I've always been a fan of the group but lately have become especially a fan of the horns- Walt , jimmy and Lee. Amazing they have been together for 50 years. Peter Cetera - my favorite bass player of all time Robert lamm - very cool dude who wrote excellent, almost meditative music Terry Kath - monster guitarist and vocalist As a group I think only the Beatles compare in all around groupdom
You mention everybody in the original lineup but Danny Seraphine. Awesome drums on those early albums. Every member of the original group was essential to what they accomplished.
That original group was very special. The rhythm section, especially with Kath and drummer Danny Seraphine had a very unique sound.
3 songwriters who actually wrote memorable material, 3 vocalists who split the duties evenly, and like you say everyone was essential to the overall sound. Not many groups that share these qualities, I think of the beatles and not anyone else
Even Laudir de Oliveira, the Brazillian percussionist who played with Sergio Mendes and was added to the original Chicago lineup in 1974 was a great percussionist.
He was an old school drummer whose style of drumming was similar to Bobby Colomby's style but I love his chops much better than the guy who replaced him (Tris Imboden).
One of my favorite bands. The unique sound they had (have) is a thrilling one to say the least. Chicago Transit Authority was one brilliant debut, as were most of the albums that followed (although I haven't heard much post-17, but XXV is great).
The original band (1969-1977) had a rare distinction of being a 70's supergroup and yet remained a faceless band. They let the music spoke for itself.
I really Chicago though I'm more of a fan of their 80's output. Peter Cetera is a very underatted vocalist IMO.
Chicago Transit Authroity, an excellent double album (and I got it on both CD and cassette!). See also Artist's Double Album is their Best Work.
I've been listening to the remix of Chicago II on and off for the last three weeks. A subtle remix to be sure but, after repeated listens,, has made me appreciate the album even more than I already did. One thing I never understood is why Terry Kath's brilliant, soaring guitar work took an increasing back seat as they went into the mid-seventies. The combination of his razor sharp playing and the horns was one of the things that made them unique on their first couple of albums. As time went on he became more of a background rhythm player which was all well and good, but left me wanting much more..
There are lots of Terry Kath's brilliant guitar work on "Chicago III"(1971) , "Chicago At Carnegie Hall" (1971) and "Chicago VII" (1974) specially the instrumental sides, "Byblos" and "Woman Don't Want To Love Me". I also love his short guitar solo at the end of the song "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long".
I was actually referring to the first three studio albums when i said "couple". You're right about the instrumental sides of VII; that's the final Chicago album I ever bought and, to be honest, go back to the least. Oversight on my part.
I really Chicago though I'm more of a fan of their 70's output. Peter Cetera is a very underated bassist, IMO.
The original Chicago which was one of the few bands that started as a jazz-rock band with horns, was not the kind of band that everybody expected to sell well and become a super group but they defied the odds (such as not being a critic favorite as one example) by becoming a successful outfit in both the album and singles charts and three decades later, they finally got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame just because of the body of work the original line up created from 1969-1977. Do you think their success as a band can be attributed to their songwriting abilities to produce hits and some good deep album tracks during their classic years (1969-1977) or was it because they were a band with three distinctive voices and a super-talented guitarist or a combination of all of these attributes?