All right, we all knew this was coming, after the ‘Stay The Night‘ rape-song post. It’s the Chicago Edition of The Case for (Phil) Collins! Now we all know that Chicago has made some cheesy music as most all of us were conscious during the 80’s (’You’re the Inspiration’, ‘Hard Habit To Break’), and Cetera solidified his place in cheesedom, and solidified his bank account, with the Karate Kid theme song! And I’d say that most of us realize that they had to be at least somewhat cool back in the day since they have those 60’s-70’s hits that you can’t help from getting stuck in your head (’Saturday In the Park’, ‘25 or 6 to 4′).
But I think that in the ironic post-everything pop musical society that we find ourselves in now, most of us would find it easiest to write-off Chicago as pure cheese. But as a non-ironic musicologist, I set out to prove that Chicago was definitely once a band to be reckoned with. If those killer hits with the super-sheened horns weren’t enough, I dug up a killer track from Chicago’s first album, when they were still named Chicago Transit Authority. The song is ‘Liberation’, a live in-studio performance with no overdubs, and it is as much a testament to what a find rock band Chicago was, as a testament and tribute to late Chicago guitarist Terry Kath. He was certainly one of the best. So here it is, dig in…
mp3 audio: Chicago Transit Authority – Liberation 
And here’s your palate-cleanser, if you need the taste of Chicago removed from your ears, from a man whose cool will never be called into question, despite Tin Machine and his fascination with the Nazi party in the late 70’s… allegedly! This song is great. Thanks, Mo!
AAC audio: David Bowie – All the Madmen 
4 responses so far ↓
MO // February 24, 2008 at 5:29 am |
I’m not a Chicago fan, but that’s a tasty little jam.
“The Man Who Sold The World” is practically a heavy metal album. This is totally unexpected if expectations are based on the cover photo of Bowie lounging around in a silky dress. I love that guy!
Dave // February 24, 2008 at 7:22 pm |
Minor correction – Cetera sang the theme song for The Karate Kid Part II, the throughly underwhelming sequel to The Karate Kid. You might remember, it’s the one that starts with Elizabeth Shue dumping Daniel-san, and then him Mr. Miyagi go to Okinawa, Daniel-san meets an Okinawan babe, breaks some blocks of ice with his hands, and at the end gets into a ‘real’ fight. Not recommended, but it is marginally better than the third one, where Daniel-san is still supposed to be in high-school but is obviously north of 30.
About Chicago, I think they started to go downhill when Cetera started to exert his influence starting in the mid 70’s. Their sound changed from a rockin’, upbeat groove to more adult contemporary vibe. I pretty much wrote them off after that, although like you said, I find myself humming along to Saturday in the Park and 25 or 6 to 4 when they come on the radio.
Oh yeah, and Bowie rocks (as if that needed to be said!)
newmradio // February 25, 2008 at 3:03 pm |
Thanks Dave! You’re totally right.
kevmoore // February 26, 2008 at 1:34 pm |
i think the phrase ‘musical chameleon’ was coined for bowie. what a talent. I have a very strange chicago album where they do the swing thing, so you actually get chicago singing “chicago”.