III [Original recording reissued]

Chicago | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 28, 1995)
• Original Release Date: 1971
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Label: Chicago Records
• ASIN: B0000021RE
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #358,330 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Sing a Mean Tune Kid

2. Loneliness Is Just a Word

3. What Else Can I Say

4. I Don't Want Your Money

5. Travel Suite: Flight 602

6. Travel Suite: Motorboat to Mars

7. Travel Suite: Free

8. Travel Suite: Free Country

9. Travel Suite: At the Sunrise

10. Travel Suite: Happy 'Cause I'm Going Home

11. Mother

12. Lowdown

13. An Hour in the Shower: A Hard Risin' Morning Without Breakfast

14. An Hour in the Shower: Off to Work

15. An Hour in the Shower: Fallin' Out

16. An Hour in the Shower: Dreamin' Home

17. An Hour in the Shower: Morning Blues Again

18. Elegy: When All the Laughter Dies in Sorrow

19. Elegy: Canon

20. Elegy: Once Upon a Time....

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Varied, adventuresome, and rocking, February 8, 2000

By 

David J. Loftus (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: III (Audio CD)

After riffling through the reviews of most of the first seven Chicago albums, I see considerable disagreement about just when the group "went downhill." Several people seem to think it was right after the first two, so I'd better make my position clear at the start: I think Chicago was interesting and rewarding through the seventh album, and THEN the band began to deteriorate -- with middle-of-the-road but intelligent rocker Robert Lamm and hard rocking but thoughtful balladeer Terry Kath both falling into the background, composition-wise, and Peter Ceteta's soppy love songs taking center stage.

III was actually the first album I got to know, round about age 13 when my Dad brought it home. This was as varied as the band could get, from pretentious poetry ("When All The Laughter Dies in Sorrow" -- hey, I liked it at the time) and portentous rock (the final "Gathering Storm" suite), to thumping blues ("Sing A Mean Tune, Kid" and "I Don't Want Your Money") and sweet ballads ("At the Sunrise" and "What Else Can I Say"). "Loneliness Is Just a Word" features Kath's urgent regret; "Happy 'Cause I'm Goin' Home" is a driving jazz instrumental that highlights Walter Parazaider's flute work.

One Amazon reviewer calls "Flight 601" country, another regards it as subpar. I always liked it, and heard it as "Chicago does Crosby Stills Nash & Young" (it was quite useful for fooling people on blindfold tests). Contrary to South Dakota music fan's review, Kath's amusing suite "An Hour in the Shower" is obviously tongue in cheek about the singer's love for spam, and there is a fine, driving rock section during the "off to work" segment.

Two real rockers on the album (along with the aforementioned blues rockers) are "Mother," a savage ecological lament for Mother Earth that features some double tracking of Pankow's best trombone work, and "Lowdown," a more basic driving blues. The former put the band's often silly political stances (which they thankfully gave up, pretty much, after the fifth album) to good use for once.

I think this is a more consistent record than CTA and Chicago II, and rougher than my personal favorite, Chicago VII.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Misunderstood and Unappreciated Creation, August 13, 2000

By 

Brian G. Christie (Pointe-Claire, QC Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: III (Audio CD)

I just got into Chicago a few weeks back and decided to start chronologically by buying CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY and CHICAGO II first. I immediately took to them and anxiously looked towards the next bunch I intended to purchase. Within days, I brought CHICAGO III home with much anticipation. Although I didn't recognize any song titles as I did on the first two, I concurred that at 24 I wasn't even born when these recordings first saw the light of day so perhaps this was to be expected. Anyway, I hit play and the delightfully fresh and funky "Sing A Mean Tune Kid" began. 70 minutes later, as "Man Vs. Man: The End" came to a crashing end, I sat back, slightly perplexed and feeling as though I didn't quite get what I expected. I then imagined what the fans must have felt like in early 1971, when CHICAGO III came out. The songs didn't seem as immediate or commercial and it was more raw (perhaps a few too many "chug-a-chug-a -chug-a-chug- a-chug-a...1-2-3-4!" count-ins from Terry Kath which could have been cut out; my only real criticism of this fine album). With a few more listens, CHICAGO III began to reveals its strengths and I then realized that the band hadn't produced an inferior product at all - just a different type of one. In short, Chicago refused to sit on their laurels and progressed. For all the amazing qualities of the first two albums, CHICAGO III revealed the band's funky ("Sing A Mean Tune Kid", "Free"), raw ("I Don't Want Your Money") and even avant-garde (and therefore artistic) side ("Free Country and "Progress?". CHICAGO III is the typical album that requires a few listens and then it will unlock its charms. How can anyone not dig the jazzy and cool "Loneliness Is Just A Word"? The "Travel Suite" is enjoyable as well as Kath's five-part "An Hour In The Shower" and James Pankow's profound "Elegy" opus is enjoyable, especially the fun, interactive intrumental "The Approaching Storm" (although the first section, the spoken-word "When All The Laughter Dies In Sorrow" is slightly contrived). In the final analysis, CHICAGO III is a fine, successful and adventurous album by the young band who had just barely begun their journey. It's not perfect (is there such a thing as a "perfect" album?), but far better than its reputation as an inferior successor to the first two. In fact, had CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY and CHICAGO II never appeared, CHICAGO III would be even greater appreciated. Sometimes we must forget what came before in order to appreciate what comes later.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wild, Explosive & Experimental!, September 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: III (Audio CD)

Of Chicago's early albums, this one took the longest to grow on me. Like I & II it's a mixture of styles sure to please and simultaneously confuse just about anybody. There's Blues & R&B ("Sing A Mean Tune Kid", "I Don't Want Your Money"), Country ("Flight 602") Rock ("Lowdown", a song that often turned up in concert) and songs with the kind of excessive-yet-wonderful horn sections they made their specialty ("Free"). But, like YES when that group started to gain popularity, their experiments started to get bigger and more pretentious, as this time we're given no less than 3 long "suites"-- one each from Robert Lamm, Terry Kath & James Pankow. "Free Country" (from TRAVEL SUITE) veers into KING CRIMSON "art" territory, while the spoken intro for ELEGY, "When All the Laughter Dies In Sorrow" almost seems a tribute to Graeme Edge's work with THE MOODY BLUES. But my favorite piece is the finale: "The Approaching Storm" and "Man Vs. Man: The End", a high-speed full-throttle freeform jazz instro that would be at home on the soundtrack of an action-adventure movie. Not for the casual listener, but well worth the experience!