During the course of our current “Dynamic Debuts” retrospective,
\nyou are going to see some classic albums. What makes
\nChicago Transit Authority<\/i> (hereafter referred to as
\nCTA<\/i>) different than these other albums is that it is one of
\nthose rarities in popular music, a debut album that remains the
\ngroup’s best work.<\/p>\n
Chicago fans in general rank
\nCTA<\/i> pretty high on the list of the band’s best albums.
\nHowever,
\nII<\/i> and
\nV<\/i> usually take the top spot. To me,
\nII<\/i> is a just a tad too long winded, and falls apart on the
\nsecond half of the album.
\nV<\/i> comes close, but to me,
\nCTA<\/i> represents the best Chicago could offer.<\/p>\n
From the get-go, it’s apparent this incarnation of Chicago had
\nsome balls. “Introduction” works on multiple levels: besides being
\nthe first song of their career, it allows each band member to shine
\nthrough with their individual talents. From this point, it’s really
\none killer track after another until the infamous “Free Form
\nGuitar.” You’ve got the brilliant jazz\/rock fusion of “Does Anybody
\nReally Know What Time It is,” and the rollicking love song
\n“Beginnings,” featuring one of those patented, Latin flavored
\nChicago fadeouts.<\/p>\n
So, within the first three songs of
\nCTA<\/i>, you’ve got two of the band’s most popular songs. Not a
\nbad start, but the fun doesn’t stop there. “Listen” spotlightss one
\nof Terry Kath’s greatest moments; he sustains the opening note of
\nthe song for about 40 seconds. Kath’s work was greatly
\nunderappreciated back in the day, and little touches like this just
\nshow how good he truly was. But when we talk about Kath and
\nCTA<\/i>, “Poem 58” has to be mentioned. This is pure, balls-out
\nrock at it’s finest. While Danny Seraphine and Peter Cetera lay
\ndown the beat, Kath just tears away for a good five minutes,
\nshowcasing a devastating variety of riffs and solos, each more
\nimpressive than the next. It’s mind-blowing stuff, and gives
\ncredence to what Jimi Hendrix said to Walt Parazaider; “Your guitar
\nplayer is better than me.”<\/p>\n
As I mentioned earlier, “Free Form Guitar” is derided by Chicago
\nfans of all ages, and I have to agree with them. On some level, the
\nsounds Kath makes with the Stratocaster are inventive, however they
\njust sound annoying and go on for way too long.<\/p>\n
Luckily for the listener, things pick right back up with “South
\nCalifornia Purples,” (see if you can spot the Beatles reference!).
\nNow, the next song brings up an old debate for me. “I’m A Man,”
\napparently was first recorded by Spencer Davis Group, but I had not
\nheard the original upon my first listen of
\nCTA<\/i>. So to me, the true “cover” of the song would the
\noriginal, not Chicago’s version. Weird, ain’t it?<\/p>\n
What is left after “I’m A Man,” is the underrated “Someday
\n(August 29, 1968)” and “Liberation.” The former is probably as
\nclose to pure pop as
\nCTA<\/i> gets; on this track I particularly enjoy the trading off
\nof vocals between Robert Lamm and Cetera. Chicago has always been
\nblessed with great vocalists, and here the group gets to show off
\nthat diversity. The latter track, while not the worst jam I’ve ever
\nheard, goes on for a bit too long. This type of over indulgence
\nwould occur over and over again for the band, lasting all the way
\nthrough the 70’s. That being said, the first few minutes are pure
\ngold.<\/p>\n
The shortcomings aside,
\nCTA<\/i> is quite simply the best album Chicago has ever
\nrecorded. Though they’ve come close, the group’s brilliant
\ncombination of jazz and rock has never been as perfect as it is
\nhere. For that, this album gets that sought-after “A.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":26941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5830],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-38648","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-chicago","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38648","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=38648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38648"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38648"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}