''Chicago IX: Chicago's Greatest Hits'' is the first

greatest hits album A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

, and ninth album overall, by the

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, p ...

band

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and was released in 1975 by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

in both stereo (PC 33900) and SQ quadraphonic (PCQ 33900) versions. Including all of Chicago's biggest hits to date, this set stretches from their 1969 debut, ''

Chicago Transit Authority The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of public transport, mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago "L" and List of Chicago Transit Authority bus routes, CTA bu ...

'', to 1974's ''

Chicago VII ''Chicago VII'' is the sixth studio album by American Rock music, rock band Chicago (band), Chicago. It was released on March 11, 1974 by Columbia Records. It is notable for being their first double album of new material since 1971's ''Chicago ...

''. '' Chicago VIII'' and its hits, having only come out just months earlier, were considered too recent to anthologize, while '' Chicago IIIs material was overlooked for inclusion due to its lack of top-selling singles. ''Chicago IX'' proved to be an enormous success upon its release. It reached No. 1 in the US and remained on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a rec ...

for a total of 72 weeks. It has since been certified quintuple platinum by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

, signifying sales of over five million copies. ''Chicago IX'' was reissued by

Rhino Records A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

, Chicago's current distributor. The album did not chart in the UK.

Track listing

Side one

#" 25 or 6 to 4" (

Robert Lamm Robert William Lamm (born October 13, 1944) is an American musician and a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He is best known for his songwriting, vocals, and keyboard melodies, most significantly on the band's debut studio album, ''Chic ...

) – 4:51 #" Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" (Lamm) – 3:20 CD 2:53 LP/Cassette #* ''On the original LP ''(and cassette)'' version of'' Chicago IX'', most of the intro was cut off. The spoken part over the last verse was also omitted.'' #" Colour My World" (

James Pankow James Carter Pankow (born August 20, 1947) is an American trombone player, songwriter, and brass instrument arranger who is a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He is best known for his brass arrangements, and for being one-third of Chi ...

) – 2:59 #"

Just You 'n' Me "Just You 'n' Me" is a song written by James Pankow for the group Chicago (band), Chicago and recorded for their fifth studio album ''Chicago VI'' (1973). The lead vocals are sung by bassist Peter Cetera. Background The second single released fr ...

" (Pankow) – 3:42 #" Saturday in the Park" (Lamm) – 3:54 #"

Feelin' Stronger Every Day "Feelin' Stronger Every Day" is a song written by Peter Cetera and James Pankow for the group Chicago and recorded for their album '' Chicago VI'' (1973). The first single released from that album, it reached #10 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. ...

" (

Peter Cetera Peter Paul Cetera Jr. ( ; born September 13, 1944) is a retired American musician best known for being a frontman, vocalist, and bassist for the American rock band Chicago from 1967 until his departure in 1985. His career as a recording artist ...

/Pankow) – 4:14

Side two

Make Me Smile "Make Me Smile" is a song written by James Pankow for the rock band Chicago with the band's guitarist, Terry Kath, on lead vocals. Part 1 of Pankow's 7-part "Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon" song cycle/suite, it was recorded for their second album ...

" (Pankow) – 2:59 #* ''This is the single edit that also includes parts of "Now More Than Ever".'' #"

Wishing You Were Here "Wishing You Were Here" is a song written by Peter Cetera for the group Chicago (band), Chicago and recorded for their album ''Chicago VII'' (1974), with lead vocals by Terry Kath (uncredited on the original album package), while Cetera sang the ...

" (Cetera) – 4:34 #" Call on Me" (

Lee Loughnane Lee David Loughnane (pronounced LOCK-nain; born October 21, 1946) is an American trumpeter, flugelhorn player, vocalist, and songwriter who is a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He is best known for being one-third of Chicago's brass/wo ...

) – 4:02 #"

(I've Been) Searchin' So Long "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long" is a song written by James Pankow for the group Chicago and recorded for their album ''Chicago VII'' (1974). The first single released from that album, it reached number 9 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It also ...

" (Pankow) – 4:29 #"

Beginnings Beginnings may refer to: Literature * ''Beginnings'' (collection), a 1988 collection of short stories and poems by Gordon R. Dickson * ''Beginnings'' (Honorverse), a 2013 collection of short stories in the Worlds of Honor series * ''Beginnings ...

" (Lamm) – 7:51 CD 6:28 LP/Cassette #* ''On the original LP version, this song fades out about 1:20 early.'' The UK version contains the additions of "Never Been in Love Before" and a shortened 3:27 version of " I'm a Man". The Brazilian version has the addition of "Happy Man" and moves "25 or 6 to 4" to the end of Side 1. "Feelin' Stronger Every Day" and "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long" are omitted.

Personnel

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

Terry Kath Terry Alan Kath (January 31, 1946 – January 23, 1978) was an American guitarist and singer who is best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He played lead guitar and sang lead vocals on many of the band's early hit singl ...

– guitars, lead & background vocals *

– keyboards, lead & background vocals *

–

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet, but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B♭, though ...

, percussion, background vocals *

–

trombone The trombone (, 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 lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

, percussion, background vocals *

Walter Parazaider Walter Parazaider (born March 14, 1945) is an American woodwind musician who is a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He is best known for being one-third of Chicago's brass/woodwind section alongside Lee Loughnane and James Pankow. Para ...

–

woodwinds Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and re ...

, percussion, background 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 ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, percussion *

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. Career Oliveira grew up in Rio de Janeiro, and started working profession ...

–

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

James William Guercio James William Guercio (born July 18, 1945) is an American music producer, musician, songwriter and director. He is best known for his work as the producer of Chicago's first eleven studio albums. He also produced the early recordings of The Buckin ...

– producer * John Berg –

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

*Nick Fasciano –

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...

Reid Miles Reid Miles (July 4, 1927 – February 2, 1993) was an American graphic designer and photographer best known for his work for Blue Note Records in the 1950s and 1960s. Biography Miles was born in Chicago, Illinois, on July 4, 1927, but, follow ...

–

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chicago 09 - Chicago's Greatest Hits 1975 greatest hits albums Albums produced by James William Guercio Chicago (band) compilation albums Columbia Records compilation albums Albums with cover art by Reid Miles