Customer Reviews

Greatest Hits 2

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

 

 

The year of this CD's original release (1981) was Chicago's floundering year. CBS dropped them after signing a seven-year deal in 1980, while their future label, Full Moon, had only released the first Peter Cetera solo album. "Greatest Hits Vol. II" represents how much the group meant to Columbia then. It is cut, pasted, and badly tossed together to reflect the band's falling fortune.

Don't be fooled by the top-selling ballads (the 1976 #1 "If You Leave Me Now" and its 1977 follow-up, "Baby What A Big Suprise.") The rest of the disc flounders with one song too many from "Hot Streets," and half of the epic "Dialogue" (that couldn't have been extended considering the potential length of CDs?) We get neither early chart hits like "Free" and "Lowdown" (both from 1971's criminally disregarded Chicago III) or even should-have-beens like "You Are On My Mind" or "Little One." Instead, we get VII's fluffy "Happy Man."

Chicago's fortunes would change the next year thanks to the new label, new producer (David Foster) and Chicago 16's top-selling single, "Hard To Say I'm Sorry." But "Greatest Hits II" works neither to continue their career timeline nor fill in their original one. Thus, while not the worst selection is their catalogue, "GHII" is certainly the least relevant.

GH1 is among the great "best of" albums, both in sales and in content. It ranks with the Eagles' GH1, the Beatles' red and blue albums, Elton's GH1, and others. GH2 is a continuation for those who thought Chicago had played out after GH1 (often this is the case, being that a "best of" album so frequently comes toward the end of a group's career/label contract). GH2 I first bought in a cool record shop as a promo copy; I didn't need it, because I'd purchased every Chi album anyway (I was by then in college). As it stands, GH2 contains the mega-radio hits of the era, "Big Surprise", "Old Days", "Leave Me Now", and "Alive Again" (a fitting hit after the death of Terry Kath); it also contains the neglected "Questions" which, according to the band on the Carnegie Hall album was their "...boss hit-bound single which wasn't a boss hit-bound single". Happily, the album also contains strong tracks from the Hot Streets release and Danny

Seraphine's overlooked "Take Me Back". Sadly, the compilation leaves out the quintessential Chi track "Introduction", "Lowdown", and perhaps a few others to make it a fuller package. This is a far superior "best of" in comparison to the mellow rock of GH3, which highlights the band's years as Pete Cetera went solo, a couple of new guys were added, and the horn players seemed to be relegated to playing cards (or synths) during the Warner Bros. albums.

This album contains a fair grouping of Chicago's hits from the late 1970's. Later compilations such as Group Portrait and Heart of Chicago Volumes I and II have now made this volume redundant. Let the buyer beware. This package contains only the second half of "Dialogue". Part I which contains the verbal exchange between Kath and Cetera is strangely absent. Someone must have fallen asleep at the switch.

Extreme Chicago fans like me most likely get frustrated and angry listening to this. First, on the heels of Columbia's break with Chicago, it looks, feels, and smells like one last dip into the till for some extra Chi-dollars. Having decided to do a greatest hits, they go on to give us this half-baked, half-hearted effort.

First - they include abbreviated versions of almost every song.
Second - It is way too Cetera-loaded. Granted, he sang most of their hits in their second and third period, but did we really need Happy Man on this (not a single in the U.S.), when You Are On My Mind could have been added, a song that did chart?

Harry Truman could have made it in place of Gone Long Gone. And since they were in the mood to put dubious "hits" on here, could they have considered Thunder and Lightning, and maybe Street Player, as a way to generate some interest in Chicago 13 and 14?

They must have put a summer intern in charge of the track list, someone who had never heard of Chicago, and said - pick only the songs with the high-voiced guy, plus a token cut by the deep-voiced guy.

Little One should have made it on here, as a tribute to Terry (hello? Remember him?)

Etc., etc. Sooooo - why am I giving this 4 stars?

Well, as you Chicago fans know, it's a drag appreciating this incredibly talented group, while those closest to you couldn't care less. My wife's view on Chicago borders on hate. But when I played this one I caught her tapping her foot and singing along. My girls (10 and 7) can sing along to just about every song on it, and enjoy it.

Thus is the "curse of Chicago". If you love them, and wish more people did, we must learn to appreciate the shallow vision of some of the record company executives, and force ourselves to like Chicago, the "ballad" band. Because, chances are, those friends and loved ones that hate the "overplayed" power horns of the Greatest Hits vol. 1, love the "sap" of the Cetera years.

It is aggravating to listen to this insult to the legend of Chicago. But it is the only Chicago the women in my life like - so . . . 4 stars!

If you don't like Chicago because you get tired of the horns, then buy this album. You'll like it!

Don't be misled by my title; this is still a fine collection of songs. "Baby What A Big Surprise" and "If You Leave Me Now" are both fine mellow hits, and tracks like the very catchy "Alive Again" and the nice non-hit "Gone Long Gone" are also quality tracks. Overall, though, this collection doesn't quite hold up to either their quality, unique brand of rock in the early '70s or their sparkling, gorgeous pop of the '80s. This in between period was a bit of a downer for the band, but the songs are still very good to great. Definitely a worthwhile purchase that covers the band's career in the mid to late '70s.

As astutely noted in another review, this collection was hastily put together by Columbia records to close out their obligation with the band. Chicago 13 and Chicago XIV preceeded this collection without any significant releases.For a casual collector, this CD contains some successful hits and some lesser knowns.

Excessive editing of selections detracts from the selection's merit however - possibly indicative of Columbia's haste in putting the collection together. Dialogue involves only Part II, while Questions 67 and 68, No Tell Lover and Alive Again are absent some of the musical bridges.

For the Chicago fan, this collection appropriately marks the transition from the band's low point to the addition of Bill Champlin and second life. It conjurs memories of the band's successes with different styles, lacking elements of some songs which leaves the listener craving for more.

For all its flaws, Chicago's Greatest Hits Volume II is a good way to introduce someone to the band's music and its uniqueness. It also connects the band's history between the original and modern commercial sounds.

Not nearly as worthy as Volume One, this CD places some big hits next to some oddities. Many of the tracks were only minor hits ("Alive Again" and "No Tell Lover"), and some were just non-hits ("Gone Long Gone" and "Happy Man"), but listeners seeking the uber-ballads "If You Leave Me Now" and "Baby What a Big Surprise" will find them here. No liner notes

"Chicago Greatest Hits-Volume 2" features the band's hits from the mid-to-late-seventies, and there's not a really bad song in the bunch. There is a misprint on the packaging of the track "Dialogue-Parts I & II", although only the second part featuring the horns is heard. This collection has a melancholy feel to it in the songs "No Tell Lover" and "Alive Again" (even though this particular number is up-tempo) because of the fact Terry Kath tragically died before these two songs were recorded. Peter Cetera has the lion's share of the vocals here in this collection, which are heard in the very carefree "Happy Man" and "Baby What A Big Surprise", among others. "Old Days" will have you yearning for those days of yore, as will "Take Me Back To Chicago" (that is, unless you're from the "Windy City"), which features Chaka Khan on background vocals. One of the first songs that began Chicago's associated trend with ballads (many on which Cetera sang lead) is the bittersweet "If You Leave Me Now", and is one of the few Chicago songs that doesn't feature the trademark horn section (from this era, anyway), as is also the case with the up-tempo rocker "Gone Long Gone". For a heavy dose on the horns, there's "Questions 67 And 68", although the ironic thing is that this song is from Chicago's very first album, several years before the initial release of "Greatest Hits-Volume 2". It seems that with each passing greatest hits album, from Vol. 1 to Vol. 2 to Vol. 3, there are fewer songs featuring the original three lead vocalists, from the late Terry Kath to Robert Lamm to Peter Cetera, which seems appropriate due to a change in the band's personnel through the years. With over 30+ years in the music business, Chicago shows no signs of slowing down or pondering retirement, which is a testament of a great band. Since "Chicago Greatest Hits-Volume 2" is the last major hits collection of this stellar group, fans of Chicago, young and old, will want to add it to their must have collection.

This is one of the weakest of the greatest hits
compilation of chicago's songs.Half of the songs
(which i never heard on the radio)are forgettable
but half of it is
still pretty good,like if you leave me now,old days,
alive again,no tell lover & baby what a big surprise.

I love the song If You Leave Me Now which I had heard on the radio several times but never knew the name of the group until I saw the CD in my sister's CD club catalog and I found out it was Chicago I got the CD and basically for that song and also discovered they also sing Baby What A Big Surprise which I had heard once on the radio so not knowing all that much about Chicago I couldn't say if this compilation is very flawed or not but I guess it could use more than 10 songs but anyway I like the CD as I mainly bought it for If You Leave Me Now which is one of my favorite love songs.