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Chicago 17

Chicago - Chicago 17 Audio CD

A fair review of the Chicago "Chicago 17" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Chicago reviews here, or go back to the Chicago tabs.

Band: Chicago
Title: Chicago 17
Rating:

Release Date: 2006-10-03
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Stay the Night 2: We Can Stop the Hurtin' 3: Hard Habit to Break 4: Only You 5: Remember the Feeling 6: Along Comes a Woman 7: You're the Inspiration 8: Please Hold On 9: Prima Donna 10: Once in a Lifetime 11: Where We Begin [#][*]

Pop Goes Chicago
After 17, Peter Cetera left the band. Chicago 17 was really the last Chicago album. Terry Kath, a great guitarist/vocalist, had died about 7 years before and now with the loss of Cetera, it was just too much for this band. By the way, I consider Kath the greatest guitarist of the 1970',s. Anyway, Chicago 17 brought Chicago into the limelight one more time and had several great songs. These songs include, Stay the Night, You're the Inspiration, and Hard Habit to Break. Stay the Night was a rocker and the other two are great ballads. The non-singles are fairly strong as well. This is a must buy for any Chicago fan. .

Great Music
There is not a bad song on the cd. I bought this cd to replace a cassette that I had worn out. Most of the songs should be familiar to anyone who is a Chicago fan. However, my favorite is "Remember The Feeling" which I don't think I have ever heard on the radio. All of the songs except the last one, which was not on the original album, are from the Peter Cetera era.

Not A Bad Set From Chicago
All Music Guide: The Experts' Guide to the Best CD's, Albums & Tapes (All Music Guide Series) defined this recording as,and I quoate "this is what happens when you really go for the ballads". Much the same thing can be said of this album as can be said of Chicago 16:most people are going to go into this thinking they know what they're in for musically. Well as far as ballads go this is a ten song album and of them you only get three. Obviously you have "Hard Habit To Break" and "You're My Inspiration" are the big songs here;the former is actually a really interesting song from a musical perspective but the former. . . well it has a little radio ware for me and really has a more AC kind of Peter Cetera solo ballad,similar to something you might find on his Solitude/Solitaire a couple years after this. "Remember The Feeling" well. . . is really more or less the same but is something of a weaker song in terms of writing as I see it. Interestingly enough this album,as with the one before it is primarily devoted to upbeat and uptempo tunes,something Chicago have always done and all of them have some selling point. As pointed out in the liner notes everything here could've easily charted and,not only that considering what was going on in music in the mid 1980's,especially in pop/rock (the majority of this album has a bit much of a drive to be called thoroughly adult contemporary) this music is actually pretty creative. Chicago were musical veterans who realized even if you couldn't set trends,you really had to make them work for you rather then work for them. Again produced by David Foster,the album opens with Peter Cetera and him actually working around a very upbeat 80's rock in "Stay The Night";it's a bit on the arena-y side but it does the trick. Robert Lamm gets a turn at bat with "We Can't Stop The Hurtin'",actually not a bad example of stripped down "naked funk" with Champlin throwing down some fine rhythm guitar overall. James Pankow turns in his own tune with Foster on "Only You",another great tune in a similar style-the break beats heavy,the hand claps pounding away it's probably the only Chicago song you'd be likely to be able to breakdance to. But not to worry;it's a great song and not silly at all. "Along Comes A Woman" is a more driving Cetera rocker with some great horns for this later period Chicago. There's nothing lost here as the contemporary (for the time) R&B/funk tune really takes shape on "Please Hold On",a Lionel Richie co-composition which,considering Lionel's tendancy to be as musically overwraught as Certera was in this period,is a really driving tune with this nice locked tight shuffle and keyboard/horn arrangement;it's easily one of the very best tunes here. "Prima Donna",also from the Two of a Kind (Soundtrack) : John Travolta is a decent but fairly conventional rocker and Pankow's closer "Once In A Lifetime" really works the rock/R&B groove very well again. The bonus track is Robert Lamm's "Where We Begin",a really nice off the cuff jazzy tune that's kind of romantic in an odd sort of way. This album as with all the Chicago reissues has excellent remastered sound quality and everything sounds a whole lot crisper for it. Sadly this would be there last album with Peter Cetera;his solo career did bring him commercial success but it was a loss to he and the bands. . . soul when the two parted ways in many senses. Considering though that Chicago weathered the tragic passing of Terry Kath eight years earlier they would manage to soldier on again even after this,a once highly underrated album that is not nearly as commerically ingratiating as you might've thought.

Chicago 17
The booklet is quite simple with the logo and the number of the album on the front. Chicago 17 was Chicago's 1984 release and their 17th release and included such hits as "Stay the Night", "Hard Habit to Break" and "You're the Inspiration". A Scott Galloway writes some interesting linernotes about the album. The lyrics are easy to read and we get a nice list of whom plays what on the album. 4/5.
.

The first one they got right after "10"
A couple of singles off of "Hot Streets" and the "Hard to Say I'm Sorry/Love Me Tomorrow" duo off of XVI were pretty much all they had to show for in this period. The death of Terry Kath after Chicago X must have hit the group pretty hard. Along comes XVII, and suddenly they're back on the charts with four singles (and matching MTV videos) such as "Hard Habit to Break", and "You're the Inspiration". They had found their roots again, and it paid off for them. Sadly, Peter Cetera was not staying long afterward, but this album is a good representation of his later Chicago offerings.

You can see a complete list of all Chicago discography, or go back to the Chicago tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.