To say Chicago is one of the great rock bands of all-time would be a wild understatement. Their career started in 1967 and in one way or another they are still around. If one had the good fortune to see Chicago during their heyday one could honestly look in the mirror and say to self they were one of the best live acts ever. In my own checklist, Chicago would be on that list with Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney and Little Feat. I never saw Elvis Presley live on stage. I'm a bit too young, but I gather I missed one of the greatest live performers there ever was.
Chicago was an original. No band in the rock era had ever attempted to top the charts with a horn section and in their case, a horn section that could have provided their craftsmanship and their artistry to the great acts of those cherished artists from the Depression era/World War II period. Chicago took that brass and turned it into a rock solid moneymaker, but far more importantly a hit making machine with loads of talent from every member of the band.
There is a great deal of history to the band and I will certainly not detail their biographical chart. To sum up their fame in the proverbial nutshell of one paragraph, they famously were the first rock act to sell out Carnegie Hall for an entire week back in 1971. Other musicians respected their work. That's always the compliment one would want to hear or read about. Their first album, Chicago Transit Authority was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (their original name was Chicago Transit Authority, but the notorious CTA made them change it - what idiots - the CTA, not the band). They were rewarded with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020; and they finally got voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016. By the way, this was 24 years after they were first eligible. Imagine doing this to one of the most critically acclaimed, at least in the first decade of their career and certainly one of the most commercially successful acts of all time (over 100 million records sold).
Since I am a purist, I only mention the names of the original and magnificent seven. Peter Cetera, Terry Kath, Robert Lamm, Lee Loughnane, James Pankow, Walt Parazaider and Danny Seraphine. These men were Chicago and from the perspective of 50+ years of history, will always be Chicago. This was the formation for those songs that mattered. When I say I'm a purist, I mean to define pure regarding music. Only Jesus Christ is completely pure, but as far as music goes -- According to the Collins English Dictionary, "If you describe something as pure, you mean that it is very clear and represents a perfect example of its type." Chicago - the original band members represented a perfect example of its type.
This post is dedicated to clarinet/flute master, Walt Parazaider who announced in 2021 he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. My beloved dad lived with the dreaded disease for 12 years and succumbed to it eventually. Some numbers indicate there are some 40 million people currently living on planet earth with Alzheimer's. Those numbers include 14 million Americans. That would be close to 5% of the U.S. population. When you listen to Colour My World, stop and hear Walt's beautiful flute playing on the track.
Here are the top ten greatest songs by Chicago.
1) Beginnings - Robert Lamm composed this illustrious and timeless piece of music. The melody is superb, the lyrics are romantic (what on earth do people fall in love to today?) and his lead vocal is like listening to a modern day Mr. Darcy singing to his Elizabeth Bennett. How does one not admire the creativity behind the line " the color of chills all over my body." Robert Lamm was either totally stoned or his creativity levels were creeping up at a high tilt. Just for the sheer benefit of the doubt I will say the latter as opposed to the former. Robert Lamm, who looked like he just stepped out of a Jane Austen novel was a wildly underrated musician/singer, but he was even more undervalued as a songwriter. In the early years of Chicago the band was blessed with three excellent lead vocalists, Lamm, Terry Kath and Peter Cetera. Why Lamm stopped singing lead as the band progressed beyond the 1970's is beyond my guess.
Beginnings is joyful, energetic and proves within the confines of even one song what superb musicians each of the band members were. These were a group of consequentially gifted guys. Listen to Cetera's bass line. Danny Seraphine's drumming was flashy at times, but more importantly he was significantly credible. Seraphine didn't just keep time. He was musical. I love this song! I could play it on a daily basis and never tire of its sheer dripping with joy! A thousand different feelings.
2) Make Me Smile - James Pankow wrote what would become Chicago's first top ten single. It was released way back in early 1970 and it is one song of many that highlights their absolutely outstanding musicianship. Chicago was for all intents and purposes the first real rock band to use horns, even though The Beatles (of course, they did) used horns sporadically on some tracks and most notably on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Doors even came in to use horns on their 1969 smash hit Touch Me, but Chicago utilized brass on nearly every track and nobody did it better. They were unique. No one sounded like Chicago. A rock/jazz band filled with musicians who literally could have played with Glenn Miller, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey and Artie Shaw. Needless to say, the big band giants of the Depression/World War II era produced some milestone musical pieces and their musicians were among the best musicians of the twentieth century. Members of Chicago would have fit in just fine.
Terry Kath was surely one of the best rock vocalists the era produced. He rises high in the annals of great rock singers. He's up there with Paul Rodgers, Lou Gramm, Freddie Mercury, Steve Perry, Stephen Stills, Elvis Presley and Lennon and McCartney. Kath rarely gets credited this way, but wow what a talent was lost with his early death.
The introduction on Make Me Smile and then that absolutely brilliant (a word used too often, but applicable here) ending are moments to savor. I hear young people listening to the same noise over and over again. It's not even music. It's just noise. Music is played by musicians. Chicago were musicians. Make Me Smile is a complicated piece of music. If you play you will know what I mean.
3) Dialogue (Part 1 & 2) - Robert Lamm wrote this song and it appears on Chicago V (in hindsight, it would have been nice to have taken all of their creativity and used it to name their albums in a more memorable way). The song was released in 1972 during a chaotic period including involvement in the Vietnam War. It is rare to have an actual dialogue in a song outside of a feature film or Broadway score. The late Terry Kath sings the first person dialogue and his character is caught up in the sadness and madness of the world. Peter Cetera comes in to do the latter half of the back and forth and he's a happy camper not caught up in the world. The song goes in to a Part 2 and it is the band singing en masse and it completely comes to a close a capella. Their diverse worldviews are accentuated throughout. Looking back on the song more than five decades later you actually get both sides which attests to the brilliance and even the prophetic aspects of the song.
Dialogue (Part 1 & 2) is a masterpiece. I will repeat that, it is a masterpiece. Chicago (I write on reflection of the original seven members during this entire post) not only was filled with superb musicians, but they were intelligent. These guys harnessed their formal educations at DePaul University and Roosevelt University to mastermind one of the most prolific acts in modern musical history. This song was released during a time when attending university/college actually meant something. Imagine coming up with the dialogue and then making it challenge the intellect, the worldview, the thoughts of the day. Don't hate people because they don't agree with you.
Terry Kath was a virtuoso guitar player. His solos are worth the songs in many cases. We Can Make It Happen! Oh yes, they could and so can we, but we have to get off of our phones and do something!
4) Feelin' Stronger Every Day - This song should be a jolt used in locations where people are not having a good day. I dare anyone to listen to this song and not feel good even if it only lasts for as long as the song. Based on how much airplay it continues to receive I am going to assume it is the most popular track by the band. Peter Cetera and James Pankow composed this track. Even though Pankow cowrote the song the horns are pretty much laid to rest on this track.
These were tight musicians who knew their way around the concept and reality of a melody. Chicago, in their heyday were one of the best live acts ever. Even as they aged they still delivered enviable performances, but if you saw them back in "the day" you will remember vividly what their stage performances were capable of.
Not exactly a rousing intellectual feat lyrically, but if you can carry a tune, wow what fun can be had belting this one out at a Karaoke bar. Of course, I've only done this once, but I still remember quite vividly what it felt like to sing such get out of the seat happiness via a song! Time signatures. Study up!
5) Hard To Say I'm Sorry/Get Away - Cetera wrote this song with David Foster. That sentence pains me, but this is one superb song. It is also one of the last songs powered by the band that is still what made Chicago, Chicago. Cetera began steering the band away from their traditional path and took them down the pansy path of pop. Having said that, Cetera had a memorable and gifted voice, but obviously he was not looking to stay and he sure wasn't going to say he was sorry. The latter half of this musical composition is Get Away written by the always reliable Robert Lamm. Radio stations always remove Get Away from their airplay. I have wonderful memories of that summer in 1982 and if you were alive at the time you quite literally couldn't escape hearing this song. Roll down the window and blast that song. You will feel good. Once again, like Feelin' Stronger Every Day before it, Chicago knew how to amp up a few minutes of pure fulfillment by the joy of music.
Cetera was capable of delivering emotional lines without sounding over the top. In videos he looked at times strained, but vocally he was all truthful and meaningful emotion.
6) Colour My World - First off, I love the British spelling of the world Colour. I have no idea why James Pankow did this, but it doesn't matter. Looking at it in print form all these years later it just makes it sound more poetic and this song is poetry in lyrical motion.
In the 1970's there wasn't a prom, school dance, homecoming event or wedding that didn't have this song on the top of the play list. It became an all consuming musical moment to say the least. Pankow wrote it and and Terry Kath sang it with all the passion and longing any vocalist could possibly provide. That flute solo by Walt Parazaider is a stunner. Oddly, there is only one verse in this song. We needed more.
"As time goes on I realize just what you mean to me." That is the opening line to the song. Romance in music doesn't come any more beautifully than that line. Well, Paul McCartney's Here, There and Everywhere tops it (written for his beautiful Titian haired fiancee, Jane Asher).
7) I've Been Searchin' So Long - James Pankow wrote this dream-like, almost haunting piece of music. No one would accuse Pankow of being a talented lyricist, but melodically he was one of the best tunesmiths that an American rock band gifted us with. In addition to the band, there is an entire orchestra that joins in as the music escalates to take us to another place. The best music always takes us somewhere and this song certainly fits that tradition. Cetera's vocal is powerful on this song. He intensifies the spirit of the lyrics with absolutely fantastic backing by his musical comrades.
One of the key elements in music is the arrangement. Few bands could touch the arranging skills of the members of Chicago. Listening to the music sometimes would mean sitting down and listening to the music. If you love music it isn't just background filler. Pankow and Lamm in particular were mesmerizing in their ability to craft a song with their arrangements. Pankow, in particular could have done horns for some master class in classical music.
8) Mongonucleosis - My eldest brother would play this song everyday for about three months. No exaggeration. He'd get ready for the day with this hyper display of jazzy, Latin American music. Certainly no other "rock" band would have recorded and released Mongonucleosis. Well, maybe Santana, but Carlos is Latin-American. It is so different and downright fun it had to be added to the list.
Once again, kudos to Terry Kath who was a full-body guitar player without a single hint of strutting his musical gifts. Clearly, this was who he was and what he was. This song is in many ways, the one song on this list that is all about the brass section. It was what separated this band from all other bands.
9) Happy Man - Peter Cetera wrote this lovely ballad and what makes it a significant song is that it is not a cookie cutter style romantic ballad. It is an adult song loaded with depth and maturity. Cetera was a graciously good singer who had perfect pitch. If you are a Chicago fan you will end this post by noting of the ten songs on this list, four of them come from Chicago VII. Chicago VII was a double album and their finest achievement in recording. Call on Me is also on that album and that illustrious tune didn't make the cut.
10) Skinny Boy - Robert Lamm composed this song for his first solo album. When that effort failed this song was used on Chicago VII. Once again, Lamm proves to be not only the best lyricist in the band, but also a stylized tunesmith who was able to drift off in various directions. No one in their right mind would peg this as a Chicago song. That was another reason why they were so good. Chicago was undervalued every which way you turned.
The lyrics here sound like a significantly older man reflecting back on his life. When Lamm composed this song he was still in his 20's. Note the backing singers are the Pointer Sisters. A nice addition to the track and this song holds up well under the fog of many years having passed. None of their songs are dated. Amazing when you think of it.
Chicago was comprised of seven men with special abilities. Thank you to Peter Cetera, Terry Kath, Robert Lamm, Lee Loughnane, James Pankow, Walt Parazaider, Danny Seraphine
Copyright The Flaming Nose 2022
