Phil Keaggy- Acoustic Sketches
Sparrow
1998
Those who have read my previous Blogcritics articles may be aware of my appreciation of Phil Keaggy's guitar playing. Well, Acoustic Sketches is an album which I've had for a while but never listened to until recently. Which is a shame, because this album has quickly become one of my favorite that he has released. One of the charms of this release is the liner notes, where he expresses thoughts or reasons behind each song. Here is the blurb for the second track, "Rivulets", as an example: This one has a cascading effect with the first pass locked into the JamMan. As it develops, each pass signifies how I become acquainted with my first pass. This piece is an attempt to try my hand at something almost classical. I bail out eventually and do one of my riffs signifying an exit. Much of my playing style is a result of simply playing and less of discipline and study. Any true classical guitarists would note this, but to the less-trained ear (including my own), it's simply a series of playful notes running into each other.
Chicago- Chicago II
Rhino (re-release)
1970 (re-release 2002)
My knowledge of Chicago is fairly limited to this cd, musically, however, the word on the street is that soon after this album Chicago started sucking. Which is alternatively good and bad. Bad because they have released a lot of stuff since Chicago II, and good because Chicago II is the album which I'm reviewing. This album gave birth to a number of hit radio songs, despite being split into three sections, the first part that has five songs, the second part being titled "Ballet For A Girl In Buchannon" with thirteen songs (and giving birth to the classic "25 or 6 to 4", and lastly "It Better End Soon", who's songs are simply movements. The music is classic rock, featuring some of the smoothest horns to ever get recorded. The re-release also has the single versions of "Make Me Smile" and "25 or 6 to 4".
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
good one Theory.
another good pre-suck Chicago record is the live At Carnegie Hall. great playing there...basically material from the first few albums.
2 - Eric Olsen
anything with Terry Kath was at least pretty good - his precipitous departure from the band and earth heralded the arrival of widespread suckitude
3 - andy
I think you can get up to 4 w/out having too much suck. Free was a bangin song w/ rippen horns
peace
andy
4 - Taloran
I think every Chicago album up to and including VII has some good stuff on it. The first one (Chicago Transit Authority) is in my opinion the best, II is second best, V is third. After Kath killed himself and Cetera changed the band from jazz-inspired rock 'n' roll to mood music and ballads, the energy was gone. They were beginning the shift with X (remember 'If You Leave Me Now'?), but it wasn't until Kath's untimely demise that, as Eric said, they turned their full attention to suckitude.
IX (Greatest Hits) is the only Greatest Hits package I own on both vinyl and CD.
5 - JR
The video for "Stay the Night" was pretty cool.
6 - Eric Olsen
Not that they only sucked from then on, Chicago 17 with Bill Champlin joining Cetera on lead vocals and David foster producing was pretty good and their biggest hit album ever.
But, earliest is best, as is so often the case.
7 - Rodney Welch
SUCKIEST SONG IN THE ENTIRE CHICAGO SUCKFEST: Dialogue.
This Socratic exchange was Chicago's pathetic attempt at being Bob Dylan. It hit the Top 40 and kids like me bought it, but it's way, way too embarrassing to listen to today. Dated, too -- oldies radio won't touch it.
I, too, still have a warm spot in my heart for Chicago II and III, and I bought a few others as well. I was always glad that my band teacher liked Chicago; it seemed to validate them. Actually, I soon noticed that the opposite is true, as band students and teachers don't really know anything about music, if you catch my drift. Chicago (and Blood, Sweat and Tears and Jethro Tull) was their idea of rock, mainly because they used brass and woodwind. They were considered the kind of adult goal to which one might aspire.
8 - Eric Olsen
And don't forget Chase - our band director liked them so much they played at our school.
9 - Craig Lyndall
What's wrong with Blood, Sweat and Tears? Sure they are a little cheesy, but they have some great songs like Spinning Wheel.
10 - Rodney Welch
How could I forget Chase? Their posters were all over the bandroom. One more hopeful reminder that just because you played a dorky instrument like trombone didn't mean you, too, couldn't be a long-haired chick magnet.
11 - Eric Olsen
they were roundly assailed by critics but still an excellent band live - they just didn't have a lot of great material. Lighthouse was similar but not as virtuoso