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Post by kungfuzu on May 20, 2020 17:54:02 GMT -8
This is an example of why I loved the original CTA which became Chicago. The guitarist, Terry Kath, was one of the best guitarists of all time. Even Jimmy Hendrix seemed to believe Kath was better than Hendrix.
I went to five Chicago concerts and Kath was great. One time he played the best "Johnny B. Goode" I ever heard. The rest of the band walked off the stage and let Kath go at it between 5 and 10 minutes before coming back to finish things up.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on May 26, 2020 7:32:18 GMT -8
That song groooooves. Let’s get in the wayback machine and visit 7/21/1970:
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on May 26, 2020 7:45:28 GMT -8
An interesting (and good) cover of a song.
I don’t know who these guys are. But they show great respect for that song. I think it’s a bunch of Russian dudes and dudesses.
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Post by kungfuzu on May 26, 2020 8:10:36 GMT -8
That was an excellent cover and I don't much like covers in general. They reproduced the song almost exactly as it was released on the first Chicago Transit Authority album. That is the way a cover should be done, in my opinion.
The musicians were excellent. The drummer sounded like Danny Seraphine, the trombonist like James Pankow, the bassist like Peter Cetera and the trumpeter was better than Lee Loughnane who was always the weakest part of Chicago.
The singer was good, but I always find it odd to have American or English pop sung with an accent. I could have helped them out.  |
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Brad Nelson
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Chicago
May 26, 2020 9:26:02 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on May 26, 2020 9:26:02 GMT -8
I wouldn’t the hell know, but I’m impressed by your objectivity.  I was never a big fan. But it was only a filtering process. There’s so much music and you just couldn’t buy it all. But I’ve got Apple Music now and it’s within the realm of possibilities that I go on a Chicago binge. Apple Music has 27 albums available (which includes some remixes and expanded-album stuff), including a Christmas album from 2019. I assume it’s not just a retread. I didn’t see Chicago IV, IX, XII, XV. After Chicago 19 it jumps up to XXX. A lot of those skips seem to be about “best of” and other compilations. You can find the Wiki Discography here. |
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Chicago
May 26, 2020 9:31:29 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on May 26, 2020 9:31:29 GMT -8
Here’s something from them that is more recent. And I really wasn’t trying to be a wise guy. But you probably should just look away instead of playing it. Just my uninformed opinion from a place way far away from Chicago.
A really horrible and stupid video. Okay..let’s do something more classic:
Ahhhhhhh…..that felt better.
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Chicago
May 26, 2020 10:33:41 GMT -8
Post by timothylane on May 26, 2020 10:33:41 GMT -8
There are some Chicago songs I occasionally play, but they're not a major interest. I'm not sure how extensive our collection is. (I say "our" because my music collection is on a detachable hard drive filled by a friend from CDs provided by a large group of friends, including a lot of mine and a few of Elizabeth's.) We have 3 regular collections and a 2-volume "best of" compilation. (Its version of "Color My World" is about 3 minutes, to judge from its byte size.)
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Post by kungfuzu on May 26, 2020 11:33:08 GMT -8
Chicago, Yes and the Beatles were my favorite bands. I guess I would vacillate between Chicago and Yes. I must have at least 12 or 13 Chicago albums which I started buying in 1969. And as I said, I saw them in concert five times, the last time in the Olympic Village in Munich in 1973. I could lean on the stage listen, which was amazing and bad for my ears.
Chicago started changing once Terry Kath died. They seem to have lost their way a bit until they started relying on Peter Cetera more and then they had big hits with XVI and XVII. They threw Cetera out, (idiots) and started going down immediately thereafter.
Perhaps I didn't do much filtering in those days as I have several hundred vinyl albums and almost as many CDs. Music, books and art. Those are the things I spent my money on. Oh, I guess I should mention girls in there. Nowadays, I still have the albums, books and paintings. Only one girl still around.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Chicago
May 26, 2020 11:38:37 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on May 26, 2020 11:38:37 GMT -8
And I'm sure the girl turned out to be Double-Platinum. So that was good. You must have some great concert memories. What album should I start with? I'm not looking for the hits, per se. But what flows best as an album? |
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Chicago
May 26, 2020 11:47:57 GMT -8
Post by kungfuzu on May 26, 2020 11:47:57 GMT -8
I do. I also saw Cream on their farewell tour. I saw Yes in Zurich when Donovan was their opening act. I think I have mentioned that I even saw Elvis in Vegas at White's International.
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Post by kungfuzu on May 26, 2020 11:54:38 GMT -8
Their first album is still my favorite, excluding the piece "Free Form Guitar" which was a vanity piece by Terry Kath.
II and III and V are also excellent. II and III are classic Chicago with lots of brass. V is a bit lighter. Of these I would say II is the best.
To hear a very different Chicago in which Peter Cetera took front stage either XVI or XVII would do. I mix them up a bit as I listened to both constantly, first playing one and then the other.
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Chicago
May 26, 2020 12:02:28 GMT -8
Post by timothylane on May 26, 2020 12:02:28 GMT -8
I have Chicago 17 and Chicago 18 as well as 3 best compilations (including Chicago IX). I'm currently playing "Colour My World".
As to concerts, I believe I've attended two. One, at Purdue, featured Blood, Sweat & Tears. The other, put on for the firemen, featured the Association and the Lovin' Spoonful. Grant McCormick (who downloads things onto these into the MyMusic folder on the detachable hard drive) got a pair of tickets but didn't want to attend himself. He knew I liked both groups, and once I played some of their material for Elizabeth (who was unfamiliar with them as named groups but familiar with the music).
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Chicago
May 26, 2020 12:37:28 GMT -8
Post by kungfuzu on May 26, 2020 12:37:28 GMT -8
One concert I went to, but didn't want to was by the Spinners. This was sometime in 1976 or very early 1977.
My uncle was trying to become an impresario and started arranging live concerts for black singers/bands. One of those concerts was in Dallas. I was asked to go with my uncle and help him set up everything before the concert. There were drinks and such for the group, but nothing very fancy.
I remember three things from that concert.
1. I was setting up the stage before the concert and the guitarist for the opening group happened to be a few feet away from me. He was standing next to a chair, which I wanted to carry off, with a number of other things. I turned to him and asked, "Could you please slide that chair over to me?" He looked at me and in a very unfriendly way said something like, "Heh man, I ain't your nigger." This was somewhat shocking to me.
2. I was in the back with the Spinners, I believe before they went on stage. I was talking to the lead singer who turned out to be a pretentious twit. He had a small Star of David made of rhinstones somehow glued to one lens of his very big glasses. I looked at it and he started pontificating to me and some girl saying "This is the Star of David, it symbolizes blah, blah, blah..." He was trying so hard to sound erudite that it was comical. I wasn't sure to feel sorry for him or laugh.
3. I was with my uncle when he gave the Spinners' manager something like US$10,000 in cash before the show started. They would not have gone on without it.
4. This video is the last thing I recall about the concert. It reminds me of the way they did it in Dallas. You have to watch until about 3:00 minutes to get it.
Sadly, my uncle's foray into musical entertainment did not work out well, but after that he decided to concentrate on his main business and made a bundle.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Chicago
May 26, 2020 13:19:51 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on May 26, 2020 13:19:51 GMT -8
Nice guy.
Re: Spinners. It seems to be a requirement for a performer (TV, movie, music, whatever) to be a pretentious twit.
Re: $10,000. I guess money-up-front makes sense. Can’t blame him for that.
Re: 3:00 minutes in. I’m assuming I can’t just skip to 2:58. Okay. I’m game.
[Three minutes pass.] Okay, I still don’t get it. The dance with the rubber band hasn’t got nearly the charm of a dance with a basket of fruit:
I feel sane again. When watching a lady with a banana hat feels normal, you know something’s up in the world. There had to have been a mile of legs in that video. Cleavage comes in tonnage, I believe.
No one is actually require to watch all that. But she would be a good choice for Biden’s VP nominee. And those bananas can give one a sense of inferiority. Bananas. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahah...
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Chicago
May 26, 2020 13:25:49 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on May 26, 2020 13:25:49 GMT -8
How do you follow that up? Only one way...
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Chicago
May 26, 2020 13:27:16 GMT -8
Post by kungfuzu on May 26, 2020 13:27:16 GMT -8
Thank you. You have confirmed my thoughts. I thought the whole rubber band thing was absolutely lame. And they did it better in Dallas than in that video. Something so silly that you cannot forget it.
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Chicago
May 26, 2020 13:31:37 GMT -8
Post by kungfuzu on May 26, 2020 13:31:37 GMT -8
I will certainly take Carmen and those girls over Phillipe' and the Spinners.
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Chicago
May 26, 2020 13:37:56 GMT -8
Post by kungfuzu on May 26, 2020 13:37:56 GMT -8
I always liked Harry Chapin, but had never heard that song. It's a good thing as I don't think I would have held him in such high regard had I heard it earlier. Still, he certainly liked to tell stories with his songs.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on May 26, 2020 13:38:00 GMT -8
Okay, that was silly. But this song by Chapin I’ve always found to be powerful.
The guy who wrote that can't be all bad.
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Brad Nelson
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Chicago
May 26, 2020 13:40:30 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on May 26, 2020 13:40:30 GMT -8
It's shorter on the album and probably works a whole lot better.
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