Today's trip into the Ether surrounds one of my favorite bands. In the late '60s Chicago Transit Authority (shortened to "Chicago" after the real CTA complained) made iconic music that featured a tight horn section and multiple singer/songwriters to mix up tempo and subject matter.
People came and went (one accidentally killed himself), and Peter Cetera went on to become an '80s soft ballad specialist. The core remained (specifically, Robert Lamm, the brains of the outfit in their early years) and the band toured all over Creation for decades.
A unique identifier for Chicago was that they numbered their albums rather than give them names. With the exception of what should have been XII (the album after guitarist Terry Kath killed himself with a revolver), called Hot Streets, they stayed with the naming nomenclature.
What was supposed to be Chicago XXII was rejected by their record company, leading to an urban legend as to what that record might be--Big Band? A covers album? Cetera returns? It took 15 years and 10 more Chicago albums before they got enough control over their catalog to release what was called Stone of Sisyphus in 2008. They always planned to name it that--ironic given the gestation period and the frustration in getting it out there. As Morpheus said--"Fate, it would seem, is not without a sense of irony".
It was a dated record, and critical/commercial response was less than stellar. But the title track is pure Chicago, the sound I grew up with and always can identify in 10 notes or less. Listen, and enjoy what could have been...
See you tomorrow...
Pete
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