Chicago's Greatest Hits (1975)

Note: this release was originally purchased as a cassette tape, later replaced by a CD.

A.K.A. Chicago IX

All these songs have already appeared on the blog on another compilation, Only The Beginning: The Very Best Of Chicago. But since the goal of the blog is to listen to all the CDs on the shelves, this one is getting a Thursday morning spin.

Chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200 chart: #1 (5 consecutive weeks, Dec 13, 1975 - Jan 10,1976)
• Billboard Pop CD chart: #27
• CashBox album chart: #1 (7 consecutive weeks, Dec 13, 1975 - Jan 24, 1976)

Tracks:

Song	Album	Year	Hot 100
25 or 6 to 4	II	1970	4
Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?	I	1970	7
Colour My World	II	1971	7
Just You 'N' Me	VI	1973	4
Saturday in the Park	V	1972	3
Feelin' Stronger Every Day	VI	1973	10
Make Me Smile	II	1970	9
Wishing You Were Here	VII	1974	11
Call On Me	VII	1974	6
(I've Been) Searchin' For So Long	VII	1974	9
Beginnings	I	1971	7

Missing Top 40 hits: Free (#20, 1971), Lowdown (#35, 1971), Questions 67 and 68 (#24, 1971), Dialogue (Part I & II) (#24, 1972), Harry Truman (#13, 1975) and Old Days (#5, 1975). Would I have preferred chronological sequencing? You betcha.

I enjoy most all of the above tunes and if Wishing You Were Here isn't the perfect song for a cool winter morning, I don't know what could possibly replace it. The only song I'll skip is Colour My World, which bores me to no end and I call shenanigans on using the British spelling of the word "colour" - you're from Chicago, ferchrissakes.

Billboard, November 22, 1975, p. 74

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  Beginnings reminds me of an ill-advised trip to the beach during the Lost Summer of Mark, 1988. Long story short: I listened to my cassette version of this album on said trip and was talking to another person about the trombone solo in Beginnings. The "B from D" got mad/jealous, walked out of the room, fight ensued. Good times and very possibly my only fight about a trombone solo. Helluva song though.

Speaking of trombones, how do you improve the aerodynamics of a trombonist's car? Take the Domino's Pizza sign off the roof. Hi-yoooo!

Previously revisited for the blog:
Only The Beginning: The Very Best Of Chicago (2002)
Greatest Hits 1982-1989 (1989)
Chicago 17 (1984)
Chicago 16 (1982)
Chicago Transit Authority (1969)