Fewer bands in rock have been more unjustly maligned than Chicago. Now, I'm no fan of the David Foster years, but being responsible for some of the schlockiest pop of that era doesn't diminish the more innovative and ambitious output of the seventies, especially those first five albums. And paying the bills have allowed the band to continue touring and recording for forty years; if you want to go see a classic slice of AM radio like "Make Me Smile" performed by the original band with most of the original players, you only need to wait for them to show up in your town and buy a ticket. You can't say that about many well-known rock bands today, much less one with a three part horn section.
From the mid seventies until his departure about a decade later, bassist Peter Cetera was the focal point of the group as he increasingly took on the lead vocal role for chart topping ballads. But before then, Chicago was very much a collective, where the stars were often that horn section, unmatched in all of rock except maybe Blood, Sweat and Tears (and still intact and potent today). Vocal duties were shared by Cetera, the late, great guitarist Terry Kath and keyboardist Robert Lamm. However, behind the scenes, the main guy driving the musical direction of the band was Lamm.
Lamm's compositions comprised the bulk of Chicago's early material, and not surprisingly, the early hits. "25 or 6 To 4", "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?", "Beginnings", "Free" were all his compositions, as well as notable album cuts like "Dialogue (Pts. 1 & 2)."
After an unbelievable four double LPs in a row — made more incredible in that they all went gold and spun off eight hits — came Chicago's first single player, 1972's Chicago V. This is the album that contains Lamm's biggest hit to that point, the perennially catchy "Saturday In The Park" and his peaking songwriting skills dominates much of the album, making V one the group's very best releases of all time.
Article comments
1 - Chris Holmes
Spot on! This is my favorite song an what is arguably Chicago's last great album.
2 - duane
Great stuff, as always, Pico. Sans a decent Chicago collection, I just went and downloaded "Varese" from iTunes. Haven't heard that for years. Damn!
Thanks for the background information on Lamm and for the pointer to Varese himself. A research assignment for me later tonight.
3 - Pico
Chris, I had a feeling from earler today that you would agree with me ;&)
duane, good to see you around here, again. Always enjoy your comments.
Thanks to both of you for your feedback.
4 - Kevin From Canada
I have spent time trying to understand why Chicago was never given their due after so many hits and great albums in the seventies. I have Chicago V in my disc player where I play along on the drums, and there are four other spaces for discs. Chicago V owns its spot in the player. What a great album. As a horn player they were quite advanced from Chicago II and Make Me Smile. The horn solos on V were incredible, and "Hit By Varese" was only the beginning.