Stone of Sisyphus
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| Stone of Sisyphus | ||
 |
||
| Studio album (bootleg) by Chicago | ||
| Released | Unreleased | |
| Recorded | 1993/94 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Producer(s) | Peter Wolf | |
| Chicago chronology | ||
|---|---|---|
| Twenty 1 1991 |
Stone of Sisyphus 1993/94 |
Night & Day Big Band 1995 |
Stone Of Sisyphus is the title of an unreleased studio album by the jazz-rock band Chicago, recorded in 1993 and to be released in 1994. Its original working title was Chicago 22, but Night & Day Big Band ultimately became the band's twenty-second official album.
Contents |
[edit] History
After the disappointing sales of Twenty 1, keyboardist Robert Lamm indicated that the band felt it would be best to succeed or fail on its own merits. Produced by Peter Wolf and set for release in 1994, Stone was to mark the return to the adventurous and experimental sound the band had established in their glory years of the early 1970s, with a modern refurbishing. It was meant to be a drastic departure from the familiar power-ballad mode the group had become locked into.
[edit] The songs
The soaring title track, written and co-sung by guitarist Dawayne Bailey, was based on Greek mythology - a man named Sisyphus forced to climb up a huge mountain with a rolling stone. Upon reaching the mountaintop successfully with the stone, he would be free of the curse. But the stone kept rolling down the mountain, thus he would have to start all over again.
In discussion, members of the band felt that the myth related to their career, and songs such as "Plaid," "The Show Must Go On," and guitarist Dawayne Bailey's title track operate on that subtext (however, since all songs were written and recorded before the title track lyrics were written—and before the band decided on the album title—none of these songs were pre-conceived from this concept; this coincidence lends a "concept album" feel to a record that was not designed to be one).
Other songs follow more predictable patterns. "All The Years" is a Lamm political statement (featuring a sample straight off of the Chicago Transit Authority album), "Bigger Than Elvis" is a nice Valentine to Jerry Scheff (bassist Jason Scheff's father, who played on the track without knowing the subject matter and who played for Elvis Presley, along with The Jordanaires, the gospel group who often sang backing vocals for Elvis), "Let's Take A Lifetime" and "Here With Me" are love ballads, with "The Pull" and the thunderous "Get On This" being straight-ahead rockers.
Unique are the funky "Mah Jongg" and "Cry for the Lost" (a Bill Champlin tune originally titled "Proud Of Our Blindness" and submitted to Michael Jackson) in that they defy easy categories. Lamm, Champlin, Jason Scheff, and James Pankow take lead roles on this production, and it must be said that it is among Chicago's best work. Important, too, are the contributions of guitarist/vocalist Dawayne Bailey, and session sideman Bruce Gaitsch.
[edit] The album's demise
Warner Bros. Records, Chicago's record company at the time, was displeased with the album, and thus dismissed Sisyphus as being "unreleasable". This led to an acrimonious split with the band. The band's failure to issue an official press release regarding the album's mothballing and subsequent departure of guitarist Dawayne Bailey left fans to years of rampant debate and conjecture about the events surrounding Stone. Through its official Web site, as well as public discussion forums of past and present band members, the band has actively worked to quell discussion and debate about Stone, while releasing a series of more mainstream albums that have not sold well.
A good amount of information about the project, including sound clips and lyrics, can be found on former Chicago guitarist Dawayne Bailey's Web site.
[edit] Current status
Like The Beach Boys/Brian Wilson's SMiLE, Sisyphus has built a legend of its own. Tracks from the unreleased album have surfaced on bootleg recordings, and even through the Internet. The band seems to have done nothing to stop this, and many of the songs have since appeared on legitimate compilations as well.
On July 9, 1993 the band included "The Pull" in a concert in the Greek Theater in Los Angeles to give the audience a taste of the upcoming album. The title cut and "Bigger Than Elvis" were first released in Canada on the 1995 double CD compilation Overtime (Astral Music). A single edit-version of "Let's Take A Lifetime" debuted in Europe on the 1996 Arcade Records compilation called The Very Best Of Chicago (a title which would be reused in North America in 2002). 5 of the 12 tracks were released in Japan between 1997-1998 on the very rare green and gold editions of The Heart of Chicago compilations: "All The Years" (debut), "Bigger Than Elvis", and "Sleeping In The Middle Of The Bed Again" (debut) all appear on the green-clad The Heart of Chicago 1967-1981, Volume II (Teichiku, 1997), with "The Pull" and "Here With Me (A Candle For The Dark)" appearing on the gold-clad The Heart of Chicago 1982-1998, Volume II (WEA Japan, 1998).
Lamm recorded a solo version of "All The Years" for his 1995 solo album Life Is Good In My Neighborhood, and a solo version of "Sleeping In The Middle Of The Bed (Again)" for his 1999 album In My Head. Champlin recorded "Proud Of Our Blindness" for his 1995 solo album Through It All, whose liner notes included his stinging criticism of the major record labels inspired by the row Chicago had with WB over Sisyphus. Jason Scheff recorded a solo version of "Mah Jongg" for his 1997 solo album Chauncy.
In 2003, the group finally allowed three tracks from Sisyphus, "All The Years", the title cut and "Bigger Than Elvis", to be officially released in the U.S. on their CD compilation box set by Rhino Records. As of 2006, the album as a whole remains officially unreleased to the public, though it continues to be in great demand by dedicated fans. The group's vague, mixed messages about the demise and possible resurrection of this album continue to puzzle those same fans, who wonder where the band would be today had this effort seen the light of day as intended. Their reward will to finally see this great effort released to the listening public in the format and packaging originally intended by the creators—the ones who put the "blood, sweat and tears" into the album in the first place.
[edit] External links
| Chicago |
|---|
| Robert Lamm | James Pankow | Lee Loughnane | Walter Parazaider | Bill Champlin Jason Scheff | Tris Imboden | Keith Howland Terry Kath | Peter Cetera | Danny Seraphine | Laudir DeOliveira | Donnie Dacus | Chris Pinnick | Dawayne Bailey |
| Discography |
| Studio albums: The Chicago Transit Authority | Chicago | Chicago III | Chicago V | Chicago VI |Chicago VII | Chicago VIII | Chicago X | Chicago XI | Hot Streets Chicago 13 | Chicago XIV | Chicago 16 | Chicago 17 | Chicago 18 | Chicago 19 | Twenty 1 | Night & Day Big Band | Chicago XXX |
| Live albums: Chicago at Carnegie Hall | Chicago XXVI: Live in Concert |
| Compilations: Chicago IX - Chicago's Greatest Hits | Greatest Hits, Volume II | Greatest Hits 1982-1989 The Heart of Chicago 1967-1997 | The Heart of Chicago 1967-1998 Volume II | The Very Best of: Only the Beginning | Love Songs |
| Christmas albums: Chicago XXV: The Christmas Album | What's It Gonna Be, Santa? |
| Unreleased album: Stone of Sisyphus |
| Box sets: The Box |
