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Chicago XIV is the band's effort to recover from the abyssmal disco album. They went back to the basics with Cetera dominating the writing. The songs on this album do have some basic qualities, but the band needed a more aggressive producer to develop the material then Tom Dowd.

Manipulation rips out a mean keyboard theme, some rhymes and a musical bridge. There's not any chorus or resolution. Lamm had a great start to a song here, but no one cleaned it up.

Cetera's sappy Upon Arrival, Song for You, and Where Did the Loving Go? follow. Clearly anticlimactic to the upbeat starter and plainly too much for an album where the band's trying to get back to their roots. Interestly enough, it's about the time Chicago XIV was released that Cetera did his debut solo LP. He obviously put more effort into the work giving top billing.

Seraphine's "Birthday Boy" is a cute song, Just as his "Little One" was on XI. It makes an appropriate closer to the first half of the CD after putting up with Cetera's mess.

The second half of the CD is a marvel to listen to. Cetera rips into Hold On, and Overnight Cafe has a mellow meaness which Cetera performs only as he can. "Thunder and Lighting" (The release from this effort)is cutsie to start with. I'm sorry 3-4 minutes are needed before I get to listen to Pankow's trombone solo. The final compositions, "I'd Rather Be Rich" and "The American Dream" are the best songs Chicago has used to close a CD with to this point. In the former, Lamm shows his ability to rock AND resolve the effort. In The American Dream, Pankow redeems himself for the pathetic "Runaway", which he wrote to close XIII, with a driving uplifting effort which makes a much needed commentary on the affairs of american politics, (the last commentary by the band since album VIII when they did Harry Truman).

This CD has a lot of potential. It's a shame you have to sit through the first half before you find it.

This album has always been the bald-headed step-child among the die-hard Chicago fans who know about it, and that's a shame.
The thing that makes it a standout album is the band's willingness at this point in their careers to experiment and grow. The whole album is a lot edgier than anything they had done since the initial Columbia trilogy.

The lyrics are downright bitter, which, mapped with Chicago's innovative jazz-rock sound, is a refreshing change from the increasingly light pop they had been doing since Chicago X.
The standout track is the first, Robert Lamm's "Manipulation." An amazing, quasi-atonal guitar solo by Chris Pinnick, really trippy meter changes, a really gritty lead vocal by the increasingly marginalized co-lead-vocalist Robert Lamm, funky horns and groovy congas from Laudir de Oliviera. Even Peter Cetera gets to focus on an aspect he is least remembered for: extremely fluid bass playing.

Other standout tracks include the reggae-influenced "Overnight Cafe"; hard-rocking "Hold On"; jazz-rock "Thunder and Lightning"; caustic satire of "I'd Rather Be Rich"; and the nicely under-produced ballad "Song For You."

If the other tracks suffer, it is from an over-reliance on some very ineffective synthesizer sounds. But then, in 1980, they were only two years away from the advent of MIDI and the over-reliance on that which, in the hands of David Foster, would change their sound forever. Chicago XIV is the last stop on the ol' Southshore representing the "vintage classic rock Chicago" sound.

On the last album with Roman numerals (maybe somebody realized how confusing it might get?) Chicago went back to being a 7-piece band (Chris Pinnick would apparently fill the gap in the studio). The "fingerprint" album signals one last attempt during this period to reestablish their trademark "sound". Yet the first HALF of the album is slow and BORING! Following "Manipulation" (a confused song that perhaps comments on record company pressures) we get 4 slow ballads in a ROW! What were they thinking? Things get a LOT better on side 2, with the catchy & powerful "Hold On". "Overnight Cafe" shows that even slow songs can be dynamic. "Thunder And Lightning" brings the horn section to the fore again. "I'd Rather Be Rich" is a great anthem for anyone involved in "the pursuit of happiness". And "The American Dream" is my pick for the BEST song on the album-- a powerful yell for politicians to stop screwing things up for people that's so irrisistable I find myself singing along every time I play it! Overall, this reminds me of B.O.C.'s "Club Ninja"-- 2/3rd a waste but the other 1/3rd some TREMENDOUS tunes!

Chicago XIV stands for the proposition that the whole may be less than the sum of its parts. There are no bad songs on XIV. Some actually show that some energy still remained in the group. The overall album however reveals a tired band. Perhaps the commercial and critical self inflicted black eye from Chicago 13 took its toll. The standout contributions are Lamm's "Manipulation" and "I'd Rather Be Rich". Both contain an aggresive rythym and horn section, along with Lamm's cynical wit. Pankow's "American Dream" showed there was still some politcal commentary bubbling under the surface. "Thunder and Lightening" also has some energy. The simple lyrics and production of "Song for You" will tend to draw the listener to repeated playbacks. Its worth seeking out, after you have bought most of their other selections.

The music was a little wilder an the vocal,s were a lighter and not as clear as chicago 16,17,18..whole different sound..the tape slowed down an the tape squeeled..not good

Chicago's final studio album on the Columbia label is a hodgepodge ranging from good to terrible, and the cover may be it's most innovative feature. With another veteran producer in Tom Dowd taking over the boards from Phil Ramone, the cardboard sound is indicative of the late '70's & early 80's.

After kicking of with Robert Lamm's aggressive, off-tempo MANIPULATION, XIV falls into predominatly Peter Cetera-dominated power ballads for the next 4 tunes. Rescuing the album from total abyss are Cetera's own HOLD ON (a bit hokey today), the same's OVERNIGHT CAFE (still good), and 3 excellent tracks in Lamm's sadly prophetic I'D RATHER BE RICH, the poorly charted single THUNDER AND LIGHTING & Jimmy Pankow's THE AMERICAN DREAM. The epitaph to XIV is unfortunatley one of too little too late, as the music industry was sprialing downward towards technology-driven synth pop, shunning bands with a track record of success & quality musicianship.

Chicago XIV is worth sacrificing the 4.99 you were going to spend on Band Aids in CVS, Walgreens or Rite Aid, but not much more.

This is the final album before the 1982 comeback, and it contains some great work. After you get around the dross "Manipulation", and "Upon Arrival", you get to hear the most impresssive song on the album, Peter Cetera's "Song For You." This song, along with "Birthday Boy" and "The American Dream" should have been deemed genuine Chicago classics. It's sad that this selection of work came out at the wrong time and got little or no attention from even hardcore Chicago fans.

A few words on Chicago 14. This album, in my view had started the change in the group trying to move with the times. The old sound was indeed old, and Peter Cetera led the band into a more mainstream movement, which I feel the band needed. The new listeners to Chicago should start with this album and move on up to present day to fully enjoy the band because the sound of 1969-1976 will put you off. It is sad, but true. Just listen to pure rock/jazz like "Hold on". Cetera dominates the album with confidence, and with the new producers vibe on the album, it's pretty cool indeed! "Overnight Cafe" is a unknown classic and "Birthday Boy" is fantastic. Buy it!

The best you can say is that at least Chicago had touched bottom. this music is terrible! i've seen this in every bargain bin i've browsed through. only buy this to complete your chicago collection and if you see it for less than a dollar. it's that bad!