THINKING OUT OF THE BOX SET WEEK (MARCH 8 - 14, 2020)*
*In which I've lost/misplaced/can't find/never had one or more CDs in a multi-disc set.
Disc 1 of a 4 disc box set which covers only the group's tenure with Columbia Records and does not include their 80's Warner Bros. hits. Liner notes here. I'm guessing the set was aimed at '70s Chicago fans who wanted to listen to the band on CD but didn't want to re-purchase all their albums on CD (especially Chicago 13).
Selections on this first disc are hits and album cuts taken from the groups first two albums, Chicago Transit Authority (1969), and Chicago (1970). In chronological order!
 |
| Detroit Free Press, October 27, 1991, p. 4Q |
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart
Tracks:
| Song | Hot 100 | AC |
| Introduction | - | - |
| Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? | 7 | 5 |
| Beginnings | 7 | 1 |
| Questions 67 & 68 | 24 | 34 |
| Listen | - | |
| Poem 58 | - | - |
| I'm a Man | 49 | - |
| Make Me Smile | 9 | - |
| So Much To Say, So Much To Give | - | - |
| Anxiety's Moment | - | - |
| West Virginia Fantasies | - | - |
| Colour My World | 7 | - |
| To Be Free | - | - |
| Now More Than Ever | - | - |
| Fancy Colours | - | - |
| 25 Or 6 To 4 | 4 | - |
| Where Do We Go From Here | - | - |
I'm normally not much for prog rock, but there's some tasty playing on these tracks regardless if they're meandering jam songs, neo-classical suites, or pop/rock singles. I prefer the singles but that's simply because they've seemingly been blaring out of some nearby speaker my entire life. And now I'll most likely spin Only The Beginning: The Very Best Of Chicago at some point today.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Track 3, 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 Chicago IX on said trip and was talking to another musician about the trombone solo in Beginnings. My erstwhile companion was incensed that I would dare talk to someone other than her, walked out of the room, and a fight ensued. Good times and very possibly my only fight over a trombone solo. Heckuva song though; maybe the best on this disc.
When I saw the band live in Ft. Worth in 1985, touring in support of Chicago 17, the classic single Colour My World (vocals then by Bill Champlin) surprisingly brought the show to a screeching halt. I guess the preteen girls who came to hear Stay The Night couldn't be bothered with their mom and dad's make-out music which included things such as romantic subtlety or flute solos, if only for 3 minutes.
And, if you are of a certain age, after you learned Chopsticks and Heart and Soul on your older sister's piano when you were 8, you might have gone on to learn the arpeggiated introduction of Colour My World.
Previously revisited for the blog:
Only The Beginning: The Very Best Of Chicago (2002)
The Heart of Chicago 1967–1998 Volume II (1998)
Greatest Hits 1982-1989 (1989)
Chicago 17 (1984)
Chicago 16 (1982)
Greatest Hits, Vol. II (1981)
Greatest Hits (1975)
Chicago Transit Authority (1969)
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