Just in time for the holidays, Chicago has conveniently released a 34-song two-disc Christmas song collection.<\/p>\n
The package is actually a repackaging of Chicago XXXIII: O Christmas Three <\/i>and What\u2019s It Gonna Be, Santa?<\/i>, which was itself a repackaging of Chicago 25 <\/i>with six songs added. In short, this new collection is every Christmas song the band ever released\u2026and at 34 songs, it\u2019s plenty of Chicago to go around.<\/p>\n
*begin Grinch alert*<\/p>\n
But cripes, is it awful. Chicago XXXIII <\/i>was released in 2011 with several guest stars (Dolly Parton, Bebe Winans, America) and absolutely zero songs worth hearing. It is the most lame, boring, bland Christmas album I\u2019ve ever heard. It actually makes latter-day Chicago hits like \u201cYou\u2019re The Inspiration\u201d sound like nuanced genius. <\/p>\n
The arrangements try to be interesting by randomly speeding up and slowing down certain parts of each song, but it doesn\u2019t work, nor do the attempts at \u201crock.\u201d Have you ever been to church during the big annual Christmas show, where the house band is in their fifties and wears green sweaters while trying to be \u201chip\u201d by playing \u201cRockin\u2019 Around The Christmas Tree?\u201d and it\u2019s all a bunch of cheesy fun? This is like that, but worse.<\/p>\n
For those who aren\u2019t sure, Chicago had a string of jazz-rock-pop albums in the early 1970s that were challenging and interesting, integrating horns, vocal harmonies, and guitars for a unique sound. The band moved into a straight pop direction and scored more hits in the 1980s, then sort of drifted into the ether after Peter Cetera left. Almost none of the virtuosity is here, and the horns, rather than enhancing the song, seem to be set to Muzak levels. The best song here isn\u2019t even a Christmas song; \u201cMy Favorite Things\u201d is given a degree of emotion and soul that renders it quite decent.<\/p>\n
*end of Grinch alert*<\/p>\n
What\u2019s It Gonna Be, Santa? <\/i>is the opposite. Tellingly, it was a gold seller, and musically it is miles away from XXXIII<\/i>. There is heart and thought and creative energy in these tunes, along with the sense of fun that should be in any non-religious Christmas disc. \u201cLet It Snow\u201d has some muscle and a great horn chart, though Chicago fans will be pleased to note that trumpeter Lee Loughnane sings lead vocals.<\/p>\n
According to singer\/pianist Robert Lamm, the intent was to keep the arrangements more or less intact and add the Chicago stamp to each song. This is pretty much the case, although the times where the mold is broken are pretty special, most notably in \u201cLittle Drummer Boy\u201d and a slowed-down, flugelhorn and accordion heavy \u201cFeliz Navidad,\u201d by far the best version of this song you\u2019ll ever hear. Of course, it doesn\u2019t all work (\u201cThe Christmas Song\u201d and \u201cSleigh Ride\u201d are pretty bland, and the band has a tendency to slip back into their \u201880s sound at times), but the sense of holiday spirit makes these forgivable. Plus, the band changes the lyrics of \u201cJolly Old St. Nicholas\u201d to ask for new instruments, and you can\u2019t help but smile at that.<\/p>\n
If the idea of male vocal harmonies and horn arrangements mixed with light rock music appeals to you this holiday season, as opposed to the usual versions of these songs you hear at the mall, What\u2019s It Gonna Be, Santa? <\/i>is the way to go. If you can\u2019t find it alone, pick up this collection and use XXXIII <\/i>for an eggnog coaster. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":31195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5830],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-42887","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-chicago","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42887","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\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42887"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42887"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}