Chicago Album: “Chicago VII”

CHICAGO VII was originally released in March 1974, quickly hitting # 1 and eventually spawning three big hit singles. Initially it was planned as a jazz record (hence the first 5 instrumental - and highly enjoyable - tracks) but with commercial concerns, they soon included a fresh selection of conventional pop tunes. Of the hits, you'll find "I've Been Searchin' So Long", "Call On Me" and "Wishing You Were Here" (with three of The Beach Boys), however many of the highlights are the non-hits, such as "Happy Man" (which has lost its false start on the original album - the only negative thing about the re-issue), the jazz workouts "Aire" and "Devil's Sweet", "Song Of The Evergreens", "Byblos" (one of Terry Kath's finest moments) and Robert Lamm's "Skinny Boy" (with The Pointer Sisters on backups). This was Chicago's last studio double album and their last truly experimental album - recorded at a time when they could do no wrong. The ballads were starting to seep through more but thankfully, Chicago still were in a creatively ambitious mood. It is not a surprise that CHICAGO VII is a personal favorite of many fans. It's one of mine. The Rhino re-issue itself is another great one and has faithfully restored the original artwork. I just wish that "Happy Man" had been left in its original state, but that is a minor quibble in the face of a fine re-release. One of 1974's most satisfying albums.

This is where the band peaked---at the height of their popularity, they stretched out and took chances and it worked. After their two great initial albums, the double album format had began to become a bit strained by Chicago III. Two great single disc sets followed, but nobody was really expecting the foray into jazz that they took on Chicago VII. Originally it was planned to be an entire jazz album. Instead it's a double album which transitions nicely from the jazz to the standard pop material.

The first side of the original LP disc one is all jazz instrumentals: "Prelude to Aire", "Aire" and "Devil's Sweet"--all as good as any jazz/rock fusion coming out during the era. There's a nice latin tinge to this stuff with percussion from Laudir DeOliveria, who would later become a full-fledged member of the band. A later interview with James Pankow revealed that Terry Kath insisted on adding a percussionist to the band because of his increasing frustration with Danny Seraphine's inconsistant tempos during their live performances. Whatever the reason, the latin percussion sends the music in a nice direction.

Side Two opens with the experimental "Italian From New York" and "Hanky Panky", a nice jazz ditty giving us some classic Chicago brass sounds and a great trombone solo from Pankow. When we first hear a voice on the record---1 minute and a half into "Life Saver" and some 27 minutes into the CD, we still don't get anything traditional---we get Robert Lamm sounding as if he's singing through a megaphone. But this is a good solid Lamm rocker and a nice transition to the rest of the album. Side two closes with Peter Cetera's "Happy Man". This is one of my favorite Cetera ballads, and was one of my favorites on the album back in 1974. We had no idea then that just ballads would become his tradmark in a few short years.

Side Three opens with (I've Been) Searchin' So Long. Heavy on orchestration, this nevertheless is one of Pankow's best ballads and one of their biggest hits. It seques into the Tijuana Brass-esque "Mongonucleois" a fun and enjoyable Pankow instrumental. Up next is the moody rocker "Song of the Evergreens" from Terry Kath. This features the first time someone other than Kath, Lamm or Cetera sang lead on a Chicago song---here it's Lee Loughnane singing. Strangely enough, he sounds like a weak Terry Kath. His vocal is nice enough, but it seems pointless that Kath didn't sing it himself. Next is "Byblos", another atmospheric ballad from Kath that is one of the best things he ever wrote. Other than Kath and Seraphine, no one else from the band appears on this track.

Side Four gives us Cetera's "Wishing You Were Here". Written at the last minute as a vehicle for the Beach Boys to sing on, this became one of their biggest hits. One question I've always had is--who sings the verse on this song? The credits list Cetera as the only lead singer, but unless this is a low register of his we've never heard, it doesn't really sound like him. I've seen some sources list Terry Kath as the singer, but it doesn't sound that much like him either.

Next is Lee Loughnane's "Call On Me". His first songwriting attempt would prove to be his best. Another huge hit for the band. Next we hear the band try to get a bit funky with Lamm's "Women Don't Want To Love Me", with a lot of clavinet and funky wah-wah guitar. The album closes the soulful "Skinny Boy" featuring the Pointer Sisters on background vocals. The long slow fade is an appropriate way to end this classic album. There's a lot of diversity on this set and it all comes together in a way that only a band as 'hot' as Chicago was in 1974 could pull off.

The CD includes an earlier, must faster version of "Byblos" as a bonus track that is a nice way of showing how songs change during the writing and recording process.

How could it happen that Chicago became a pop-hits machine after Chicago VII? After listening the remastered version of this fantastic album I just say that this was the last excellent music they did.

The songs "Aire, prelude and Devil's sweet" songs are performed in what I consider the peak in the chicago musical career.

"Byblos" is one of the most introspected songs of Tery Kath and I have to say that the new version included in the bonus tracks is better than the original one. It's more vivid.

One of my favorite life time chicago songs is "Call on me" maybe because I'm a latin from Mexico City.

As Danny Seraphine (the excellent original drummer) has stated, after Chicago VII, they lost a legion of loyal fans that hated the ballads.

If you are a new musical searcher of excellent bands from the 70's, this band and this New remastered version of Chicago VII must be in your catalogue. An incredible band always rejected by the critics. Just listen.

This is Chicago's best album, quite simply. The pop is hip and the jazz is real. I just came back to it after many years away and found it as enjoyable as ever. We all know that most music does not demonstrate such resiliency. This recording can be put on a level with Chicago II and V, which is also saying a lot. As always, a love of a phenomenal horn section is key to the full enjoyment of this band, and this selection does not disappoint. But Robert Lamm's keyboards and Terry Kath's brilliant guitar (I still miss him) are amply featured to full effect. Sadly, they never again sounded so good.

I'm a relatively new fan of Chicago, and since buying their box set this past summer, I've now been buying some of their remastered full albums. The DVD in that box set includes a live performance of "Devil's Sweet" from Chicago VII, which I was really impressed by. So I picked up this CD.

The first half of this CD really blew me away. All instrumental jazz! These were similar to those long jams on the first couple of albums, which I like a lot. But definitely more jazz here. What's most incredible is all 7 of these guys contribute equally to the sound. You can hear everybody, and everybody even gets a chance in the spotlight without stepping on the rest. All but one member individually wrote at least one track (and even that one member, saxophone/flautist Walter Parazaider, still co-wrote some songs). Not all pop fans are going to like these long instrumentals (they even admit in the liner notes that such jamming is more self-indulgent), but speaking as a musician I think it's easily some of their best work.

Even if you're not so much into the instrumentals, there's still a lot of great music left on this CD, which was originally released as Chicago's last original double album. The second half gets more into the songs you've probably heard as singles. These were generously represented on the box set too. The songs, "Happy Man", "Call on Me", "Wishing You Were Here" etc. are also great. And they flow well with the rest of the album; they don't sound like singles put on there for making money.

Chicago VII has beautiful free-form material that you just didn't hear in the 80s from Chicago. I don't accuse them of "selling out"; they're just one of countless victims of the 80s corporate music take over. But Chicago VII is a shining example of what a truly talented band is capable of, when they're given full artistic control.