Chicago, The #13 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Two

 

(Continued from Part One)

 

The unconventional rock and roll band with horns released another double album in 1971, Chicago III, which reached #2.  "Free", written by Lamm, is part of the "Travel Suite" on the album and peaked at #20.

 "Lowdown" is the third of six episodes of the "Travel Suite" and another contribution from Cetera.  Kath used a fuzzbox and wah-wah pedal for the track.

The album Chicago at Carnegie Hall featured live performances of music in their catalog during a record-setting week-long run at Carnegie Hall.  The band included political messaging about how young can change "The System" as well as posters and voter registration information.

In 1972, Cetera, Kath, Loughnane, and Parazaider appeared in the movie Electra Glide, which Guercio produced and directed.  Several of Chicago's songs are featured on the soundtrack.  

 Chicago won a Trendsetter Award from Billboard magazine.  The band released the album Chicago V, their first #1 album.  "Saturday In The Park", written by Lamm, was a huge hit, hitting #3 amongst good competition.  Lamm wrote it after experiencing a 4th of July celebration in New York City's Central Park.  The classic also hit #2 in Canada and sold over one million copies.

"Dialogue (Part I & II)" represented a "musical debate" between an activist (Kath's part) and an apathetic college student (represented by Cetera).  The song ends with the group singing the optimistic a cappella "We can make it happen."

 Chicago appeared in the television special Duke Ellington...We Love You Madly on CBS, in which they performed Duke's "Jump For Joy".  The group hired Brazilian jazz percussionist Laudir de Oliveira to spice up their sound.  Cetera by this time was the group's lead singer, and the group released the album Chicago VI in 1973.  The ever-building "Feelin' Stronger Every Day" hit #10 for the band.  Cetera said in a 1991 interview that while the song is about "both healing and moving on after the end of a relationship," it could just as well apply to how the group was continuing to make inroads with two straight #1 albums.

Pankow wrote this song after a fight with future wife Karen.  As he recalled in a 2019 interview with Billboard:

              We had had a huge fight, it was a nasty 

              lovers' quarrel, if you will. She locked 

              herself in the bathroom and wouldn't come 

              out...'Just You 'n' Me' poured out of me in its

              entirety. Usually when I write songs I come

              up with an idea for a chorus or a hook and

              fill in the blanks in stages. This was a 

              moment of clarity I've never experienced

              before or after. It remains a special event in

              my songwriting experience.

One of the group's signature songs, "Just You 'N' Me" was released as the follow-up, another million-seller that shot up to #3 in Canada and #4 in the U.S.

 

The band starred in the Dick Clark-produced television special Chicago in the Rockies on ABC, filmed at Guercio's Caribou Ranch in Colorado.  "What's This World Comin' To" features all three main lead vocalists (Lamm, Cetera and Kath), the first time Chicago had done that since "I'm A Man".  

 "Beyond All Our Sorrows" is a heartbreaking honest assessment of Kath of his demons, particularly gut-wrenching because of the tragedy that would soon befall him.  The track is a solo demo from Kath that did not appear on the album until the 2002 re-release.

The album, recorded at Guercio's newly-finished Caribou Studios in Nederland, Colorado, has now been certified Double Platinum.  Up to this point, Chicago had recorded most of the material on their albums in New York City, but Caribou would be their home recording base for the next four years.  "Something In This City Changes People" is a standout track on the album.

 Chicago returned to a double album for the 1974 release Chicago VII, which was a return to more of the Jazz influences that had been largely absent on their previous two releases.   "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long" led the way, a #5 smash.  Pankow's great song here begins with Lamm's electric keyboard over the top of strings and continued to build to the climax when Kath's rocking solo kicks in. 

The group starred in another ABC television special, Chicago...Meanwhile Back at the Ranch.

 

With the release of the album, all previous albums also re-entered the Albums chart, making Chicago only the seventh artist to achieve that feat.  Loughnane's first songwriting effort, "Call On Me", was a #1 Adult song that reached #6 overall.

 

The next single presented two of the greatest American (and all-time!) groups of all-time on one song--Chicago with the Beach Boys.  With a peak of #11, it is easily one of The Top Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*.  Cetera wrote it, although Kath sang most of the lead vocals.

Seeing the possibilities that existed when they enjoyed a hit in 1974 with the Beach Boys, the two acts went on tour together, with each act performing separately and then coming together for the finale.  Guercio played bass for the Beach Boys, with all 17 musicians coming on stage to perform "Wishing You Were Here".  

Guercio wanted more Rock numbers and ballads that the group had become famous for, while several members of the group wanted strictly jazz songs.  The result was a compromise and the group's first double album since Chicago III.  One album features Jazz-infused songs with the other more to Guercio's liking.  "Aire" features complex rhythms and the pounding of congas and other percussion, much courtesy of future group percussionist Laudir deOlivera.

 

Chicago won the People's Choice Award in 1975 for Favorite Group.  Cetera was the member who made the most strides in his songwriting on this album--he wrote "Wishing You Were Here" as well as "Happy Man".

Chicago was firmly entrenched as a supergroup by this time.  But they hadn't reached the stratosphere necessary for a ranking as The #13 Artist of the Rock Era*.  Join us for the music that earned them the points necessary in Parts Three and Four!