By the time I caught up with Chicago in 1984 with their massive hit, Stay The Night, the band had already been around for almost two decades. Of course, in my young mind, I could have never fathomed that. Instead, much like Genesis and Fleetwood Mac, I'd swear up and down they were a product of the 80's. Further, much like Genesis vs. Phil Collins, I also wouldn't be able to differentiate between Chicago and Peter Cetera.
In fact, I don't think I even knew who Chicago were until after Cetera's hit, Glory Of Love for the 1986 blockbuster, The Karate Kid, Part II. Truthfully, even with how much I loved that movie and song as a kid, most of the tunes from the band were kind of sissy love songs. Massive hits, for sure, but sissy none the less.
Their storied history begins with the formation of Big Thing in 1967, formed by saxophonist Walter Parazaider, guitarist Terry Kath, drummer Danny Seraphine, trombonist James Pankow, trumpet player Lee Loughnane, and keyboardist / singer Robert Lamm. They focused on playing the top forty hits around Chicago around the local nightclubs. Soon thereafter, Cetera was invited to join.
Manager, James William Guercio, recommended the group move to Los Angelos, which they did, and began working on their own material. Columbia Records would sign them relatively quickly, and in doing so, the group changed their name to Chicago Transit Authority, releasing their 1969 debut under this name. This would be shortened to Chicago for their 1970 sophomore album and also begin a trend of titling albums with subsequent numbers, regardless of whether it was a studio, live, compilation, or box set. In the rare event that they'd go with a formal title, such as Chicago At Carnegie Hall, released after Chicago III, they'd immediately pick up with the numbering, such as Chicago V, which followed Carnegie Hall.
By the time 1980 hit, the band had reached their fourteen albums, releasing XIV that same year. They also had twelve platinum albums, and one gold leading up to this point. As such, it was a bit of a surprise that they entered the new decade failing to receive any sales certifications. XIV was considered a failure by Columbia as the album bombed. It was so bad that Columbia would buy out their contract for two million dollars and release them from the label. The agreement called for one final release, and to fulfill this obligation, Columbia released Greatest Hits, Volume II, AKA, Chicago 15.
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Frankly, when I bought the Chicago albums on my want list, XIV was not among them. Rather, it was 16, 17, 18, and 19. Among them, 17 is the only one I've previously done a Retro Spin on. XIV would only make its way to my collection recently, when I decided it was time to finish up my listening sessions of the band.
It's an album I'd looked at multiple times in the past, simply to check a box, but often shied away from. Of the Chicago albums from the 80's, it's definitely a little rarer, and as such, also a bit pricier than most. I came across a seller on Discogs who also had another album that I wanted and decided to go ahead and grab it when I saw it was considerably cheaper than most sellers were offering it for.
Playing through it, I felt it was going to be a complete and total bust. Nothing was resonating. Then out of nowhere, the track, Hold On, fired up, and it totally blew me away. More like this would have definitely made the album far superior, and candidly, I'm surprised nobody saw it as single worthy back in 1980. It's literally an album saver. Granted, it is only one track out of ten, which means it's one expensive song.
Without a label, things certainly looked bleak for the band. However, fortune would smile upon them in the form of Full Moon Records / Warner Bros. This new era of the band would bring about a change in sound, a return to platinum certifications, mainstream success, and massive top forty hits, not to mention a slew of music videos for MTV. Skipping over the aforementioned Greatest Hits, Volume II, I'll pick up tomorrow with 1982's Chicago 16.
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