.....
Fortunately though it did help the album do pretty well sales-wise. I'm sure the award-winning cover art (The Chocolate Bar) didn't hurt, either.
Then comes XI, followed not long after by Terry Kath's death. It was almost haunting hearing him on that record. But tragedy aside, I didn't think Chicago could top X but they did with XI. They experimented a bit (something they hadn't been noted for in several years) and I think it paid off.
My favorite song is still "Take Me Back to Chicago", with the awesome background vocals by Chaka Kahn.
Anyhow thanks for the memory trip. Now I'm off to find reviews of XXX which I'm sure will suck.
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/45492)
nice review mark.
so was there a big transformation between this record and Hot Streets? i don't remember reading any reveiws of that one. i do like the song "Alive Again" but can't say that i can place anything else on it.
oh, and i love it when the words "Side Two" come up in a review. nostagia maybe, but so what?!