''Chicago VII'' is the sixth studio album (seventh overall) by
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
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and was released in 1974. It is notable for being their first
double album
A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...
of new material since 1971's ''
Chicago III
''Chicago III'' is the third studio album by American rock band Chicago and was released in 1971. It was the band's third consecutive double album of new studio material in less than two years.
Background
In the wake of the enormous worldwid ...
'' and remains their final studio release in that format. It features session percussionist
Laudir de Oliveira
Laudir Soares de Oliveira (6 January 1940 – 17 September 2017) was a Brazilian musician and producer mostly renowned for his time as percussionist with the band Chicago.
Oliveira grew up in Rio de Janeiro, and started working professionally in ...
, who would become a full-fledged band member for the release of ''
Chicago VIII'' the following year.
Background
While touring in support of ''
Chicago VI
''Chicago VI'' is the fifth studio album (sixth overall) by American rock band Chicago and was released on June 25, 1973. It was the band's second in a string of five consecutive albums to make it to No. 1 in the US, was certified gold less th ...
'' in 1973, the band began getting restless and started integrating some lengthy
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
instrumentals into their sets.
While audiences' reactions varied, Chicago greatly enjoyed the experience, decided (after years of talking about it) to record a pure jazz-influenced set of tracks, and headed straight to producer
James William Guercio
James William Guercio (born July 18, 1945) is an American music producer, musician, songwriter, and director. He is well known for his work as the producer of Chicago's early albums as well as early recordings of The Buckinghams and Blood, Sweat ...
's
Caribou Ranch
Caribou Ranch was a recording studio built by producer James William Guercio in 1972 in a converted barn on ranch property in the Rocky Mountains near Nederland, Colorado, on the road that leads to the ghost town of Caribou. The studio was in op ...
studios to cut their ambitious new album.
Vocals aren't present on the release until track 6, twenty five minutes, twenty eight seconds into the album.
While the sessions began well, there was soon dissension within the group about the jazz project, with, reportedly,
Peter Cetera
Peter Paul Cetera ( ; born September 13, 1944) is an American retired musician best known for being a lead vocalist and the bassist of the rock band Chicago from 1967 until his departure in 1985, before launching a successful solo career. His c ...
and Guercio both wary of the commercial risk of such an undertaking.
While the band reasoned that some of the jazzy material was too good to throw away, the others finally relented and accepted including the more
pop and
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
-oriented songs that the band had composed in the meantime. Almost by accident, Chicago had another double album on their hands.
Of the more conventional material, Chicago once again turned in a varied set of songs, with
Terry Kath
Terry Alan Kath (January 31, 1946 – January 23, 1978) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He played guitar and sang lead vocals on many of the band's early hit singl ...
's "Byblos", named after a club that Chicago had played in
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, ranking among his best efforts.
Robert Lamm
Robert William Lamm (born October 13, 1944) is an American keyboardist, guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He wrote many of the band's biggest hits, including " Questions 67 & 68", " Does ...
, who was recording a solo album entitled ''
Skinny Boy
''Skinny Boy'' is the debut solo album by Chicago (band), Chicago's keyboard player Robert Lamm released in 1974 on Columbia Records. It has the distinction of being the first solo effort by any Chicago band member. The title track, "Skinny Boy," ...
'' at the time, turned in several new songs, even donating his solo album's title track, featuring
The Pointer Sisters
The Pointer Sisters are an American pop and R&B singing group from Oakland, California, that achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Their repertoire has included such diverse genres as pop, jazz, electronic music, bebop, b ...
on backing vocals.
James Pankow
James Carter Pankow is an American trombone player, songwriter and brass instrument player, best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago.
Early life, family and education
Born in St. Louis, Missouri of German and Irish descent, Pa ...
came through with another success, "
(I've Been) Searchin' So Long" (#9), and trumpeter
Lee Loughnane
Lee David Loughnane (pronounced LOCK-nain; born October 21, 1946) is an American trumpeter, flugelhorn player, vocalist, and songwriter, best known for being a founding member of the rock band Chicago.
Early life and education
Lee David Loughna ...
succeeded on his first try at songwriting with the hit "
Call on Me" (#6). Peter Cetera made the biggest strides on ''Chicago VII'', composing "Happy Man" and "
Wishing You Were Here" (#11), a lush ballad (signs of the future, taking the band even farther from their original style and sound) that features three of
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...
on backing vocals and which became a big hit in late 1974. "Happy Man" was subsequently covered by
Tony Orlando and Dawn
Tony Orlando and Dawn is an American pop music group that was popular in the 1970s, composed of singer Tony Orlando and the backing vocal group Dawn (Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson). Their signature hits include " Candida", " Knock Thre ...
on their album ''To Be With You''. Peter Cetera also covered "Happy Man" in 1995 on his solo album ''One Clear Voice'' and again in 2005 on his solo album ''Faithfully'' which is a re-release of ''One Clear Voice''.
''Chicago VII'' is notable for having writing contributions from all (and only) the members of the band, and for having most of the members stretching out in new ways: Loughnane sang lead ("Song of the Evergreens") and wrote a song, Pankow sang backup, Kath played bass, Cetera played guitar, and
Walter Parazaider
Walter Parazaider (born March 14, 1945) is an American woodwind musician best known for being a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He plays a wide variety of wind instruments, including saxophone, flute, and clarinet. He also occasionally ...
and
Danny Seraphine
Daniel Peter Seraphine (born August 28, 1948) is an American drummer, record producer, theatrical producer and film producer. He is best known as the original drummer and a founding member of the rock band Chicago, a tenure which lasted from F ...
composed.
Released in March 1974, ''Chicago VII'' - despite its first disc being almost exclusively jazz instrumentals - reached #1 in the US, becoming another big success for the band.
The album was mixed and released in both stereo and quadraphonic. In 2002, ''Chicago VII'' was remastered and reissued on one
CD by
Rhino Records
A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...
with one bonus track: an early rehearsal of Kath's "Byblos". Initial pressings of this edition contained an edited version of the track "Happy Man" that had appeared on ''
Greatest Hits, Volume II'', which omitted the "false start" and studio countdown heard on the original ''Chicago VII'' LP.
Track listing
Bonus track (2002 re-issue)
#
"Byblos" (Rehearsal
A rehearsal is an activity in the performing arts that occurs as preparation for a performance in music, theatre, dance and related arts, such as opera, musical theatre and film production. It is undertaken as a form of practising, to ensure t ...
) (Kath) – 5:40
Personnel
Chicago
* Peter Cetera
Peter Paul Cetera ( ; born September 13, 1944) is an American retired musician best known for being a lead vocalist and the bassist of the rock band Chicago from 1967 until his departure in 1985, before launching a successful solo career. His c ...
– bass, lead vocals, backing vocals (6, 8, 9, 12, 13), guitar (12)
* Terry Kath
Terry Alan Kath (January 31, 1946 – January 23, 1978) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He played guitar and sang lead vocals on many of the band's early hit singl ...
– guitars, lead vocals, backing vocals (6, 8, 10), bass (7, 11, 12, 15), bells (10)
* Robert Lamm
Robert William Lamm (born October 13, 1944) is an American keyboardist, guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He wrote many of the band's biggest hits, including " Questions 67 & 68", " Does ...
– Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...
(1), keyboards (2), Fender Rhodes
The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...
(3-8, 13, 15), ARP synthesizer
ARP Instruments, Inc. was a Lexington, Massachusetts manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, founded by Alan Robert Pearlman
in 1969. It created a popular and commercially successful range of synthesizers throughout the 1970s before de ...
(4), clavinet
The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...
(6, 14), backing vocals (6, 8, 9, 13), acoustic piano (8, 9, 12, 14), Minimoog
The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...
(8, 12), lead vocals
* Danny Seraphine
Daniel Peter Seraphine (born August 28, 1948) is an American drummer, record producer, theatrical producer and film producer. He is best known as the original drummer and a founding member of the rock band Chicago, a tenure which lasted from F ...
– drums, percussion (7, 12), hi-hat
A hi-hat (hihat, high-hat, etc.) is a combination of two cymbals and a pedal, all mounted on a metal stand. It is a part of the standard drum kit used by drummers in many styles of music including rock, pop, jazz, and blues. Hi-hats consist o ...
(11), bass drum
The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...
(11)
* Lee Loughnane
Lee David Loughnane (pronounced LOCK-nain; born October 21, 1946) is an American trumpeter, flugelhorn player, vocalist, and songwriter, best known for being a founding member of the rock band Chicago.
Early life and education
Lee David Loughna ...
– trumpet, flugelhorn (3, 5), backing vocals (8, 10, 13), lead vocals (10)
* James Pankow
James Carter Pankow is an American trombone player, songwriter and brass instrument player, best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago.
Early life, family and education
Born in St. Louis, Missouri of German and Irish descent, Pa ...
– trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...
, percussion (8), backing vocals (8, 9), timbales
Timbales () or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size.Orovio, Helio 1981. ''Diccionario de la música cubana: biográfico ...
(9)
* Walter Parazaider
Walter Parazaider (born March 14, 1945) is an American woodwind musician best known for being a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He plays a wide variety of wind instruments, including saxophone, flute, and clarinet. He also occasionally ...
– tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...
, flute
The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
(1, 2), soprano saxophone
The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, sop ...
(3), alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...
(9)
* Brass arrangements (4) by James Pankow and Robert Lamm; (2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12-15) by James Pankow
Additional musicians
* David Wolinski – ARP synthesizer (8, 12), acoustic piano (10), Mellotron (11), Fender Rhodes (11)
* Wayne Tarnowski – acoustic piano (11)
* James William Guercio
James William Guercio (born July 18, 1945) is an American music producer, musician, songwriter, and director. He is well known for his work as the producer of Chicago's early albums as well as early recordings of The Buckinghams and Blood, Sweat ...
– acoustic guitar (7), bass (10), guitar (12)
* Ross Salomone – drums (15)
* Laudir de Oliveira
Laudir Soares de Oliveira (6 January 1940 – 17 September 2017) was a Brazilian musician and producer mostly renowned for his time as percussionist with the band Chicago.
Oliveira grew up in Rio de Janeiro, and started working professionally in ...
– percussion (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11-13, 16), congas
The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest) ...
(2, 4, 6, 8)
* Guille Garcia – percussion (7), congas (9, 11, 13, 15)
* Jimmie Haskell
Jimmie Haskell (born Sheridan Pearlman, November 7, 1926 – February 4, 2016) was an American composer and arranger for motion pictures and a wide variety of popular artists, including Elvis Presley, Neil Diamond, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Steely Da ...
– strings (8)
* Bobbi Roen, Camelia Ortiz, Diane Nini, Hank Steiger and Julie Nini – background party noises (9)
* Al Jardine
Alan Charles Jardine (born September 3, 1942) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He is best known as the band's rhythm guitarist and for occasionally singing lead vocals on singles such as "Help Me, Rho ...
, Carl Wilson
Carl Dean Wilson (December 21, 1946 – February 6, 1998) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He was their lead guitarist, the youngest sibling of bandmates Brian and Dennis, and the group's ''de ...
and Dennis Wilson
Dennis Carl Wilson (December 4, 1944 – December 28, 1983) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He is best remembered as their drummer and as the middle brother of bandmates Brian and Carl Wilson. ...
– backing vocals (12)
* The Pointer Sisters
The Pointer Sisters are an American pop and R&B singing group from Oakland, California, that achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Their repertoire has included such diverse genres as pop, jazz, electronic music, bebop, b ...
– backing vocals (15)
Production
* Produced by James William Guercio
* Engineered by Wayne Tarnowski and Jeff Guercio
* Strings recorded by Armin Steiner at Sound Labs (Hollywood, CA).
* Mixed by Phil Ramone
Philip Ramone (né Rabinowitz, January 5, 1934March 30, 2013) was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, who in 1958 co-founded A & R Recording, Inc., a recording studio with business par ...
* Cover Photo – John Berg and Nick Fasciano
* Photography – Urve Kuusik
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Notes and references
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chicago 07
Chicago (band) albums
1974 albums
Albums produced by James William Guercio
Columbia Records albums