DadtoKatie's Full Review: Chicago Transit Authority [Remaster] by Chicago
I bought the original vinyl album back in 1973 (I also have the CD version, too). At that point in time, anything with horns was fair game for my ears (I play sax). I still feel the sameway! Now that Rhino has re-mastered the original album, I thought it was time to update my
review.
The power ballad fans of the 1980s version of the band (or "Chicago" as I like to call it) would not recognize the raw, tough Chicago (the city) blues thrown at the listener. Most of the tunes are punctuated by enormous chords played by the entire band. For the most part, this style was abandoned until "V." The gritty, dirty toughness of the music is absolutely delicious.
Anyway, track by track:
"Introduction," the first tune on the album, serves to introduce the audience to the band ("We're a little nervous"). Terry Kath wrote the tune as well as sang and played the brilliant guitar solo right before the horn section unison figure. A tough, in-your-face horn figure plays tag with the rhythm section: sort of a Chicago blues on steroids feel that gives way to mellow, jazzy (probably
arranged: they seldom varied live) statements from trombonist Pankow and trumpeter Lee Loughnane and then a switch to acid rock for the aforementioned Kath solo. The song ends on one of those enormous chords played over and over by the band. Brilliant!
Next up is keyboardist Robert Lamm's classic hit single, "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" a snarly, yet delightful anti-establishment swipe. Lamm sings the tune in his mellow baritone with lots of feeling behind the lyrics. Two things are unusual about this tune: the solos take place at the beginning (piano and trumpet) and end (trombone) of the tune, instead of the middle,
as is standard in pop music and the tempo varies from free to waltz to straight swing, which is something that was unusual for even the experimental days of 1969.
Lamm's other big hit from the album, the classic "Beginnings," finds the keyboardist at his
romantic best. His husky baritone again delivers the lyrics with plenty of feeling. There is no standard verse/verse/chorus form on this song. Instead, there are two verses, a middle bass break and a second section. Pankow and Loughnane trade solos while the band comes back in singing "only the beginning." The tune ends on an endless Latin percussion break provided by their drummer Danny Seraphine and the horn section. I actually prefer the version on the “Only The Beginning” Rhino anthology, as it trims most of the percussion break. This band is NOT Santana! However, percussion break or not, “Beginnings” is a treasure!
Robert Lamm composed all of side two of the vinyl album, which kicks off with "Questions 67 and 68." The horns blaze and Kath weaves a jazz - acid solo around their figure. This eventually builds to introduce Peter Cetera's (later, for better or worse, the "voice" of Chicago) first lead vocal on record. However the middle eight figure is sung by Lamm. This was the first single released by the band and it bombed big time: even at the beginning of their recording career, CBS was pushing Cetera's voice out in front. The single's failure is more in line with the fact that no one sounded like Chicago at the time: they were considered "too weird" for Top 40 radio. The tune was eventually re-released in 1971 and went Top 20. The unison brass break in the middle is one of the most exciting moments in the band's recording career. At one point, Loughnane gets off a dazzling solo that contains some WICKED triplet figures. The one thing I never dug about
the tune was Cetera's vocal: it always sounded kind of odd to me. Becky of Becky's Island pointed out that this is because the tune was possibly arranged too high for even Cetera's high tenor. On the Carnegie Hall album, he sounds like he inhaled helium; on the Japanese live album,
he sounds stoned slurring Japanese lyrics! Anyway, this minor quibble over his original vocal isn't enough to distract from enjoying this classic.
“Listen" implores the audience to give the band a chance. This is another anti-establishment rant that is punctuated by tough horns. Lamm bites off the lyrics to this tough Chicago blues, showing that Kath isn't the only one who can get down! Terry contributes a mean, acid/blues solo in the middle. This one sounds like the Butterfield Blues Band with a tough horn section.
"Poem 58” starts out with Kath playing a catchy, exciting and choppy chorded figure that Cetera's bass plays counterpoint to. The first four minutes are this raw, acid lead guitar-bass-drums power trio that sounds like a chapter out of the Jimi Hendrix Experience (Hendrix thought Kath was THE best lead guitarist on the planet and he and Terry remained close friends until Hendrix' death). Kath wails all over the place and Cetera and Seraphine compliment him perfectly. Then it stops dead and Kath plays a "Twilight Zone" kind of figure the entire band picks up one by one. Next, we are into a generic blues tune sung in gritty fashion by Lamm (Kath get in another feedback-drenched solo in the middle but someone else should have soloed for variety). The actual "Poem" tune itself has nothing to do with the trio section at the beginning. It's not the first time people have stuck two pieces of music together and tried to make it work . Kath probably should have gotten a co-writing credit on this one, as the first part is all his, but it doesn’t matter, as the track isn’t successful.
Side three kicks off with another dud, the WORST song the band has ever recorded: "Free Form Guitar." This is basically six plus minutes of Terry Kath making God-awful noises with his guitar. Absolutely unlistenable. However, there are people who tell me it's their favorite track on the album! Go figure!
Robert Lamm's "South California Purples" (a clever way of saying "South California Blues") is a standard 12 -bar blues dressed up with a nice riff, Lamm’s Hammond B-3 organ and Kath’s guitar solo. The horns pound the riff into your head like a jackhammer. Ho-hum.
The band's cover of Steve Winwood's "I'm A Man" is interesting but too long. The horn section starts off the tune on percussion instruments and Kath blazes away on lead guitar. Kath, Cetera and Lamm each sing a verse, although Cetera largely mumbles/screams his. Seraphine's drum solo in the middle is way too long long, but Kath comes back in and snaps everything back into place: his solo at the end is breathtaking. Call this one a partial success. The edited version found on the “Only The Beginning” collection is superior, as it eliminates most of the drum solo.
Guercio's "Prologue" is basically a rhythmic tape loop of protester chants from the 1968 Democratic Convention. This leads into "Someday," a Lamm/Pankow composition sung by Lamm and Cetera. The tune and lyrics are fine (protesting society and war: rather timeless in 2003) and the horns are gritty and tough. However, every time the song builds momentum, the tape loop kicks back in and drags it down: another miss.
The last track, "Liberation," is Pankow's instrumental (recorded live, in-studio with no overdubs)that is supposedly about Vietnam (or an acid trip: who knows?). The big horn/band chords are nice but the melody is kind of corny, like something out of an auto commercial! After the horn melody statement, we blast off into about 12 minutes of Terry Kath blazing away on lead guitar. Kath was the ace of aces, but even he can’t sustain a rock guitar solo for that long. After a boogie/blues section, everything breaks down into disaster as everyone solos at once. Then all is quiet, Kath plays a jazzy figure, sings "Oh yeah, thank you people" (for listening or bringing us the Vietnam War?), the horns play a bit of the corny melody and Seraphine plays a drums solo. The last, huge chord is like a slap in the face. So what?
The recorded sound on the album is harsher than any other Chicago album: raw in the extreme. The dominant horn in the section sound is Walt Parazaider's tenor sax, although he doesn't solo on the album except for the meltdown on "Liberation." The horns as a section also have a weird,
reverb-heavy sound that really dates the album.
The Rhino re-master cleans up the sound a tiny bit, but they can't perform miracles, as the original master tapes are not in good shape. The photos and new interviews with the band are a gas. If you love early Chicago, this is still recommended, despite its shortcomings.
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