Worst Chicago song

Yep. If You Leave Me Now was a huge hit. Without it, the album would have been in the cut-out bin as quick as "13" was and not even nominated for anything, let alone win any awards.

No one was rushing out to buy Chicago X because of "Dude....you gotta check out Scrapbook!"

And yes. I stand by my assessment that most of Side 2 of that album was the worst stuff they had written to that point. (Most of it written by Lamm.) What was worse? I'll put Hour in the Shower down there. Harry Truman I give a pass for being a competently-written novelty tune. I don't like it much, but it was what it was intended to be and hit its mark from a songwriting standpoint.

Even the worst tracks on "XI" are better than the first four tracks on side 2 of "X". Wait, no. I take that back. Lamm's Vote for Me is absolutely horrid. Like he was trying to re-capture the "magic" of Harry Truman and couldn't pull it off.

 

While I'm not crazy about the song (I rate it "average" to "below-average"), the horns and guitar are great.

 

The album hit the Billboard top 5 in the summer of '76. "I You Leave Me Now" wasn't a hit until the fall.

 

Really? Other than a few notable "legendary" exceptions, songwriting is the main reason why most artists have short careers and few hits. There's a reason why the vast majority of the charts are, and always have been, populated much more by one and two hit wonders.

If Chicago had instead been The Robert Lamm Band? They'd have been done in 1973 like so many other bands that really only existed from about 1968-1973. Luckily, they had other songwriters to pick up the slack when he petered out and the ability to use outside songwriters when everyone else dried up.

 

I'm not aware that Peter plays bass on "If You Leave Me Now".

Ed

 

Yeah, but don't you think that without "If You Leave Me Now" becoming so huge that the album would have been just a quick up-and-down on the charts based mostly on some out-of-the-gate sales to fans of the earlier stuff?

And certainly wouldn't have been nominated for anything. You have no hit singles on the album and you have nothing. And it only really had one.

 

Maybe, maybe not. Chicago was on a pretty good roll at the time, and they probably could have gotten a hit out of "Skin Tight" (not a great song, but pretty commercial sounding) or "Mama Mama" (ditto). The best tracks on that album (Once or Twice, Together Again) were less obvious singles. So I'd say it would have been less of a smash without "If You Leave..", but probably not a flop.

 

I don't get the flack for "If You Leave Me Now"

It's a perfectly acceptable love ballad, has a great McCartney-level melody, and sounds good. I think the issue is maybe they took that as a cue to go in that direction for future hits... except "Baby What a Big Surprise" is one of my favorite Chicago songs-- its the kind of song the Beach Boys should have been recording.

I reserve the "worst song" critiques for after Cetera left and they really started putting out some generic sounding crap.

 

"You Are on My Mind" and "Another Rainy Day in New York City" received airplay in my town....quite a bit, actually. Stevie Wonder has said "You are on my Mind" is one of his favorite songs of the '70s.

 

Yes. "Will You Still Love Me" being the biggest offender.

 

I'm thinking it certainly would have been a flop by Chicago standards. Other singles? "Another Rainy Day" barely cracked the Top 40. "You Are On My Mind" stalled at #49. I can't see any other tracks doing any better.

 

You Are On My Mind is probably my favorite track on the album. But it barely charted as a single.

Apparently Stevie's review didn't help sales much.

 

I love the Cetera's ballads from the "classic" period. I don't agree with the flack for them either. I don't think they necessarily "took a cue" from anything other than they went with whoever was showing up with material. When it was Peter, they got a lot of ballads. And after David Foster shows up and he and Peter start working together, then that was that. If the other guys didn't like it, they really don't have much room to complain unless they have their own great material to bring to the table. And for all the bitching about the Foster years, I don't recall too many stories of all these great songs from Lamm and Pankow that Foster rejected. I think it was pretty much a situation of "deal with the plan that is working for us or go find another job..."

The later stuff we really have to put into a whole 'nother category and discussion. And I'm a big fan of "16" and "17". But we can't really talk about it in the same conversation as the "classic years" albums.

But worst song of the entire Cetera period (CTA-17) has to be "Birthday Boy" from XIV?? Gawd, that one sucks.

 

I hated "Look Away," until I went to a strip club in early 1989 and saw a college classmate of mine pole dance to it.

 

Producer Jimmy Guercio played bass on "If You Leave Me Now" on record and on concerts, Terry handled the bass playing.

 

Pole Dancing Changes Everything.

 

The worst track on X ("You Get It Up") would be 13's best track. You are putting too much exaggeration beyond what is likely the case.
If you hate X that's fine. I love X and it is one of my favorite albums by Chicago. "Scrapbook" is a standout track together with "You Are On My Mind" and "If You Leave Me Now". I also love "Skintight", "Another Rainy day In New York City", and "Hope For Love" and like "Together Again", "Once Or Twice", "Mama Mama" and "Gently I'll Wake You".

 

I think the Beach Boys are all over X.
They're all over VII too.

 

I think this was the only Chicago album mastered by Doug Sax from the get-go.
The other albums were pressed in The Mastering Lab by Doug Sax.

Per Wikipedia:

Personnel (Chicago X)
Chicago

• Peter Cetera – bass, lead & backing vocals, possible acoustic guitar
• Laudir de Oliveira – percussion, vocals
• Terry Kath – electric & acoustic guitars, lead & backing vocals
• Robert Lamm – Hammond organ, piano, Fender Rhodes, clavinet, ARP 2600, tack piano, ARP String Ensemble, lead & backing vocals
• Lee Loughnane – trumpet, vocals, lead vocals on "Together Again"
• James Pankow – trombone, vocals, brass arrangements, lead vocals on "You Are on My Mind"
• Walter Parazaider – woodwinds, vocals
• Danny Seraphine – drums, vocals

Additional personnel

• David J. Wolinski – piano and mellotron on "Hope For Love"
• James William Guercio – acoustic guitar and bass on "If You Leave Me Now"; guitar on "Hope For Love"
• Othello Molineaux – steel drums on "Another Rainy Day in New York City"
• Leroy Williams – steel drums on "Another Rainy Day in New York City"
• Jimmie Haskell – string and french horn orchestration on "If You Leave Me Now"; string conductor on "Gently I'll Wake You"

Production

• Produced by James William Guercio
• Engineered by Wayne Tarnowski
• Assistant Engineer – Tom Likes
• Strings recorded by Armin Steiner at Sound Labs (Hollywood, CA)
• Mastered by Doug Sax
• Album Cover Concept – John Berg
• Logo Design – Nick Fasciano
• Candy Bar Photo – Columbia Records Photo Studio
• Inside Photography – Reid Miles

 

Outside of "Street Player" yes. But I was reserving my assessment for the "classic" period albums. Which is why I said they were the worst three songs they had written UP TO THAT POINT.

I don't hate X. But I don't have to LOVE it either. There is room for the middle, you know. I think Side 1 is as good as anything else they had done and I really like the sound of the album. I think it's the best sounding of the "classic" albums. I like the album a lot overall. But I don't like the songs on side 2. I think the 'classic' period of Chicago is nearly flawless, but it isn't perfect. The last 3 albums (VIII, X, XI) drop off and this one is the worst of the bunch because so much of side 2 is so weak, IMO. But "worst of the classic period" is still pretty good.

You know, it's OK it be critical of a band you like. Understanding their flaws and weaknesses only makes appreciating when they are great even sweeter. Anyone who loves anyone or anything so much that they think they can do no wrong isn't really loving them. That's just obsessive fandom.

But maybe that's just me. I'm a guy who's not afraid to tell his wife when her pants make her ass look big, either.

 

Chicago certainly don't need any detractors with 'fans' like they have....!

what's the point of a thread like this besides yet another umpteenth excuse to gleefully 'slag off' the band for later albums that some just can't help insulting...?

it's only opinions after all and someone's opinion is only that and NOT a fact as there will always be people who ENJOY your 'worst song' or album nomination...

I bet some are furious that numbers such as 'If You Leave Me Now', 'Hard To Say I'm Sorry', 'Hard Habit To Break', 'What Kind of Man Would I Be ?', 'Look Away' etc had the audacity to be BIG HITS and sell exceedingly well

no doubt some Terry Kath fans are furious re the 'post Kath' songs doing well...

some Peter Cetera fans are furious re the 'post Cetera' songs doing well...

some Horn section fans are furious the 'non Horns' songs did well...

ad nausium...

 

Well, first, I don't think it has anything to do with charts. Charts are not correlated with quality songwriting in my opinion (in that there's neither a positive nor a negative correlation). I'd also say that sales or commercial success in general, as well as career length, is not correlated with quality songwriting. There are plenty of artists who continue to write quality stuff but who have fallen out of fashion. There are plenty of artists who have sustained success who don't have very good songwriting behind them in my opinion. There are tons of factors that go into whether someone has chart or sales success, how long that lasts, and how long their career lasts in general.

But anyone who cares about the craft of songwriting/composition and who has some talent in that arena--and lots of folks count there, has far more than a couple good years of work in them, regardless of just how popular they are, regardless of whether they have chart success, etc.

 

It's not as if someone can't legitimately love all of someone's work though. People often act as if one is simply not being critical-minded at all if one loves all of someone's work. That doesn't follow.

 

Yes, there's a lot of carping. It's revealing how much Color My World is hated on this board. Whew... SMH...