Chicago: The Chicago Transit Authority (1969)
Buy This CD!I know, I know, the name Chicago might get many of you running like hell. Cheesy hit ballads like “You’re the Inspiration” is enough to make me run as well. But that was another era: the 1980s. Genesis was also making cheesy hit ballads by then (that were pretty indistinguishible from the solo stuff Phil Collins did). But like Genesis, Chicago had an earlier history that gave them much more credibility. They were much better!
In the spring of 1969 the band who was then known as The Chicago Transit Authority released their debut album. The real Chicago Transity Authority (the city’s public transit system) didn’t quite like the band using that name so the band was simply changed to just Chicago shortly thereafter.
1969 was a popular year for big band rock. Blood, Sweat & Tears was riding high on their self-entitled second album (the debut with David Clayton-Thomas), and that band was managed by James William Guercio. Guercio wanted to duplicate BS&T’s success with Chicago, and succeeded he did (Chicago’s popularity way outlasted BS&T, BS&T’s popularity didn’t last much past 1971, while Chicago got bigger and bigger into the 1980s, unfortunately becoming crappier as time went on).
The band consisted of guitarist Terry Kath, bassist Peter Cetera, keyboardist Robert Lamm, and drummer Daniel Seraphine, with three horn players: James Pankow on trombone, Lee Loughnane on trumpet, and Walter Parazaider on other wind instruments (like flute, sax, etc.). Terry Kath, Peter Cetera, and Robert Lamm does the vocal duties here.
I have constantly heard that the Chicago Transit Authority album is the first ’70s album of the ’60s. I have to agree, this band knew right away if they did something like The Lemon Pipers, they’d end up in a dead-end real fast, so they obviously created music that was to last them the new decade, especially when they realize they had the 1970s to take on.
At this early in their career, the band included pop, jazz and blues into their music, and they succeeded. It’s not too often a band would record their debut as a double LP set, but Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention (Freak Out) was one, and Chicago was the other. Chicago would not release a single LP set until 1972 (Chicago V), they would release two more double LP sets (Chicago II and III), and a monster live four LP box set (Live at Carnegie Hall) before bothering with that single LP set. “Introduction” is actually a real song, despite the title. This is Terry Kath’s song, and he handles the vocals, and it shows that he has a bluesier voice. The song starts right away with nice horn arrangements and nice organ work from Robert Lamm. The music goes through several changes, including a nice trumpet solo from James Pankow. The next two song are familiar to anyone who listened to the radio: “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is” and “Beginnings”. Robert Lamm was responsible for these songs, and no surprise they were the more pop-oriented songs on this album. At least they are miles better than the cheesy crap Peter Cetera would inflict us in the ’80s. Neither songs were immediate hits, they became hits after the second and even third albums came out (1970-71). “Questions 67 & 68” was also written by Robert Lamm, but in this case it was Peter Cetera handling the vocals. He has that unmistakable high pitched voice, but unlike “You’re the Inspiration”, it’s much easier to take in. Again, a more pop-oriented song. Robert Lamm gave us the short but wonderful “Listen”. Great song, with great horn arrangements. Things start getting more adventurous with another Robert Lamm composition, this time “Poem 58”. It features an extended guitar jam from Terry Kath, then eventually the vocals kick in, and you can tell it’s a rather bluesy number. Terry Kath gives us “Free Form Guitar”, which many people think is the low-point of the album. Basically this is a bunch of feedback and distortion. I can understand why he’d do this: he was big on Hendrix and Hendrix was well known for including lots of distortion and feedback. This piece reminds me of Hendrix playing “The Star Spangled Banner” without playing “The Star Spangled Banner”, basically. Back to music with “South California Purples” is very much like “Poem 58”, with a strong bluesy feel, then comes a creative cover of the Spencer Davis Group’s “I’m a Man”. Having heard the original, I’m happy to say the Chicago put their own creative stamp on it, especially with that extended percussion solo. The original was much more radio friendly than Chicago’s yet I have heard Chicago’s version on the FM dial from time to time. The band expressed their social and political views with “Prologue, August 29, 1968” and “Someday (August 29, 1968)”, starting off with a recording of protesters at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in ’68 chanting “The whole world is watching”, before the actual music kicks in. Both Robert Lamm and Peter Cetera handle vocal duties showing their concern about the riots and Mayor Richard Daley, more or less. The final cut is an extended jam, “Liberation”, largely consisting of a guitar solo from Terry Kath, but then there’s a short experimental passage, before settling down at the end with some nice horn arrangements.
Well, what can I say, I’m happy to say that Chicago wasn’t always the unbearably cheesy hitmaking machine they later became. This debut album shows that the band had plenty of credibility, and lots of great material to back it up. So get this album, you’re attitude toward Chicago might change. If you already have this album (many do), then you already know. Great stuff!
– Robert Lamm: keyboards, vocals
– Peter Cetera: bass, vocals
– Terry Kath: guitars, vocals
– Daniel Seraphine: drums, percussion
– Walter Parazaider: woodwinds, background vocals
– Lee Loughnane: trumpet
– James Pankow: trombone