Now THIS was a BAND.

Jeez, you think they played "Introduction" fast enough? Yow.

I listened to Carnegie Hall and CTA in the car on a road trip last week. Kath was my first guitar hero, though I'll never be able to play like him. Chicago was also my first concert, touring behind VII, IIRC.

I love James Pankow's fat trombone sound, too. If I played a brass instrument, it'd be 'bone, thanks to him. Trivia: His sister-in-law is Buffy's TV mom, Kristine Sutherland.

 

Never got to hear them live in concert but I keep coming back to their music.

I never get tired of hearing it, which is more than I can say for a lot of other bands.

Many younger folks think of them as dull because they only know their later music.

 

Chicago was a tremendous band at that point in 1971. They were very raw at first. They became popular, and started writing more pop music, then Terry died. You have to hand it to those guys. Through ups and downs, they worked hard to survive. Chicago broke some new ground in music. Gotta give them some credit.

 

As I think of them as dull, I suppose I must be 'younger folk', which at 54 is quite a cheering prospect. It's also the only time I've ever associated Chicago with a pleasant feeling.

 

I've always thought that of the three original lead singers, Bob Lamm was the head, Pete Cetera was the heart, and Terry Kath was the 'nads.

 

I played in a basketball pep band, that was basically a paid professional group (we received a nice "stipend" from the athletic department), people came to games early just to hear us play. Standard big band instrumentation, one on a part, a strict audition process, many grad students on the band who later went on to pro careers. We had our own arranger/ conductor played alot of great horn band and R&B charts including many early Chicago tunes..yes great fun.

 

for fun…
you can see the band in the film Electra Glide in Blue.. they are the hippies in the commune….

and bobby blake too.

 

Interesting to see how compact the band is, just seven guys gathered on stage, playing together. No ramps, no runways, no hydraulic platforms, hell, not even a drum riser. I've often thought that one of the biggest obstacles to playing together is the huge amount of useless space bands put between themselves. Power trios with a quarter mile between the guitar and bass.

Other items that are interesting because they are not on the stage: grand piano, Fender Rhodes, cymbal boom stands, roadies (just one), SM57s, SM58s. Imagine, they could actually play concerts back in those prehistoric days!

I'm lovin' Terry's tone in this vid, and it's from a (GASP!) solid-state amp. He doesn't seem to have anything in line but a Cry Baby. Hmm.... I know where there's a 4x10 Acoustic combo for sale, cheapish. Certainly cheaper than any '70s Twin or Super you'd find. Hmm...

 

I couldn't spot it, but I'm guessing that was an Acoustic 150. You can see the 6x10 cab. I've played one of those...120 watts IIR, you'd have to turn it down to hear a cranked Twin Reverb. Nice amp, not expensive, kinda noisy. And yeah, they sound pretty good.

Here's one on ebay with a $500 BIN with the 6x10 cab.

 

The 150 head was standing on end on the floor in front of the cabinet. Kath said in a Guitar Player interview 'way back when that Acoustic worked with him designing that amp, and voiced it to his liking.

There's a 134 in a store not too far away. It has 2/3 the speakers and I assume 1/2 the watts. I'll need to check it out next time I'm down that way.

I was up late tonight trying to catch up on some soon-to-be-overdue work and listened to the whole Tanglewood show. Great video. It's interesting to hear the early, rough versions of some of the songs which I know so well from the Carnegie Hall album. In The Country, I Don't Want Your Money, Mother, It Better End Soon were all tighter and more polished at Carnegie than they were in this set, recorded while they were still working on the album.

 

The original guys went to DePaul University in Chicago. I taught there for a few years, and would stop in at Demon Dogs, across the street. The owner knew the band, and had a bunch of their gold records on the walls. That is a band who have their priorities straight.

When they first came, they seemed to have a somewhat experimental aspect (Free Form Guitar, chants of "the whole world is watching," from the 1968 Democratic convention riots in Chicago). Also, I'm a Man had an extremely long percussion section (hand percussion stuff) that you didn't hear in later years.

Obviously, they were part of the horn rock bands of the era, along with Blood, Sweat, and Tears, and Electric Flag. Some guys in our high school had a band modeled after that, so it seemed to catch on for a while.

 

This song was unforgettable for me

 

A local GC had one with the chrome knobs and matching cab for $199 last year, I really wanted it, but had NO idea ..
a. Where I would put it..
b. when I could ever turn it up past...oh....one?

Always liked the Acoustic stuff, really undervalued, some shops wont even buy it in,because of the lack of demand, a true sleeper line; the "little" 1x12 combos can be great jazz amps.

 

I listened to "Saturday In The Park" about 2 years ago, live (for first time in years) and the bass guitar work in that song was out of this world. As a sometime bass player don't know why I never noticed it before. He was all over the neck.

Kath was definitely one of the greats. I still consider him one of the best guitarists ever IMO.

I loved their early stuff, but they kind of lost me after Kath died, and the shift to the ballad stuff.

 

I got their 'Greatest Hits' package for Christmas in '74? in 8-track format. I listened to it over and over... and over. I thought they were a fantastic band- they blew this 13 yr. old kid's mind.

 

Early Chicago was just awesome.

Hendrix said Terry was one of his favorite players.