"...Motorboat To Mars..."
Apart from maybe Zappa and
The Mothers - I can't think of any other American band that could have managed
THREE double-albums of original studio material in a row during an twenty-month
period - but CHICAGO did.
Their Columbia Records debut
as "Chicago Transit Authority" hit the shops in late April 1969, the
second simply called "Chicago" though more commonly known as
"Chicago II" came in January 1970 whilst the ingeniously named
"Chicago III" came out in January 1971 - all 2LP studio sets. And
then, they whacked out a further four-LP live box recorded at Carnegie Hall
later than same year (November 1971 as "Chicago IV") resplendent with
posters and other cool inserts. Pour it on boys why don't you...
And their 2LP platters
weren't jacked-up with 16-minutes songs – 12-minutes of which consisted of a
filler guitar solo. No. Columbia went with the band's artistic bint and let
them stretch. If the songs were long, they were long and needed to be released
into the wild as such. These were full-on musical compositions that certainly
contained Prog Rock and often had Classical leanings too. "Chicago
III" was no different to the two before. With three large pieces (Travel
Suite, An Hour in The Shower and Elegy) and a total of 23-tracks – it was not
for the faint-hearted or those pressed for time. And it looked the part of a
'big release' too. The front sleeve sported the now familiar CHICAGO logo
(which they've used ever since) while both the inner gatefold and two inner
sleeves came with custom script lettering for the recording details and lyrics.
"III" also sported a giant foldout poster of our heroes amidst a sea
of soldier's gravestones (alluding to the mentions of Vietnam in some of the
songs). Pour it on why don't you...indeed.
I've always liked early
Chicago before the big soppy ballads showed them where the real money lay. But
I'd have to admit that much of those endless brass improvs will test the
patience of today's 2020 audience, But I say let's take a few minutes for the
boys who used to once dream of bus terminals only to end up in early 1971 on a
motorboat to Mars (yeah baby)...
UK released 27 July 2002 -
"Chicago III" by CHICAGO on Warner Strategic Marketing/Rhino
8122-76173-2 (Barcode 081227617325) offers the 1971 Double-Album Remastered
onto 1CD in total and plays out as follows (71:29 minutes):
1. Sing A Mean Tune Kid
[Side 1]
2. Loneliness Is Just A Word
3. What Else Can I Say
4. I Don't Want Your Money
TRAVEL SUITE (Tracks 5 to
10)
5. Flight [Side 2]
6. Motorboat To Mars
7. Free
8. Free Country
9. At The Sunrise
10. Happy 'Cause I'm Going
Home
11. Mother [Side 3]
12. Lowdown
AN HOUR IN THE SHOWER
(Tracks 13 to 17)
13. A Hard Risin' Morning
Without Breakfast
14. Off To Work
15. Fallin' Out
16. Dreamin' Home
17. Morning Blues Again
ELEGY (Tracks 18 to 23)
18. When All The Laughter
Dies in Sorrow [Side 4]
19. Canon
20. Once Upon A Time...
21. Progress?
22. The Approaching Storm
23. Man vs. Man: The End
Tracks 1 to 23 are the
double-album "Chicago III" – released January 1971 in the USA on
Columbia Records C2 30110 and March 1971 in the UK on CBS Records 66260 (both
in Stereo). Produced by JAMES WILLIAM GUERICO – it peaked at No. 2 in the USA
and No. 31 in the UK
CHICAGO was:
ROBERT LAMM - Vocals and
Keyboards
TERRY KATH - Vocals and
Guitar
PETER CETERA - Vocals and
Bass
JAMES PANKOW - Trombone
LEE LOUGHNANE - Trumpet and
Vocals
WALTER PARAZAIDER - Vocals
and Woodwinds
DANIEL SERAPHINE - Drums
Rhino's CD reissues for the
first three twofers all initially came with outer card wraps and gatefold card
digipak inners - aping the original vinyl artwork to a degree (they've been
subsequently reissued as jewel case versions) and that's what you get here.
While the inner digipak mimics the inner gatefold of the original double-album
right down to the script text (a see-through plastic CD tray allows you to see
what’s beneath), for some reason the 12-page booklet leaves out the two inners
with the lyrics and the foldout poster - a bit of a boob really (perhaps they
weren't able to secure them).
Making up for that are a
period publicity photo of the seven-piece band and a US magazine cover (cheap
at 60c), along with new interviews by liner-notes writer DAVID WILD with
original band members - Trombonist Pankow and Trumpeter Loughnane. It's a
potted history and interesting read where the boys praise Columbia for allowing
the band to pursue big songs and not just hit singles - Pankow fondly
remembering (35 years later) what made it all so special then and still
resonates now - the band and the people around them were all in it for the
'music' and not the suits/cash-men who would later take over. DAVID DONNELLY
has done the Remaster at DNA Studios in California and the power is fantastic.
I've had the British vinyl originals for years and these Rhino transfers rock.
To the music...
Columbia issued the
brass-funky vocal-growling radio-friendly 2:14 minutes of "Free" as
the album's starter 45 in February 1971 (Columbia 4-45331) - a Robert Lamm song
that could easily have been passed off as the next Blood, Sweat & Tears or
Sly & The Family Stone single (label mates also on Columbia). Chicago was
awarded with a No. 20 chart peak - the quirky instrumental "Free Country" being its flipside).
In fact as you play the opening "Sing A Mean Tune Kid" on Side 1 -
you could be mistaking its nine-minutes for Rare Earth or even After The Fire
or shades of yes, Blood, Sweat & Tears - another Robert Lamm brass-driven
funkster. The sexy half-spoken/half-sung "Loneliness Is Just A Word"
would end up as the B-side of the album's second US 45 "Lowdown" in
April 1971 on Columbia 4-45370. Managing a peak of No. 35 - I'd argue that the
better B-side should have been the Plug Side. Future principal vocalist Peter
Cetera gets his first tune on the album with the decidedly Eagles-country-ish
"What Else Can I Say". The boys goof off at the beginning of "I
Don't Want Your Money" - the album's Helter Skelter guitar moment where
Chicago suddenly sound like John Mayall discovering Rock.
The first of three
multiple-song couplings comes in the shape of "Travel Suite" where
Chicago wrong-foot the listener once again by sounding like they've been
listening to too much America on "Flight 602". Next up is a short
drum solo called "Motorboat To Mars" which is followed by the
infinitely better "Free" - the boys discovering their inner Sly
Stone. The full 5:02 minutes of "Free Country" is piano and flute
Prog that is pretty for its first half and then improv discordant for the
remainder. Lamm asks how can he be happy if he can't see his girl "At The
Sunrise" - soon joined on duet vocals with Cetera - a catchy tune that
could easily have been single number three. The Travel Suite continues with
seven minutes of la-di-dah in "Happy 'Cause I'm Coming Home" - an
upbeat almost Latin beat shuffler - followed by Lamm's "Mother" where
Trumpet and Trombone do battle to a backbeat.
An Hour In The Shower
encompasses five songs - all by Terry Kath - blues slipping down the drain as
the morning water cascade pours. As he takes "Off To Work" he lays
into Rock guitar backed up by those brass jabs. The problem is that the next
three parts hog the same acoustic strum as they segue into each other without
being interesting. "Elegy" opens with a poem "When All The
Laughter Dies In Sorrow" printed on the inner gatefold (terribly dated
unfortunately) followed by a doomy brass preamble called "Canon".
This in turn leads into the flute-meandering "Once Upon A Time..."
that later goes funky-workout with the superb toe-thumper "The Approaching
Storm" – probably one the better numbers on record no. 2. But by "Man
vs. Man: The End" it already feels like they're running out of ideas and
improvs have replaced actual tunes.
The packaging is cool, the
Audio rocks and even if the music on "Chicago III" is seriously dated
in places - those cool moments and funky passages make it worth your while
investigating door number three...
