Chicago - 50th Anniversary box set of previously unreleased live recordings?

I listened. I returned it.

 

I am of two minds. I paid $50 something dollars for this. There was a time when I would have spent that on a few bootleg CDs, and that is exactly what this sounds like, a bootleg collection. It’s obvious that Hit By Varese is an audience recording. The 69 Paris tracks are actually more pleasing than IOW, not that they are sonically better, it’s just that they are more even and gelled than IOW is. IOW is jumpy and uneven.

As I go through the collection even the 90’s tracks have a bootleg quality to them.

Do I collect and listen to a ton of boots? Yes, but I know what I am usually getting.

This collection should have come with a disclaimer about sound and sources like Dead recordings, many archival Doors and Allman Bros discs do.

Not sure I can return it now that I opened it. So I just tell myself “hey it’s a bootleg collection, live with it!”

I won’t argue that many of the performances smoke!

 

I don’t think so. The fidelity seems too good and the vocals seem too indistinct. It really sounds like the audience tracks of a professional multitrack recording. How/why that came to be is a mystery though.

 

I am pretty convinced that most of this set is Boots and board mixes. Even the 80’s and 90’s stuff is pretty garbled and oddly mixed like a board mix I just can’t believe that a mixing engineer would be this inept to intentionally make mixes that sound this bad.

 

Yes, that was posted a few pages back.

 

Didn't know just thought it might shed light on the shoddy recording.

 

It definitely sheds light on the shoddy processing.

 

If I hadn't bought this set but read through the thread, I think I would conclude pretty safely that this set is for ardent fans only and, since I'm not one of those, I would have skipped it. That would have been a shame.

For all the complaints about sound quality, which may be perfectly accurate, my second impressions of the IoW concert are again very positive. This time it was airpods out of an iPod streaming from Amazon and I pray God that my hearing never improves to the point that I can't listen to this recording because for me it's quite a bit more than satisfactory. I've got Carnegie Hall, I've got the Quadio boxed set: if this were bad quality overall, believe me, I'm not a massive fan of the band and I wouldn't listen to it. I'm saying nothing about the other recordings (I haven't got that far) but - when it comes to purchasing decisions on this set - don't let the best be the enemy of the good.

 

Knowing me I'll get it regardless being a Chicago completist.

 

It's worth it.

 

Thanks

 

Some random thoughts as I have I just received this set today. I’ve been on the fence based on the general feedback in this thread. My main interest is the IOW show.

This is obviously not an audiophile recording by any stretch. However, I have to say that the band is white hot in terms of performance and I’m definitely rocking out to their energy and grittiness... and it’s Terry Kath, so ‘ok’ quality of an incendiary performance gets my attention.
I’d much rather have this than nothing at all.

If you’re a fan of this era of the band, I suggest that you at least check it out on YouTube.

It does sound muffled/processed and every time a vocal microphone is opened, the bleed through pops and the sizzle from the cymbals cut through... in an odd way, it sounds like a radio recording that’s not quite dialed in.

That said, Robert Lamm sounds awesome on vocals... I don’t know if I’ve ever heard a more soulful and gritty performance from him?

What a band.

 

How very disappointing. I was looking forward to this, but I won't bother, the consensus is so strong.

Maybe Carnegie Hall can be remixed/remastered? This is too important a band to not have a better live document at their peak.

Live in Japan is also not the greatest mix, I am sure it could be improved.

 

I'll have this box in snail mail tomorrow. I'll express my thoughts this weekend or by next week. This thread has been very informative.

 

Well if ya haven't decided for sure yet, keep your eyes peeled for some bargains in the "used" sections!

 

I finally got to start listening to this set and I am positively surprised by the Isle of Wight recording.

Although the mixing and mastering choices were quite atypical (some would say sacrilegious), the splitting all instruments/vocals into almost 50 tracks (out of the original 8), cleaning each manually from any external interferences and finally bringing them together into a wholly new mix yielded quite interesting results.

I mean, the IoW recording does no longer sound like a live gig (the clean-up removed most of typical live tape ambiance), more like a vintage live-in-studio session. It does sound somewhat artificial for the most part (as a whole), but at the same time it sounds very clear and dynamic. I would not like to have all live recordings subject to such dissection, but some of those inadequately recorded/preserved could benefit from similar treatment I think.

I am glad to have bought it.

 

I agree that it sounds artificial, but definitely not vintage, clear, or dynamic.

 

Well, you cannot say it is not "clear", because that was the whole point of the exercise; to split everything into multiple threads to be able to process/clean each separately and then mix them again (at the expense of natural live sound). That the instruments still sound a bit muddy, it's not the fault of the engineer I suppose.

And to make myself clear, I meant vintage as showing/of its age (not as high quality) and dynamic as not squeezed into a wall of sound (not of wide dynamic range).

 

I can definitely say that. Certain elements are muffled, and even those that aren’t often sound like they have the aural equivalent of excessive digital edge enhancement on a DVD.

 

Then it's only the question of different terms we use. When writing clear I meant "clearly audible", not clean/natural sounding.

 

I just saw where the Isle Of Wight vinyl was released in late October of last year. I was very busy packing, moving, and settling in then, so I missed it completely, but now see there's not a peep about it, anywhere on the forum ?

 

That's the first time I heard from a Chicago Isle Of Wight vinyl!?! Looks like I missed that completely as well.

 

Digging further into the contents of the box...

The third disc is a curious one. First we get three excellent tracks from Paris '69 gig with a great extended take of "Liberation", then two more quality cuts from the 1971 and 1972, and then all of the sudden we get treated with a long 1973 version of "A Hit by Varèse" seemingly sourced from... an average audience recording! And next we jump to 1977 for two rather superfluous (in the context of the box) numbers that get repeated on the full Rockpalast gig.

I am okay with their concept of sampling the vaults (although I'd prefer either more limited timespan or more discs), but is that '73 audience tape the only audio recording they had from mid-70s? Puzzling.

Anyway, Rockpalast '77 DVD (which I duly ripped and burned into two CDRs) turned out to be another highlight of this collection. I admit that I had never seriously ventured beyond Chicago 5 and I did not expect such a muscular and rocking performance at this point of their career. And especially that the majority of the set-list (13 out of 20 numbers) comes from Chicago 6 and later albums. I guess I should have a closer look at Live in '75.

Finally the fourth audio disc... Well, I'd expected the worst from these live numbers from 1978 onward, but it wasn't that bad. The two tracks recorded in 1978, "Hot Streets" and "Little One" were actually pretty fine, especially the latter one in a big arrangement. I'd like to hear more live stuff like this from the late 70s.

The ensuing sections from the 80s and 90s made me wonder why I haven't seen any re-appraisal of Chicago's post-Kath the way YES or Genesis fans try to critically re-assess Rabin/Sherwood or Collins/Wilson eras. It's not the style I would listen to on a regular basis, but it seems to me Chicago's kind of pop was not without its merit either.

 

As noted above, it really sounds to me like the audience mics - and only the audience mics - from a professional multitrack recording. The sound of the audience is actually very good, what one would expect from a professional recording. It's unlikely a fan recording made from the audience in 1973 would sound anywhere near that good, and would almost certainly have a much more upfront sound of audience members talking. The fact that the sound of the band is so indistinct makes me think the mics were on stage, pointed out into the audience, so they were getting a lot of the audience and the room, but not the PA itself.

Now, I can't fathom why on earth they would only use the audience tracks from a multitrack source, but that's definitely what it sounds like to me.

Better, but the mix definitely leaves something to be desired.