Early Chicago is pretty cool. Terry Kath had some great guitar riffs, and in fact I read somewhere that Jimmy Hendrix was a huge admirer of his playing. Their music was proggy, in a jazz sort of way. The variety of vocalists kept things interesting. Then at some point they turned into a top 40 sappy ballad producing machine. Only in it for the money. And chicks. Oh well. :Smug:
Thanks Bill, spoken for the truth. Yes thats been stated many times and I think there is a interview where he mentions Kath, of course Jimi was listening, Kath was in a dream band... full horn section, not confined to one style. From what I read Robert Lambs writing was waneing, the producer was pushing for the pop sound and one particular Cetera song hit it big and the band kept leaning that way and then Terry died and thus vanished the groove he brought to the mix.
My sister sent me copies of V and VII and Im digging them pretty good, still not the rawer energy of CTA and II. Their music was proggy at many points, various fills and tangents as proggy as ELP and others, even a few fusion-ish sounding nibbles but they threw that stuff here and there in otherwise conventional songs, they also were a bit of a jam band, common for the times. But what stands out the most is their horn section and the arrangements. Ceteras bass work is a must hear for bass players, the guy was no sloutch, very precise (to my ear), tasty, strong presence and groovin.
But again we didnt have all the anger back then and werent afraid to leave our testosterone at the curb from time to time. I wouldnt expect many younger people to like it, especially on a metal forum.
not too bad of a early live recording from 72, song was from 69, first track of CTA properly entitled Introduction, dont think you've heard the whole thing from the first minute, it travels abit
I only kid, of course.
