Customer Reviews

Chicago X

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

CHICAGO X was released in June 1976 as their tenth album (IX was their first best of, which has been deleted). It was another excellent set that saw Chicago slightly revitalized after CHICAGO VIII (which reflected their exhaustion, though still a fine album). The obvious hit (which dominates this album) is Peter Cetera's "If You Leave Me Now", a # 1 smash and the song that ushered in Chicago's tradition of being a ballads band (something that the others had trouble with). With Robert Lamm taking more of a backseat in terms of musical direction (having hit his peak on CHICAGO V in 1972), Peter had emerged as the band's hitmaker and it would remain largely that way until his departure in 1985. BUT... that one huge hit belied the truth that there are other fine moments on this unballad-like album. "Once Or Twice" sees Terry Kath in his element, kicking things off in a gutsy, rockin' way. James Pankow's "You Are On My Mind" was another single (though not a hit) and is a very uplifting and pleasing song. "Skin Tight" and "You Get It Up" are very funky tracks (reminiscent of 1971's CHICAGO III). Robert's "Another Rainy Day In New York City", the first single, sees the Chicago sound placed in a Caribean style replete with steel drums and a suitably-affected Peter Cetera vocal that produced a minor Pop hit and a major AC one. The album as a whole is really strong and impressive, yet it marked the beginning of a downslide for the band. Peaking at # 3, it was their first album to miss # 1 at home since 1972 (after 5 in a row), although it still was a very big hit. By the following year and album (CHICAGO XI in 1977) they would begin to lose commercial ground and suffer the subsequent death of Terry Kath, while disco and punk rendered them irrelevant until their re-emergence in 1982. "I'd Rather Be Rich (which made it out on CHICAGO XIV in 1980) and Terry's "Your Love's An Attitude" are very very good for bonus cuts. CHICAGO X is a freezeframe of a band as the height of their creative and commercial powers just before it started to fall away. Enjoy it.

The original promotional slogan for "Chicago X", with it's mock chocolate bar cover upon the record's release in 1976 was, "America's Favorite. Ask For It By Name".
In 1976, Chicago was, based upon the popularity of their previous nine releases, America's favorite band. The original seven members from the Windy City (along with new additon, percussionist Laudir De Oliveira) had truly carved out a niche in American musical culture. Over seven years of hard work on the road and in the studio had made the band a staple of pop radio, and the Chicago "sound" was identifiable in their music despite true diversity in their catalogue of hits.
With the release of "Chicago X" however, the band was going to achieve new heights in popularity and tap into a musical resource that was to carry them for many years on the charts: Peter Cetera.
Peter's classic, string-laden "If You Leave Me Now" propelled the group into yet unexplored musical ground. This song sounded nothing like anything Chicago had released to that point, however, quickly grabbed the ear of America (and the world, as it was an international mega-hit) and shot up the charts to become Chicago's first #1 single.
This has been seen as a turning point for the band as Peter Cetera ballads became the support of Chicago's album chart success for another decade. It has also been called a point where Chicago "sold out".
Unfortunately, this is an unfair criticism. Chicago's strength was always founded upon the diversity of the individual members' musical backgounds and approach to songwriting and arranging. Peter Cetera was never truly a "rocker" or "jazz cat". His writing was always, and still is, straightforward pop, with a bit of country often blended in. If Peter had never joined Chicago and had his own solo success, acoustic ballads and lighter pop fare would have been his musical signature.
With that said, "If You Leave Me Now" is simply another musical expression from this incredibly talented group of musicians/ songwriters and should be viewed as a positive as it is simply, a great piece of music with a timeless sound and style.
The rest of "Chicago X" has a lot of edge, with the opener, Terry Kath's "Once or Twice", finding Chicago cookin' in an uptempo rock setting. "Skin Tight" is what trombonist Jimmy Pankow calls "gut bucket funk" and the band gets real down and dirty. Great trombone and guitar solos from Jimmy and Terry respectively. "Scrapbook" and "You Get It Up" continue the R&B/funk ride while "You Are On My Mind" and "Another Day in New York City" are uptempo latin-pop gems. The former finds Jimmy Pankow singing lead on his tune and closes with a blazing trombone solo over drummer Danny Seraphine's inspired syncopation. Caliente!!
"Chicago X" stands as a classic release that helped shape the popular music sound in the mid-'70's.
Essential Chicago and worthwhile listening for many reasons.

By 1976, the band Chicago had been around nine years and had been recording for seven. Given that most rock n' roll outfits have a very short shelf-life, it can be safely said that the boys had entered their middle-age. This being the case, their 10th album might be expected to be a little stale.

This isn't the case, however, with CHICAGO X. A lively mix of rock, funk, ballads, and latino, the set seems fresh even 20-some-odd years later. The recent Rhino remastered re-release is certainly very welcome.

The first cut is the rousing "Once Or Twice," an uncomplicated but engaging rocker penned by guitarist Terry Kath. While not his best work, it still gets the album up off the ground early, and Kath's enthusiastic vocals are always great to hear.

The next tune is the lively "You are on My Mind," written and sung by trombonist Jimmy Pankow. As might be expected, the tune closes with a ripping trombone solo, maybe Pankow's best. The follow-up is also a Pankow tune: "Skin Tight," a funk tune featuring the vocals of Pete Cetera, and the solo work of Kath and Pankow.

"If You Leave Me Now" is the biggest single of the set, and though the Cetera-penned/sung ballad signals the fall of Chicago into syrupy power ballads, it's a touching work in its own right. It's followed by "Together Again"--a fine up-tempo number written and sung by trumpeter Lee Loughnane--and the minor hit "Another Rainy Day in New York City," which showcases the band's latino influences.

The second half of the CD begins with the okay "Mama, Mama," written and sung by Cetera. Bobby Lamm then makes belated vocal appearances with "Gently I'll Wake You" (nothing special) and the funk-driven "Scrapbook," featuring excellent wah-work by Kath. The lively "You Get It Up," a winking homage to sexual stimulation, leads the way to the original closer, a sub-par ballad called "Hope For Love," composed and sung by Kath.

The bonus tracks on this one are excellent. There's an early version of Lamm's "I'd Rather Be Rich" (eventually recorded on XIV), and there's a great Kath tune called "Your Love's an Attitude," featuring terrific acoustic playing. The liner notes for this edition of the CD are entertaining.

CHICAGO X, then, is recommended. The horns rip, the vocals inspire, Kath's guitar is magic, and the production of James William Guercio is thoroughly modern.

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 and generated new fans for the group, in addition to winning two Grammys and likely helping the album to win a third, and being 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 original album closed 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.

The remastered release has two additional songs. The first is a rehearsal of funky Robert Lamm song, "I'd Rather Be Rich." While the song is worth having, its upbeat tempo detracts from the layout of the original album and song would better have been placed before "Hope for Love." The second bonus song, Terry Kath's "Your Love Is an Attitude," could have followed or preceded "Hope for Love." While the song is generally upbeat, Terry Kath's voice stylistically places this song close enough to "Hope for Love" that there is a good fit between the two.

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.

The songs - 'Once or Twice', 'Hope for Love' and 'Your love's an Attitude' are my favourites.
The album is best known for 'If you leave me now' and Another Rainy Day in New York City'.
Chicago has/has had many fine vocalists but Terry Kath and that sound of that time is as fresh today as when it was released in the 70's. Terry and Rick Danko (from The Band) both had such distinctive vocal styles and made them such special members of their respective groups, may they always be remembered for those unique gifts.

This is probably the most provocative Chicago album ever. Funny, back in 1976 I was too young to notice. I hope to see Chicago again this summer when the come to South Georgia. I would be my 5th time to see them. They put on a great show.

'Chicago X' finds the band in a different musical place,somewhere between the funky 1974 album Chicago VII and the heavier rock of it's follow up Chicago VIII.In general this strikes a better balance between those two styles.Does 'X' go back to the style Chicago had in the early days?Not exactly;the tunes here are shorter pop songs with no suites and song cycles but there are plenty of gems here.Terry Kath contributed the bouncy rock n roll of "Once Or Twice" while James Pankow's Latin romp "You Are On My Mind" (one of this albums singles).He also teamed up with Peter Cetera for the playful funk of "Skin Tight" (NOT the Ohio Players hit) while Robert Lamm brings in the funk-rock hybrid thing.This album had three singles and two get quite a lot of airplay today but one of them,"If You Leave Me Now" is probably the song people most ascociated with this recording.Even in music review books this album is often written off as the place when Chicago turned to "power ballads".First "If You Leave Me Now" is NOT a power ballad and two,it is not the sound that defines this otherwise peppy album.The other single is more that style-the Caribbean sounding "Another Rainy Day In New York City",written again by Lamm.This album is not as long winded or experimental as Chicago's earlier recording but it is also one of their great albums as well.

I say the edge, because they almost reach the peak of their second era, the Caribou-ranch years of Chicago VI - XI, with this album. It is not quite as good as XI, but is the best one yet (being just slightly better than the epic VII).

Why do I rank it higher than VII? Well, because of the vocals of Terry Kath that start it off, and the hot sax solo. It had been so long since we had heard THAT kind of Chicago. Maybe Chicago V was the last time! And then it goes into You Are On My Mind, with, are you ready, a truly Chicago-esque Pankow trombone solo!

de Oliveira, a key element in their second era, is very prevalent on this album. Pop, rock, and blues are tinged with his percussive offerings, mostly notably his congas. It has been argued - who did Chicago ever influence? A point could be made that they gave a boost to the growth of latin influences in 70s and 80s pop with their Caribou sound.

But the thing that makes X different than CTA - V, is that the guys are just having flat-out fun. They thumb their noses at the stoners and say, "We're going to play what we want to play."

I am tired of the old, worn out cliche of this being the beginning of the ballad era. Hogwash! When did the Beatles ever get criticized for recording "And I Love Her," or "Michelle," or "Something"? It's called musical diversity! Get off your high horses and enjoy it!

This album is almost a 5-star. When I bought it in 1976, I was thrilled with every cut, thinking to myself "Good, they're finally getting back to their real sound!"

Every music lover should have this CD - and they should LIKE it!

Chicago X is probably the album that separates the older version of the band from the newer version (the new version that's *still* going to this very day, as you're probably well aware). I mean the previous album had a lot of cool ideas similar to the classic sound such as "Old Days" and "Oh, Thank You Great Spirit" and neat experiments like "Anyway You Want". What we have here unfortunately is pure commercial... not necessarily balladry, but commercial rock. Despite the hit "If You Leave Me Now" (which is honestly a REALLY beautiful song) I wouldn't say Chicago X is dominated with ballads. Not yet.

"Once or Twice" opens the album on an upbeat note. To me what stands out the most is the commercial sound, with the arrangements pushed to the back. Actually the vocals are pushed to the back as well, but the entire song sounds really smooth. It has a great beat, an above average (though predictably written) vocal melody and... it's just a decent song. Reminds me of mid 70's Doobie Brothers. "You Are On My Mind" contains cocktail instrumental arrangements in a really bland and uncreative kind of way, which is a bummer to me. Terry Kath isn't that great here either, which is unusual- his participation usually translates into really good and interesting results. Not so here I'm afraid. "Skin Tight" has a TERRIFIC intro with the tricky and ominous jazz work before eventually turning into a generic Peter Cetera rocker. His vocals are really whiny here the way he screams "SKIN TIGHT". The brass and guitar solos are pretty good but Peter Cetera seriously needed to lower his register a notch or two.

"Together Again" is sort of upbeat, but feels lacking to me for whatever reason. The vocal melody is the problem- it's too ordinary. Despite the disappointingly restrained horns and the obvious attempt to commercialize the bands sound, it's alright. "Another Rainy Day In New York" reminds me of a tropical beach/Hawaiian setting thanks to the choice of instruments (steel drums) which is funny because the song title says New York, haha. The vocal melody is too slushy to make an impression on me. "Mama Mama" is a Peter Cetera ballad and not a particularly memorable one at that. It's too lightweight and barely melodic. Cetera's attempt to be soulful falls flat as well- he goes too far and ruins it. "Scrapbook" is generic funk with a straight forward and unimpressive vocal melody that's also quite muffled and hard to make out the actual words. This album was recorded poorly.

"Gently I'll Wake Up" is... what is it exactly? Hmmm? Do you know? Some kind of atmospheric, slow paced, blues-flavored, cocktail music, that's what. A little bit of experimentation was implemented here, so it stands out from the other songs. I actually really like it but mark my words- you'll either fall on the "I love it or I hate it" side of the fence. There's NO in between here! "You Get It Up" is funky in a Sly & the Family Stone kind of way. The melody consists of chants, and the guitar solo is actually really awesome. It has that futuristic new wave funky sound to it that some of the more innovative mid 70's artists used. Unfortunately the album ends on a terrible note. "Hope For Love" is a sappy, overblown Kath ballad. Sort of disappoints me because of the way the vocal melody is so lacking, creatively.

Alright, you know what to do. Pick up the previous 7 Chicago albums before this one. Trust me.

One of Chicago's best albums. Every band member at his best, and have listened to this over and over and over. Being a trombone player, I have always held Pankow's playing at some of the best. Means alot to have his autograph on my Conn 8H trombone. Thanks again, Jim!