I have spent years in the pursuit of great live albums.
\nUnfortunately, they are few and far between. Now, admittedly,
\nChicago 26<\/i> already has a few things against it. First, they
\nare one of my favorite groups, so expectations are higher.
\nSecondly, having seen them live performing a wide variety of
\nmaterial makes the omissions on this album seem even more glaring.
\nWhile my status as a Chicago fan certainly affects how I view this
\nalbum, that doesn’t change the fact that this is a very poor effort
\nfrom one of the longest-touring acts in rock.<\/p>\n
Up at the top of this review, where the name of the album lies,
\npick out the number please. Got it? That would be 26, indicating
\nthis is the 26th Chicago album. At roughly ten songs an album (a
\nconservative estimate), that would imply Chicago has recorded 260
\nsongs. We get 13 here, and the final three are new recordings. That
\nleaves ten songs (for Chicago fans, I always count “The Ballet” as
\none work). Classics such as “Saturday In The Park,” “Does Anybody
\nReally Know What Time It Is,” and “If You Leave Me Now” – not to
\nmention album tracks like “Dialogue,” “I’m A Man,” or “South
\nCalifornia Purples” — are nowhere to be found. Ten tracks that run
\nroughly an hour are nowhere near enough for a band of Chicago’s
\ncaliber.<\/p>\n
The actual performances fall between energetic and sterile.
\nThroughout this disc, it sounds as if audience applause and
\ncheering was added in as an afterthought. This is a concert; I want
\nto hear clapping, singing along, any indication the crowd is alive
\nand feeling the music. After all, live albums are supposed to
\ncapture that experience, or at least they used to. It’s nice to
\nhave a clean-sounding live album, but
\nChicago 26<\/i> overdoes it.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, Chicago has been touring too long for the members
\nto turn in bad performances. As always, the horn section is the
\nheart and soul of the band, bringing life to the tracks. “Feelin’
\nStronger Everyday” moves along faster than original, and it
\nactually sounds like the boys care. “Hard To Say I’m Sorry”
\nimproves in terms of sound tremendously with the inclusion of the
\nhorn section, something that was lacking on
\nChicago 16<\/i>. Robert Lamm and Bill Champlin perform with the
\npanache and style that comes with the year spent in the
\nindustry.<\/p>\n
However, it is the vocals of Jason Scheff that ruin a good deal
\nof
\nChicago 26<\/i> for me. Every song he sings on the album was
\noriginally sung by Peter Cetera. Cetera left an indelible mark on
\nthese tracks; his voice is one of the unique ones in rock. Scheff’s
\nvocals come off as soft and weak on songs like, “(I’ve Been)
\nSearchin’ So Long.” They lack punch, and he has a tendency to play
\naround with the melody a bit. Casual fans probably won’t notice the
\ndifference, but longtime Chicago fans can tell.<\/p>\n
The three “new” tracks are decent efforts from a band that in
\nrecent years has often been unwilling to take risks. (Note:
\nChicago 30<\/i> is finished recording, and preliminary buzz is
\ngood, so they still might have a chance.) Count me as a sappy
\nperson, but I enjoy “Back To You.” It’s a strong, Chicago-style
\nballad. This is the type of song Scheff can pull off in his sleep,
\nso it works. “Higher and Higher” is a curiosity. Michael McDonald,
\nwho actually was a member of Chicago’s label for a while, turns in
\ntremendous, soulful performance — the question is, why is he there
\nat all? Chicago has three lead vocalists, one of whom (Champlin)
\nhas proven to be excellent at handling this type of material. The
\nharmonies on “If I Should Lose You” are excellent, again proving
\nChicago was always underrated in this category.<\/p>\n
Let’s see, ten songs, sterile sound, and a lousy performance
\nfrom one key singer. On the other hand, we have tight performances
\nfrom the band and three decent new recordings. Which side wins out
\nhere?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":26099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5830],"rating":[11204],"class_list":["post-38348","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-chicago","rating-rating-c-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38348"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}