Chicago II

Artist: Chicago
Label: Chicago Records
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Original recording reissued
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 703404300225
EAN: 0703404300225
ASIN: B0000021RD

Release Date: 1995-02-28

Chicago II

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General

| Jazz | Styles | Music

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| Pop | Styles | Music

Soft Rock

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Album-Oriented Rock (AOR)

| Classic Rock | Styles | Music

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Tracks:

Movin' In
The Road
Poem For The People
In The Country
Wake Up Sunshine
Make Me Smile
So Much To Say, So Much To Give
Anxiety's Moment
West Virginia Fantasies
Colour My World
To Be Free
Now More Than Ever
Fancy Colours
25 Or 6 To 4
Prelude
A.M. Mourning
P.M. Mourning
Memories Of Love
It Better End Soon 1st Movement
It Better End Soon 2nd Movement
It Better End Soon 3rd Movement
It Better End Soon 4th Movement
Where Do We Go From Here

Similar Items:

Chicago III
Chicago Transit Authority

Amazon.com

If there is one album that epitomizes Chicago's early rock-jazz synthesis along with their consummate, Top 40 instincts, this is it. Filled with memorable songs, impressive instrumental showcases, and great vocal performances, Chicago II displays the rock & brass ensemble at their early peak. Including classics like "Colour My World" and "25 or 6 to Four," this recording presents sparkling performances from three equally brilliant singers. The voices of Robert Lamm, Peter Cetera, and the late Terry Kath combined with particularly precise horn arrangements and exacting production by James William Guercio make this collection particularly noteworthy. Songs like "Make Me Smile" were swinging musical dramas with infectious singing and bold, melodic hooks. Recorded in 1969, II was musically progressive and exceptionally pop savvy. This is Chicago at their absolute best. --Mitch Myers

Customer Reviews:

Experimental and Beautiful; Progressive in its Day.......2006-04-07

After "Chicago Transit Authority" announced to the world the existence of this wonderful rock group, the question was whether the follow-up album would be as good as their debut. The follow-up is not as good, it is better.

In some ways this album shows a dichotomy in musical styles. Portions of the album are constructed as progressive rock. Other portions are pop or rock and jazz combinations. Some are nearly classical. Some reviews of the album hint at this dichotomy by noting what the reviewers consider to be unlistenable portions of the album. It is interesting to note that depending on the style of music the reviewer prefers, the portions considered unlistenable by different reviewers may be exactly opposite from each other.

The CD pulls together the two albums that originally made Chicago II. Two groups of tracks make suites. Tracks 6 through 12 are part of "Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon," and tracks 19 through 23 make up "It Better End Soon." There are five additional tracks leading up to the first suite, and six tracks between the two suites.

The five introductory tracks are blues-flavored rock. The fourth track, "In the Country," may remind some listeners of Three Dog Night. The other tracks in this group have the brass-flavored sound of "Chicago Transit Authority", but muted somewhat in comparison to the former album.

The first suite is a concept album, or side from the days of vinyl. Out of this suite came two singles, "Make Me Smile," which peaked at #9, and "Colour My World," for which I do not have a peak chart position. There is a lot of instrumental music in this group of tracks, and you can almost imagine these relatively short songs being one extended track, in the manner of progressive rock.

In the group of six songs between the two suites, several are noteworthy. "Fancy Colours" has a blues-jazz opening, but about a minute and a half into the song it transitions to a lighter, nearly pop sounding and faster song than the opening. The contrast is startling and makes you think the opening is a completely separate song from that after the transition. Robert Lamm wrote "25 or 6 to 4" when he was bleary-eyed and had stayed up too late. Knowing the origin of the song, the title nearly makes sense as you realize his brain wasn't working well when he tried to see what time it was. The next three instrumentals seem to form a mini-suite: "Prelude," "A.M. Mourning," and "P.M. Mourning." Given the style of the next song, "Memories of Love," you could possibly include that with the previous four selections. All four are mellow and heavily orchestral as opposed to typical rock.

The second suite begins with a fast rock beat. In the second movement a flute is prominent and though the bass and piano keep the beat moving, the instrumental has a strong jazz flavor. The third movement has a vocal part, with a strong blues flavor and a heavy beat. The fourth movement has a rock feel to it leading into the final song of the suite, "Where Do We Go from Here," which was released as a B-side single.

This album is amazing. The musical styles include jazz, blues, neo-classical, and rock. The combinations are broad enough and unusual enough to allow this music to be classified in a variety of genres. However, I choose to consider this album progressive rock because of the extended length of the suites and the unusual combination of styles. When considering the other groups considered progressive from this era, King Crimson, The Moody Blues, and Yes, it seems less of a stretch to consider this album progressive rock.

I have to address the one other issue brought up by some other reviewers regarding the sound of this CD. I was unaware that the masters had been destroyed at a fire. Regardless of what happened to the masters, this CD is an improvement over my vinyl album. I admit that perhaps in places the ranges, particularly the lower ranges, are not as well represented as they could or should have been. However, I would rather have this awesome work of art in its current form than not at all. Perhaps at some time in the future we will have the technology to take the recordings we do have and perform an even more advanced digital re-mastering. Until that time, I will enjoy this CD as it is.

Note that there is a later version of this CD available that contains the single versions of "Make Me Smile" and "25 or 6 to 4." I always enjoy extra tracks, but you will need to judge whether there is a difference in price between that version and this one, and whether the difference is valuable to you. Enjoy!

4.5 stars - excellent progressive pop album.......2004-05-07

Chicago (AKA Chicago II.) Chicago's second album, and the first to be released under the name Chicago.

In 1969, the Chicago Transit Authority released their self-titled debut album, which was one of the greatest progressive pop-rock releases of its time. The band gained almost instantaneous fame from its release. Unfortunately, following its release, the actual Chicago Transit Authority (the real life organization that bares that name) threatened legal action if the band didn't change its name. Not wanting to face such heat, the band shortened its name to Chicago. After a good deal of time recording in late 1969, the band released its second, self-titled LP in 1970. Read on for my review of it.

This album can really be divided into four different sections (I'm using the original LP designations for ease of reference.) They are Sides A, B, C, and D. Sides A and C are sets of tracks that follow similar stylings but aren't really related, while sides B and D are medleys. Side A, which is mostly blues-inspired pop rock, starts the album off. I had often wondered how blues rock that implemented horns would sound, and here Chicago answers that question - it sounds damn good! These first few tracks are, for the most part, severely underrated. Side B is the first of the two medleys present on the album. The medley as a whole is known as Ballet For A Girl In Buchanan. Tracks six through twelve make up this medley, and each one fades right into the next. This medley is nothing short of excellent. It includes Make Me Smile, which the band also released as a single. Side C is another set of tracks that aren't really related to one another, but they follow similar stylings. Inside this set of tracks is 25 Or 6 To 4, by far the most popular song to emerge from this LP. Robert Lamm wrote this song about being awake in the studio all night, and Peter Cetera's amazing vocals more than do it justice. It too was released as a single. The mini-suite, consisting of the three instrumentals Prelude, A.M. Mourning, P.M. Mourning, is also excellent. All of the tracks in the Side C set tend to lean more toward an orchestral theme than rock and roll (with the obvious exception of 25 Or 6 To 4, which is probably the hardest rocking song Chicago ever recorded.) And, of course, Side D finishes the album off. This medley is known as It Better End Soon, and it consists of the Movement tracks, tracks that while quite different seem to go together very well. It closes out with Where Do We Go From Here, which was the B Side to one of the album's singles. All in all, Chicago's self-titled sophomore effort is an excellent album that doesn't fall victim to the dreaded sophomore jinx.

In edition to expanded liner notes, this new reissue of the album features two bonus tracks - the single versions of Make Me Smile and 25 Or 6 To 4. These weren't really necessary inclusions since their full-length counterparts were on the original LP, but they're great for Chicago fans who will want to compare the different versions of the songs. Also, the album combines what was originally a dual LP set onto a single compact disc, so that's a huge convenience.

Overall, this was a great release for one of the soon-to-be greatest progressive pop-rock acts in the world. I personally liked the band's debut album released under the Chicago Transit Authority name better than I do this album, but my opinion is, rather obviously, in the minority - many fans of the band call this their finest hour. If you want progressive pop-rock that won't fail to please, purchase this album.

Chicago's excitement was their musical growth.......2003-12-02

Like a lot of these guys writing here (girls never cared much for Chicago in the early 70's), I've been rediscovering some classic rock, and Chicago more than most of these bands NEEDS rediscovering, since they got misplaced somewhere in the 80's. Along the way they turned into a soft-rock band and lost their roots, but most of us remember them as real musical path-setters. It's almost hard to remember how dominant they were, one of the top bands for at least five years.

Many of us played in high school bands and knew something about music. I often compare them to Blood Sweat and Tears, who were the first rock band to feature horns. BS&T had better soloists and covered some great arrangements, they were slicker and more polished than Chicago, more New York, if you will. BS&T brought rock to the music of Broadway and Frank Sinatra, but then along came Chicago, who did their own thing. Here was real rock with brass and saxes to develop the music, adding extra colors and flavors that were often missing (and still are). And many people were VERY grateful. On top of this they had a top-notch drummer in Danny Seraphin, who more than any member helped bring the music to life, and Terry Kath, an exciting guitarist who knew the rock vocabulary and could absolutely burn.

Chicago II was definitely their BEST album. The first one, Chicago Transit Authority, had some good songs and jams. But Chicago II is where the band showed its real promise. They relied less on heavy jams and more on varied tempos and textures. Songs like Movin In, In The Country and the great suite on side 2 showed some arranging genius that tickled and kept you off balance. The biggest hit, 25 of 6 to 4 (has anyone ever learned where the title came from?) featured a tremendous guitar solo combining jazzy improvisation with psychedelic wah-wah.

On the down side, Chicago was very weak in the lyrics department - in fact this was their ultimate downfall as a band, which kept them out of the top tier of Beatles-Stones-Springsteen-Eagles. They also lacked great singing - sometimes youre not sure WHAT the words are. Too often the songs included pseudo-revolutionary lyrics in anti-war songs that now sound like the ranting of a spoiled teenager. You suspect, listening to them now, that their producer told them this stuff would sell the music, and since the band only had a couple good love songs in them, the political pose was their next resort. The "Better End Soon" suite at the end is pretty disposable in this regard. At least they didn't glorify drugs, and once the Vietnam war was over, pop culture was ready to forgive them and let them transform into the mellow sound they adopted later on.

Yet you don't listen to Chicago II for the words. We didn't car much about all that stuff, we really wanted the rush of a band that could rock with powerful sounds, hinting of the jazz-rock fusion we would later come to love, but still mix it up with delicate and complex arrangements. So buy Chicago II not just to hear some musical history but to hear some good music that should NOT be forgotten.

Classic Chicago Album Only 2nd to the first.......2002-06-13

Chicago is a classic rock band that plays soulfully and wholeheartedly. If you buy this disc you will not at all be disappointed if you love musical variety. Chicago goes from hard rockin wah wah guitar solos to beautiful classical string sections all on one album, now thats musical diversity. Buy it today.

Classic Album, needs remastering.......2002-05-21

This is a great set of songs. Nice to have all four album sides on a single disc. How well I remember the days of vinyl, having to get up to flip or swap discs in order to hear the whole album!

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