Moms music- Chicago

I would say that Chicago was my answer as unhippest band of all time. They were the soundtrack to the middle school/grade school slow dances of the 80s (that predated the era of “metal” power ballads). It was Chicago and Peter Cetera first together and the separately, that ruled the day. 12 Top 40 hits for Chicago (nearly all in the Top 20) on that decade while Cetera had 3 songs he took Top Ten. Now, of course Chicago had slowly evolved from a Jazz Rock band to a Ballad band. I will never forget one of the first documentaries I ever watched on “punk rock” and it juxtaposed the band’s 1976 #1 “If You Leave Me Now” and the band Bread with the Dead Boys “Caught with the Meat in Your Mouth”. It is hard to argue the cause and effect or a bigger selling point for punk. But strangely, I have come around a bit to Chicago. I have been exposed to their earlier albums and have come to enjoy them. Like many, I think my entry into Chicago is the guitar heroics of Terry Kath. Kath famously is attributed as being one of Jimi Hendrix’s favorite guitarists and the fact occasionally goes viral. The troubled Kath died in 1978 of an unintentional self inflicted gunshot, leaving a “what if” in terms of what he would have done in the 80s either in term of staying with the band or going solo. If asked, my favorite Chicago track is a guilty pleasure ballad. 1974s “Wishing You were Here”. A song that is unusual in that Kath plays bass and bassist Cetera plays lead guitar. It is also a more radio oriented song despite the band still largely being in their jazz and prog phase. It’s also too low for Cetera to sing (although he wrote it), so Kath takes lead vocals. I particularly love how Kath drives the song with mellow soul but the interplay with Cetera singing the bridge (and backing vocals by The Beach Boys) add up to something really special. I have added “Chicago V” from my #momsrecords. It’s pretty much in line with the bands early material but does have the radio hit “Saturday in the Park”. “Saturday..” is a moment in time for the band. Songwriting duties will largely pass from Richard Lamm to Cetera or James Pankow after this album It’s an overplayed song by now of course but Lamm (who wrote it) really is able to showcase the talent of all involved and giving real spotlight to Cetera and Kath. The effect is either Beatlesque or maybe “wimp rock” depending on your perspective, but it’s truly an Evergreen now. Chicago V might be that album that determines if the band is for you. It has a lot of the ambition of their early iteration which may or may not be your jam. The opening track namedrops Edgar Varese, and although it doesn’t necessarily sound like his stuff, it’s rare to see his name mentioned by anyone in rock outside individuals like Frank Zappa and John Zorn. “Dialogue” starts as just that- a sort of hippy dippy conversation between Kath and Cetera, not exactly Gil Scott-Heron, concluding with the positive alternating mantra of “we can save the children” and “we can make it happen”. It then turns into the kind of early 70s funk/jazz/rock jam that was popular at the time with the band members showcasing their instrumental skills. Not for everyone but it’s also what Chicago does best and is catchy as all heck. Later in the album, Kath takes point on “Alma Mater”- an oddity on this album, which Allmusic not wrongly compares to Randy Newman in its sensibility. Kath is still probably my favorite part of the band, but I have really grown to love Cetera's voice especially the way it sounds within in the multiple-singer aspect of the early band. I’m not sure if my journey with Chicago will continue after the heavy rotation of this disc in recent weeks. Still, I appreciate the time spent with it.