Chicago VII

Chicago VII
Studio album by Chicago
Released March 11, 1974
Recorded August - December 1973, Caribou Ranch, Nederland, CO
Genre Jazz fusion, rock
Length 72:15
Label Columbia
Producer James William Guercio
Chicago chronology

Chicago VI
(1973)		 Chicago VII
(1974)		 Chicago VIII
(1975)
Singles from Chicago VII
  1. "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long"
    Released: February 1974
  2. "Call on Me"
    Released: June 1974
  3. "Wishing You Were Here"
    Released: October 1974
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Rolling Stone (not rated)[2]

Chicago VII is the sixth studio album by American rock band Chicago and was released in 1974. It is notable for being their first double album of new material since 1971's Chicago III, and remains their final studio release in that format.

Background

While touring in support of Chicago VI in 1973, the band began getting restless and started integrating some lengthy jazz instrumentals into their sets. While audiences were somewhat mixed in their reaction, Chicago greatly enjoyed the experience and decided, after years of talking about it, to record a pure jazz-influenced album, and headed straight to producer James William Guercio's Caribou Ranch studios to cut their ambitious new album.

While the sessions started off well, there was soon dissension within the group about the jazz project, with, reportedly, Peter Cetera and Guercio both leery at the commercial risk of such an undertaking. While the band reasoned that some of the jazzy material was too good to throw away, the others finally relented to including the more pop and rock-oriented songs that the band had composed in the meantime. Almost by accident, Chicago had another double album on their hands.

Of the more conventional material, Chicago once again turned in a varied set of songs, with Terry Kath's "Byblos", named after a club in Osaka, Japan that Chicago had played, ranking among his best efforts. Robert Lamm, who was presently recording a solo album entitled Skinny Boy, turned in several new songs, even donating his solo album's title track, featuring The Pointer Sisters on backing vocals. While James Pankow came through with another success, "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long" (#9), and trumpeter Lee Loughnane got lucky on his first try at songwriting in the hit "Call on Me" (#6), it was Peter Cetera who made the biggest strides on Chicago VII, composing "Happy Man" and "Wishing You Were Here" (#11), a lush ballad (signs of the future) that features three of The Beach Boys on backing vocals and which became a big hit in late 1974. "Happy Man" was subsequently covered by Tony Orlando and Dawn on their album To Be With You.

Chicago VII is also notable for featuring Lee Loughnane's lead vocal debut ("Song of the Evergreens"), and for having writing contributions from all (and only) the members of the band.

Released in March 1974, Chicago VII - despite its first disc being almost exclusively jazz instrumentals - shot to #1 anyway in the US becoming another big success for Chicago.

In 2002, Chicago VII was remastered and reissued on one CD by Rhino Records with one bonus track: an early rehearsal of Kath's "Byblos". Initial pressings of this edition contained an edited version of the track "Happy Man" that had appeared on Greatest Hits, Volume II, which omitted the "false start" and studio countdown heard on the original Chicago VII LP.

Track listing

Side one

  1. "Prelude to Aire" (Danny Seraphine) – 2:47 (instrumental)
  2. "Aire" (Danny Seraphine/Walter Parazaider/James Pankow) – 6:27 (instrumental)
  3. "Devil's Sweet" (Danny Seraphine/Walter Parazaider) – 10:07 (instrumental)

Side two

  1. "Italian From New York" (Robert Lamm) – 4:14 (instrumental)
  2. "Hanky Panky" (Robert Lamm) – 1:53 (instrumental)
  3. "Life Saver" (Robert Lamm) – 5:18 (lead singer: Robert Lamm)
  4. "Happy Man" (Peter Cetera) – 3:34 (lead singer: Peter Cetera) On the original LP & CD this song begins with a false start, and about 20 seconds of studio chat/noise. This is omitted on some remastered copies.

Side three

  1. "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long" (James Pankow) – 4:29 (lead singer: Peter Cetera)
  2. "Mongonucleosis" (James Pankow) – 3:26 (instrumental)
  3. "Song of the Evergreens" (Terry Kath) – 5:20 (lead singer: Lee Loughnane)
  4. "Byblos" (Terry Kath) – 6:18 (lead singer: Terry Kath)

Side four

  1. "Wishing You Were Here" (Peter Cetera) – 4:37 (lead singers: Terry Kath & Peter Cetera)
  2. "Call on Me" (Lee Loughnane) – 4:02 (lead singer: Peter Cetera)
  3. "Woman Don't Want to Love Me" (Robert Lamm) – 4:35 (lead singer: Peter Cetera)
  4. "Skinny Boy" (Robert Lamm) – 5:12 (lead singer: Robert Lamm) The same track appears on Robert Lamm's 1974 solo album Skinny Boy, but without horns and a fade-out at 4:30.

Bonus track (2002 re-issue)

  1. "Byblos (Rehearsal)" (Terry Kath) – 5:40

The band

Additional personnel

Charts

Album

Year Chart Peak
position
1974 Billboard Pop Albums 1

Single

Year Single Chart Position
1974 "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long" Billboard Pop Singles 9
1974 "Call on Me" Billboard Adult Contemporary 1
1974 "Call on Me" Billboard Pop Singles 6
1974 "Wishing You Were Here" Billboard Adult Contemporary 1
1974 "Wishing You Were Here" Billboard Pop Singles 11

Certifications

Organization Level Date
RIAA – USA Gold March 18, 1974
RIAA – USA Platinum November 21, 1986

References

  1. ↑ Planer, Lindsay. "Chicago VII - Chicago : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  2. ↑ "Chicago: Chicago VII : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". RollingStone.com. 1974-05-23. Archived from the original on 2008-04-18. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
Preceded by
Band on the Run by Paul McCartney & Wings		 Billboard 200 number-one album
April 27 - May 3, 1974 		Succeeded by
The Sting (soundtrack) by Various artists