Chicago VII
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2012) |
| Chicago VII | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 11, 1974 | |||
| Recorded | August – December 1973, Caribou Ranch, Nederland, Colorado | |||
| Genre | Jazz fusion, soft rock, Progressive Rock, Symphonic Rock | |||
| Length | 72:15 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | James William Guercio | |||
| Chicago chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Chicago VII | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
| Rolling Stone | (not rated)[2] |
Chicago VII is the sixth studio album by American rock band Chicago and was released in 1974. It is notable for being their first double album of new material since 1971's Chicago III, and remains their final studio release in that format. It also features session percussionist Laudir de Oliveira, who had become a full-fledged band member.[3]
Background
While touring in support of Chicago VI in 1973, the band began getting restless and started integrating some lengthy jazz instrumentals into their sets.[4] While audiences were somewhat mixed in their reaction, Chicago greatly enjoyed the experience, decided (after years of talking about it) to record a pure jazz-influenced set of tracks, and headed straight to producer James William Guercio's Caribou Ranch studios to cut their ambitious new album.[5]
While the sessions started off well, there was soon dissension within the group about the jazz project, with, reportedly, Peter Cetera and Guercio both leery at the commercial risk of such an undertaking.[5] While the band reasoned that some of the jazzy material was too good to throw away, the others finally relented and accepted including the more pop and rock-oriented songs that the band had composed in the meantime. Almost by accident, Chicago had another double album on their hands.
Of the more conventional material, Chicago once again turned in a varied set of songs, with Terry Kath's "Byblos", named after a club that Chicago had played in Osaka, Japan, ranking among his best efforts. Robert Lamm, who was recording a solo album entitled Skinny Boy at the time, turned in several new songs, even donating his solo album's title track, featuring The Pointer Sisters on backing vocals. James Pankow came through with another success, "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long" (#9), and trumpeter Lee Loughnane succeeded on his first try at songwriting with the hit "Call on Me" (#6). Peter Cetera made the biggest strides on Chicago VII, composing "Happy Man" and "Wishing You Were Here" (#11), a lush ballad (signs of the future) that features three of The Beach Boys on backing vocals and which became a big hit in late 1974. "Happy Man" was subsequently covered by Tony Orlando and Dawn on their album To Be With You.
Chicago VII is notable for having writing contributions from all (and only) the members of the band, and for having most of the members stretching out in new ways: Loughnane sang lead ("Song of the Evergreens") and wrote a song, Pankow sang backup, Kath played bass, Cetera played guitar, and Walter Parazaider and Danny Seraphine composed.
Released in March 1974, Chicago VII - despite its first disc being almost exclusively jazz instrumentals - debuted at #1 in the US, becoming another big success for the band.
The album was mixed and released in both stereo and quadraphonic. In 2002, Chicago VII was remastered and reissued on one CD by Rhino Records with one bonus track: an early rehearsal of Kath's "Byblos". Initial pressings of this edition contained an edited version of the track "Happy Man" that had appeared on Greatest Hits, Volume II, which omitted the "false start" and studio countdown heard on the original Chicago VII LP.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Prelude to Aire" | Danny Seraphine | Instrumental | 2:47 |
| 2. | "Aire" | Seraphine/Walter Parazaider/James Pankow | Instrumental | 6:27 |
| 3. | "Devil's Sweet" | Seraphine/Parazaider | Instrumental | 10:07 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4. | "Italian from New York" | Robert Lamm | Instrumental | 4:14 |
| 5. | "Hanky Panky" | Lamm | Instrumental | 1:53 |
| 6. | "Life Saver" | Lamm | Lamm | 5:18 |
| 7. | "Happy Man" | Peter Cetera | Cetera | 3:34[6] |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8. | "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long" | Pankow | Cetera | 4:29 |
| 9. | "Mongonucleosis" | Pankow | Cetera/Lamm/Pankow (Briefly at the beginning) | 3:26 |
| 10. | "Song of the Evergreens" | Terry Kath | Lee Loughnane | 5:20 |
| 11. | "Byblos" | Kath | Kath | 6:18 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12. | "Wishing You Were Here" | Cetera | Kath/Cetera | 4:37 |
| 13. | "Call on Me" | Loughnane | Cetera | 4:02 |
| 14. | "Woman Don't Want to Love Me" | Lamm | Cetera | 4:35 |
| 15. | "Skinny Boy" | Lamm | Lamm | 5:12[7] |
Bonus track (2002 re-issue)
- "Byblos (Rehearsal)" (Kath) – 5:40
Personnel
Chicago
- Peter Cetera – bass guitar, lead and backing vocals, acoustic guitar on "Wishing You Were Here"
- Terry Kath – guitar, lead and backing vocals, bass guitar, sleigh bells on "Song of the Evergreens"
- Robert Lamm – piano, Fender Rhodes, Moog, Mellotron, clavinet, ARP synthesizer, lead and backing vocals
- Danny Seraphine – drums, percussion, bass drum and hi-hat on "Byblos"
- Lee Loughnane – trumpet, flugelhorn, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Song of the Evergreens"
- James Pankow – trombone, percussion, backing vocals
- Walter Parazaider – saxophones, flute
Additional musicians
- Laudir de Oliveira – percussion
- David Wolinski – ARP synthesizer, piano, Mellotron, Fender Rhodes
- James William Guercio – guitars, bass
- Jimmie Haskell – strings
- Wayne Tarnowski – acoustic piano
- Guille Garcia – percussion
- Bobbi Roen, Camelia Ortiz, Diane Nini, Hank Steiger and Julie Nini – background party noises on 9
- Al Jardine, Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson – backing vocals on "Wishing You Were Here"
- The Pointer Sisters – backing vocals
- Ross Salomone – drums
Production
- Produced by James William Guercio
- Engineered by Wayne Tarnowski and Jeff Guercio
- Strings recorded by Armin Steiner at Sound Labs (Hollywood, CA).
- Mixed by Phil Ramone
- Cover Photo – John Berg and Nick Fasciano
- Photography – Urve Kuusik
Charts
Album
| Year | Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Billboard Pop Albums | 1 |
Single
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long" | Billboard Pop Singles | 9 |
| 1974 | "Call on Me" | Billboard Adult Contemporary | 1 |
| 1974 | "Call on Me" | Billboard Pop Singles | 6 |
| 1974 | "Wishing You Were Here" | Billboard Adult Contemporary | 1 |
| 1974 | "Wishing You Were Here" | Billboard Pop Singles | 11 |
Certifications
| Organization | Level | Date |
|---|---|---|
| RIAA – USA | Gold | March 18, 1974 |
| RIAA – USA | Platinum | November 21, 1986 |
Notes and references
- ^ Planer, Lindsay. "Chicago VII - Chicago: Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
- ^ "Chicago: Chicago VII: Music Reviews: Rolling Stone". RollingStone.com. 1974-05-23. Archived from the original on 2008-04-18. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
- ^ Seraphine, Danny (2011). Street Player: My Chicago Story. John Wiley & Sons Inc. p. 138. ISBN 9780470416839.
- ^ Fine, Marshall (August 17, 1973). "Chicago 'explores' old ground in concert". The Minneapolis Star. p. 28. Retrieved June 29, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Ruhlmann, William James (1991). Chicago Group Portrait (Box Set) (CD booklet archived online) (Media notes). New York City: Columbia Records. p. 7. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
- ^ On the original LP & CD this song begins with a false start, and about 20 seconds of studio chat/noise. This is omitted on some remastered copies.
- ^ The same track appears on Robert Lamm's 1974 solo album Skinny Boy, but without horns and with a fade-out at 4:30.