Chicago Transit Authority -

874

5 Stars

*The album cover even looks like it should be up in a railway station. Chicago originally took their name from the transit system. Good thinking—your name is automatically everywhere.*

Audio CD (paid link)

Chicago (they were only called ‘Chicago Transit Authority’ for this, their debut album, before dropping the Transit Authority bit) is probably the only band in history to start out with a classic ground-breaking debut double album.

In the mid-seventies, Chicago was one of the most successful bands in the world. They have sold over 120,000,000 albums worldwide, with nineteen gold albums, thirteen of which went platinum in America alone. “Chicago 5” was top of the Billboard Charts for nine weeks. (They never bothered with titles for their albums just numbered them, we are now up to Chicago XXXXXXXV1.) Some twenty top ten singles and five number ones. Today the band is still going with four of the original seven still in their ranks. (They could have been five, but stunning guitarist Terry Kath was tragically killed in a shooting accident at a party.)

*The gleaming fresh faces of Chicago’s finest young musicians heading off down the road of rock’n’roll. I wonder if any of them ever dreamed how long that road could be?*

But when this album came out in 1969, they had a conventional four-piece line-up with bass, drums, keyboards and lead guitar; the vocals were shared between the three that weren’t drumming. However, they also had three other full-time members playing a combination of trombone, trumpet, and woodwind instruments. That gave them a unique sound combining jazz/pop/rock/funk/soul.

Before they had even signed a recording contract, they had been invited out on the road with Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. Jimi Hendrix was famously quoted as saying that Terry Kath was the best guitarist in the world. One listen to this album and you have to admit that Jimi might not have been wrong.

*Oh, the haircuts, the belts, the cheesy smiles. What innocent daze they were.*

The music kicks off with the aptly titled Introduction. In the space of its six and a half minutes, each section of the band gets space to stretch their musical abilities. This is quickly followed by the first single from the album, ‘Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?’ with its simple piano refrain and driving brass backing.

*Undoubtedly the early star of Chicago, Terry Kath, had an amazing career ahead of him*
*before he shot himself at a party playing a prank with a gun. Don’t play with guns, children.*
*Gun laws continue to be a hot subject today.*

‘Beginnings’ is easily good enough to have been the opener. ‘Questions 67 and 68’ is the second single taken from the album with soaring vocals. There are three workouts belonging primarily to the guitar playing skills of Terry Kath. ‘Poem 58’ slowly grinds its way up to a shattering climax that leaves you wanting more, so Terry Kath delivers ‘Free Form Guitar.’ What it says is, “No electronic gimmicks or effects were used in the recording of this section.” The intent is to capture Kath’s solo spot from their live show as faithfully as possible.

‘South California Purples’ starts off with a classic rock guitar riff allowing all the band members to come in on its back before breaking into snatches of Beatles lyrics and chords. Then we get ‘I’m a Man,’ a cover of the Spencer Davis classic. Chicago turn it into their own.

The last song, ‘Liberation,’ is the crowning jewel in Chicago’s locker. It is a fast-paced dance track driven along by pounding bass and drums with all the soloists given space during its fourteen and a half minute stretch.

*Terry Kath, although the star of the show, was always a team player and wanted the*
band to make it as a complete unit. Guitar solos on stage were fine; a solo career was
never in the offing.

If Chicago never sounded so good again over the next thirty-three years, it’s no wonder. This album was simply impossible to follow. Massive slushy hit singles aside.

This review is dedicated to our friend Ken Sly.