Chicago X

Artist: Chicago
Label: Chicago Records
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

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

UPC: 703404301024
EAN: 0703404301024
ASIN: B0000021RR

Release Date: 1995-02-28

Chicago X

Related Categories:

General

| Pop | Styles | Music

Soft Rock

| Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock

| Pop | Styles | Music

General

| Rock | Styles | Music

Album-Oriented Rock (AOR)

| Classic Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock

| Pop | Indie Music | Stores | Music

Classic Rock

| Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music

Tracks:

Once Or Twice
You Are On My Mind
Skin Tight
If You Leave Me Now
Together Again
Another Rainy Day In New York City
Mama Mama
Scrapbook
Gently I'll Wake You
You Get It Up
Hope For Love

Similar Items:

Chicago VI
Chicago VIII

Customer Reviews:

On the Road to Pop.......2006-06-21

On the one hand, the style of "Chicago X" was much closer to pop than the challenging music of Chicago's earliest music. Thus fans of the first Chicago albums often decry the slow transition to pop. On the other hand, "Chicago X" offers outstanding music and a number of important milestones for the group. Additionally, while there were many more pop elements in this album than in previous albums, there were still sufficient jazz and blues influences in this album to recognize it as Chicago.

The album opens with several traditionally styled Chicago songs. The first is a jazz horn-driven love song, "Once or Twice." This Terry Kath song is powerful, fast, and upbeat. The song sets the upbeat tone for the rest of the album. The second song is "You Are on My Mind," a song of separation and love that opens in a mellow blues style that adds jazz elements. However, there is a break where the song speeds up and adds funk elements to momentarily change the style of the song before transitioning back to a jazz flavored song with a Latin tempo. This song hit #49 on the pop singles chart. The next song, "Skin Tight," is yet another love song, this time in a funk-flavored jazz style. This song remains upbeat, keeping with the opening song.

"If You Leave Me Now" was Chicago's first #1 song, on both the pop singles and adult contemporary charts. This beautiful pop ballad by Peter Cetera is stylistically different from Chicago's typical music, and the differences in musical direction would lead Peter to eventually leave the group. However, Peter's song revitalized Chicago's musical importance, generated new fans for the group, won two Grammys and likely helped the album to win a third, and instrumental in helping the album reach #3 on the pop charts. Further, the success of this song also influenced Chicago to head in a more pop oriented direction.

The previous song was but a temporary diversion, because "Together Again" by Lee Loughnane has a jazz influence. Yet again this song is a love song, which seems to be the theme for this album. "Another Rainy Day in New York City" by Robert Lamm follows. This song has steel drums and a reggae flavor. This song is the first song on this CD that is not a love or relationship song. This up tempo song has lyrics that should be at least a little sad, but the tempo keeps the song fun and relatively light. This song reached #2 on the adult contemporary charts and #32 on the pop singles chart.

Peter Cetera next sings "Mama Mama," a funky pop love song with horns. The musical accents betray the era of this above average Chicago song.

"Scrapbook" is an introspective song by Robert Lamm. The song is about the band, performing in various locations, hanging out with other groups, and recording at Caribou Ranch. The tempo continues upbeat even though the song talks about the stress of being on the road and the fights the group had. The instrumentals get very funky as the song closes out in a very mid-70s style. "Gently I'll Wake You" is another Robert Lamm song that has an opening that sounds heavily influenced by Harry Nilsson. The song breaks into funky portions, but returns again to the Nilsson-like sound; quite an interesting song that mixes two very different styles. The next track, "You Get It Up," yet another Robert Lamm song, has a fast jazz beat with a funk vocal style. I will let the listener figure out what this bawdy song is about.

The album closes with the mellow and beautiful Terry Kath song "Hope for Love." The only problems with this song are that it is a reminder of Chicago's earliest days and of the loss of Terry Kath. The mellotron touches and the vocal style provide a poignant end to contrast with the upbeat music leading to it. This song is a well-placed end to the original album.

There are at least three versions of this CD available. This version was released in 1995. There is also a 1990 release and a 2003 remaster that includes two bonus tracks. If you like Chicago's jazz influenced music you may prefer the version with the extra tracks. I think the extra tracks can be skipped unless you must have everything Chicago recorded. You may wish to survey the available versions to determine which version best meets your needs before buying.

This album has a stunning variety of music. The general tone is positive and enthusiastic. The album shows a lot of pop influence, both in the style and tone of the music and in the length of the songs, which are all under four minutes. There is a lot of jazz and blues influence, but the songs are generally pop. It is likely the pop style that caused this album to be the first Chicago album to be certified platinum, and Peter Cetera's beautiful ballad had to have been a critical part of the that success. While those of us who liked the early progressive rock-jazz Chicago albums may decry the transition of Chicago to a pop band, the album was a commercial and critical success well beyond any of those earlier albums, and further elevated the musical importance of Chicago in the mid-70s.

chicago X.......2005-07-27

1.ONCE OR TWICE 1/5=HORRIBLE KATH SONG THAT IS JUSTA NNOYING
2.YOU ARE ON MY MIND 3/5-DECENT SONG BY JIMMY PANKOW BUT NOTHING TOO SPECIAL
3.SKIN TIGHT 4/5 VERY CATCHY SONG DONE BY GOD :)~(PETER CETERA)
4.IF YOU LEAVE ME NOW 5/5 A PRIME EXAMPLE OF WHY PETER CETERA IS GOD :)
5.TOGETHER AGAIN 5/5 GREAT ROCKING SONG VERY CATHCY
6.ANOTHER RAINY DAY IN NEW YORK CITY 2/5 DEFINITLY NOT ONE OF ROBERT LAMM'S BEST COMPOSITIONS
7.MAMA MAMA 5/5 VERY GOOD CETERA SONG
8.SCRAPBOOK 4/5 CATCHY
9.GENTLY I WAKE YOU 2/5 NOT VERY GOOD
10.YOU GET IT UP 5/5 THIS IS A VERY SEXY SONG
11.HOPE FOR LOVE 3/5 MUCH BETTER THAN ONCE OR TWICE BUT NOT UP TO PAR WITH A L OT OF THE MATERIAL ON HERE
12.ID RATHER BE RICH(ORGINAL) 4/5 THE FIRST OF 2 BONUS TRACKS ON THIS DISC THIS SONG WOULD NOT BE PUT ON A CHICAGO ALBUM UNTIL CHICAGO 14 AND THIS VESION IS BETTER THAN THE ONE THE APPEARS ON THAT DISC
13.YOUR LOVE'S AN ATTITUDE 3/5 OK SONG BUT GET'S BORING AFTER A WHILE

WELL THERE YA HAVE IT OVERALL THIS IS A CD WORTH CHECKING OUT IT MAY NOT QUALIFY AS CHICAGO BEST WORK BUT IT'S PRETTY CLOSE

Great Chicago album.......2004-10-25

In some of my other reviews (Tower of Power & Crusaders) it sounded like I was dissing Chicago. They are a very good group and this album, in particular, proves it. On this album, they seem to be going for more of a pop-soul-rock hybrid which works very well. The funkiest song is "Skintight" (not the Ohio Players song) & the group really pulls it off. The ballad "Mama Mama" is nice. The Latin tinged "Another Rainy Day in New York City" is also very enjoyable. I remember it getting some airplay on the radio.

The monster hit "If You Leave Me Now" is one of the best light-rock songs of all time. When you listen closely, you can tell how well it was arranged. I believe it won a grammy for "Best Accompaniment for Vocals" and I can see why. I have a soft spot for a good light-rock song.

My very favorite song is "You Are On My Mind", a breezy, uptempo tune which should have been a major hit. It sure sounded better than a lot of the stuff that was coming out of the radio in early 1977. To me, the song a had a bit of a Motown feel to it.

What keeps this from being a 5 star album are a few uneven portions, but nothing is really bad. I also think that Chicago gets underrated as a blue eyed soul group. While not strictly blue eyed soul, many of their songs have that feel bubbling underneath.

Anway, I'm sure Chicago fans already own this one. I would even hazard to say that if you are interested in checking out Chicago beyond a Greatest Hits album, you may want to check this one out. Good stuff!

Melts in your Ears.......2002-01-11

Chicago X provides ten examples of how the band can successfully play all styles of music.

"Once or Twice" and "You are On My Mind" were written by Terry Kath and Jimmy Pankow, two of the band's best. They provide good solid upbeat tempos to open the CD.

"Skin Tight" snazzes things up a bit laying a sharp ending which leads into the soothing ballad "If You Leave Me Now". It's interesting how the band chose this song as the release, not representative of the CD's different styles. "Together Again" represents an expectedly well written piece by Lee Loughnue, the band's trumpter. "A Rainy Day in New York City" is an upbeat almost Reggae sounding tune which demonstrates a flare of Robert Lamm's song writing originality -- while he still had it.

"Momma Momma" represents a smooth ballad which provides tranquility in any moment. "Scrapbook" provides a flashy driving summary of where the band's come from.

"Gently I Wake You" is a multi-climatic ballad, warming things up for the dancable "You Get it Up".

"Hope for Love" is a heart filled ballet which demonstrates Terry Kath's ability to compose great works of all paces.

There's something for everyone in Chicago X. It's unfortunate more of the band's later albums were not like this.

Music Album:

Music Album

Music Album

Music

Nightcap ~ Marilyn Scott

Public Jazz Lounge ~ Joo Kraus & The SWR Big Band

Live in Holland

At the End of the Beginning ~ Phil Forbes

Razorback ~ I.N.C. (Indestructable Noise Command)

Puttin' on the Style: 70 Love Songs ~ Tommy Scott

Davon Traumen Alle Jungen Leute ~ Rene Kollo

O ~ B Dash

Virtues&Vices ~ Mr Moonlight

Rhythm Celebrity ~ Neo