#james pankow

[fancycolours]

Chicago

[krispyweiss]

Album Review: Chicago & Friends - Live at 55

Even as members have cycled in and out with increasing frequency in recent years, Chicago’s setlists have remained static. So when the band recruited some friends to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the Chicago Transit Authority and pulled out such long-idled numbers as “Listen” and “In the Country” with Robert Randolph, “South California Purples” and “Poem 58” with Steve Vai and the full version of “Feelin’ Stronger Every Day” with Judith Hill, the potential was exciting.

Hearing the songs as captured over two nights in November 2023 and released as Chicago & Friends - Live at 55, however, quickly dampens the enthusiasm. For the Chicago of 2024, down to three original members in keyboardist Robert Lamm, trombonist James Pankow and trumpeter Lee Loughnane surrounded by seven recent additions, sounds more like a tribute act than the actual Chicago. And while the presence of guitarists Randolph, Vai and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, who plays on “Make Me Smile” and a couple of other cuts, speaks to the powerful legacy of Chicago’s late co-founder Terry Kath, they are unable to help the band spark that old magic, which is available on 2024’s other live album from the band, the stupendous Chicago at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C. (9/16/1971).

To make room for their guests, Chicago whittled “Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon” down to “Make Me Smile,” “Color My World” and “Now More than Ever,” making the exercise pointless. And while vocalist Chris Daughtry adds some muscle to such tracks as “I’m a Man,” Hill is an ill-fitting choice in a band that never had a female lead; VoicePlay turn “Happy Man” into something better suited for “American Idol” and Robin Thicke sounds like Lamm used to sound.

Which leaves the modern Chicago and their latest Peter Cetera stand-in, Neil Donell, whose authenticity rests mostly in his inability to hit the high notes, which, given he’s 68, is understandable. So without scaling down such songs as “Questions 67 and 68” and “Call on Me,” Chicago would be better off dropping them. And the ’80s ballads, too.

Grade card: Chicago & Friends - Live at 55 - C-

1-9-25

[deer-a-day]

089

Chicago as deer

[bobisusu]

hi bros i haven't been able to contain myself about this concert... Enjoy...

[zimtrim]

Chicago - Terry Kath

[lyddikitties]

[longliverockback]

Chicago Live 1971 2024 Rhino ————————————————— Tracks LP One: 01. Tune up and Band Introduction 02. Dialogue 03. Lonelynes is Just a Word 04. Poem 58 05. A Hit by Varèse 06. Lowdown 07. Goodbye 08. Beginnings 09. Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon   •Make Me Smile   •So Much to Say, So Much to Give   •Anxiety’s Moment   •West Virginia Fantasies   •Colour My World •To Be Free •Now More than Ever

Tracks LP Two: 01. Fancy Colors 02. It Better End Soon •1st Movement •2nd Movement •3rd Movement •4th Movement •5th Movement 03. Saturday in the Park 04. Mother 05. In the Country

Tracks LP Three: 01. A Song for Richard and His Friends 02. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? [free form intro] 03. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? 04. I’m a Man 05. Free 06. 25 or 6 to 4 10. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? 05. South California Purples 06. Questions 67 and 68 —————————————————

Peter Cetera

Terry Kath

Robert Lamm

Lee Loughnane

James Pankow

Walter Parazaider

Danny Seraphine

* Long Live Rock Archive

[chicago-transit-arthority]

[lios-archive]

Chicago x candid shots, part 2

[wilbury-sam]

Again CapCut templates

The reason why Peter Cetera left Chicago explained

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Chicago - Vote For Me - 1977

[fancycolours]

[krispyweiss]

Song Review(s): Chicago - “Saturday in the Park” and “25 or 6 to 4” (Clarkson)

The atmosphere of “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” with its fawning host and applause-sign-fueled audience notwithstanding, the contemporary version of Chicago offered up relatively authentic versions of two of the original band’s most-ubiquitous numbers.

And that’s saying something, as only three of said originals are in the 10-piece ensemble. This means only a portion of “Saturday in the Park” and “25 or 6 to 4” - Robert Lamm’s co-lead vocals in the former and two-thirds of the horn section on both tracks - had anything to do with the songs as most people hear them these days.

And though the group excised an entire verse of “Saturday” and truncated the all-important guitar solo in “25” - these things happen on television - the “Clarkson” appearance is one of the better performances Sound Bites has heard from the modern version of Chicago in the 2020s.

The appearance was in part to hawk 2024’s outstanding Chicago at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C. (9/16/1971), which Sound Bites reviews here.

Grade card: Chicago - “Saturday in the Park” and “25 or 6 to 4” (Clarkson) - C+/B

1/25/24

[nervoussystemmusicreverence]

Chicago - Thunder and Lightning

Music Video

Artist

Chicago

Composer

Robert Lamm Danny Seraphine

Lyricist

Robert Lamm Danny Seraphine

Produced

Tom Dowd

Credit

Peter Cetera – bass, lead and backing vocals Laudir de Oliveira – percussion Robert Lamm – keyboards, lead and backing vocals Lee Loughnane – trumpet James Pankow – trombone Walter Parazaider – woodwinds Danny Seraphine – drums Ian Underwood – keyboards David "Hawk" Wolinski – keyboards Mark Goldenberg – guitars Chris Pinnick – guitars

Released

July 21 1980

Streaming

[bobisusu]

chicago's 2/3 horn bros messing with wheelchair (☆)

[modernmanblues]

these two goofballs have so much chaotic energy i love it