Search - Chicago :: Chicago 17 (Exp)

Not A Bad Set From Chicago

Andre S. Grindle | Brewer Maine | 05/19/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Much the same thing can be said of this album as can be said of Chicago 16:most people are going to go into this thinking they know what they're in for musically. All Music Guide: The Experts' Guide to the Best CD's, Albums & Tapes (All Music Guide Series) defined this recording as,and I quoate "this is what happens when you really go for the ballads".Well as far as ballads go this is a ten song album and of them you only get three. Obviously you have "Hard Habit To Break" and "You're My Inspiration" are the big songs here;the former is actually a really interesting song from a musical perspective but the former...well it has a little radio ware for me and really has a more AC kind of Peter Cetera solo ballad,similar to something you might find on his Solitude/Solitaire a couple years after this."Remember The Feeling" well...is really more or less the same but is something of a weaker song in terms of writing as I see it. Interestingly enough this album,as with the one before it is primarily devoted to upbeat and uptempo tunes,something Chicago have always done and all of them have some selling point.As pointed out in the liner notes everything here could've easily charted and,not only that considering what was going on in music in the mid 1980's,especially in pop/rock (the majority of this album has a bit much of a drive to be called thoroughly adult contemporary) this music is actually pretty creative.Chicago were musical veterans who realized even if you couldn't set trends,you really had to make them work for you rather then work for them. Again produced by David Foster,the album opens with Peter Cetera and him actually working around a very upbeat 80's rock in "Stay The Night";it's a bit on the arena-y side but it does the trick.Robert Lamm gets a turn at bat with "We Can't Stop The Hurtin'",actually not a bad example of stripped down "naked funk" with Champlin throwing down some fine rhythm guitar overall.James Pankow turns in his own tune with Foster on "Only You",another great tune in a similar style-the break beats heavy,the hand claps pounding away it's probably the only Chicago song you'd be likely to be able to breakdance to.But not to worry;it's a great song and not silly at all."Along Comes A Woman" is a more driving Cetera rocker with some great horns for this later period Chicago. There's nothing lost here as the contemporary (for the time) R&B/funk tune really takes shape on "Please Hold On",a Lionel Richie co-composition which,considering Lionel's tendancy to be as musically overwraught as Certera was in this period,is a really driving tune with this nice locked tight shuffle and keyboard/horn arrangement;it's easily one of the very best tunes here."Prima Donna",also from the Two of a Kind (Soundtrack) : John Travolta is a decent but fairly conventional rocker and Pankow's closer "Once In A Lifetime" really works the rock/R&B groove very well again.The bonus track is Robert Lamm's "Where We Begin",a really nice off the cuff jazzy tune that's kind of romantic in an odd sort of way. This album as with all the Chicago reissues has excellent remastered sound quality and everything sounds a whole lot crisper for it. Sadly this would be there last album with Peter Cetera;his solo career did bring him commercial success but it was a loss to he and the bands...soul when the two parted ways in many senses. Considering though that Chicago weathered the tragic passing of Terry Kath eight years earlier they would manage to soldier on again even after this,a once highly underrated album that is not nearly as commerically ingratiating as you might've thought."

Pop Goes Chicago

J. R. Johnson | Orlando, Florida | 08/07/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Chicago 17 was really the last Chicago album. After 17, Peter Cetera left the band. Terry Kath, a great guitarist/vocalist, had died about 7 years before and now with the loss of Cetera, it was just too much for this band. By the way, I consider Kath the greatest guitarist of the 1970',s. Anyway, Chicago 17 brought Chicago into the limelight one more time and had several great songs. These songs include, Stay the Night, You're the Inspiration, and Hard Habit to Break. Stay the Night was a rocker and the other two are great ballads. The non-singles are fairly strong as well. This is a must buy for any Chicago fan."