"Chicago Transit Authority" by CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY (2002 Rhino CD Reissue of their 1969 2LP Debut Album on Columbia/CBS Records) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...You Can Smile..." 

Before they became the slick lurve song unit of the mid to late Seventies (voiced exclusively by Bassist and Lead Vocalist Peter Cetera) - CHICAGO used to be called the all-together cooler CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY - and that’s where this hip little CD reissue comes in (featuring a full double-album on one CD).

Released July 2002 - "Chicago Transit Authority" by CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY on Warner Strategic Marketing/Rhino 822-76171-2 (Barcode 081227617127) is a straightforward CD transfer of their debut – a double-album released April 1969 in the USA on Columbia GP-8 and September 1969 in the UK on CBS Records S 66221. The CD reissue also comes in card repro artwork... 

1. Introduction [Side 1]

2. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

3. Beginnings

4. Questions 67 and 68 [Side 2]

5. Listen

6. Poem 58

7. Free Form Guitar [Side 3]

8. South California Purples

9. I’m A Man

10. Prologue, August 29, 1968 [Side 4]

11. Someday (August 29, 1968)

12. Liberation

The gatefold card digipak on the inside repros the inner gatefold of the original American double-album – while the nicely laid-out 16-page booklet has detailed liner notes by Rolling Stone’s one-time editor DAVID WILD. There are a few publicity photos and a great colour repro of a Fillmore West poster with the Windy City’s finest proudly supporting The Moody Blues. This CD is like the Yes issues of "Fragile" and "Close To The Edge" by Rhino in that it also comes in a fetching card slipcase. 

But the best news is the superb DAVID DONNELLY remaster – giving the brass of JAMES PANKOW and LEE LOUGHNANE real prominence and clarity. This is a fantastic sounding CD – full of life and punch.

With Peter Cetera’s voice now so synonymous with the band’s sound – it’s almost disconcerting to hear both Robert Lamm and Terry Kath as lead vocalists. After the brassy Rock’n’Roll of “Introduction” we get the excellent proper songs “Does Anybody Know What Time It Is?” and “Beginnings”. Cetera arrives on “Questions 67 and 68” while “Listen” is frankly a bit of a Sixties mini-masterpiece (lyrics above). I can frankly live without the guitar workouts that are “Poem 58” and “Free Form Guitar” - but I’ve always loved their fabulously funky-rock cover of the Spencer Davis/Steve Winwood classic “I’m A Man”. What a winner and a damn shame the rare 7” single edit of it isn’t included as a bonus track (see Niggles below). Politics and courage come into the fore with “Prologue” and “Someday” complete with their protesting student chants - while the fourteen and half minute “Liberation” instrumental became a showstopper at gigs – Jazz Rock meets Prog whilst channelling Jimi Hendrix and Blood, Sweat & Tears.  

Niggles – with a total playing time of 76:36 minutes - it’s frustrating that time constrictions disallowed the inclusion of no less than SIX seven-inch single ‘edits’ across the following five 45s around and after the album’s release:

1. "Questions 67 And 68" b/w "Listen" on Columbia 4-44909 (June 1969)

2. "Beginnings" b/w "Poem 58" on Columbia 4-45011 (October 1969)

3. "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" b/w "Listen" on Columbia 4-45264 (November 1970)

4. "Beginnings" b/w "Colour My World" on Columbia 4-45417 (June 1971)

5. "Questions 67 And 68" b/w "I'm A Man" on Columbia 4-45467 (September 1971)

You can get "Colour My World" on the CD reissue/remaster of their 2^nd album simply called "Chicago" on Warner Strategic Marketing/Rhino 8122-76172-2 which has two bonus tracks – the single edits of the big hits "Make Me Smile" and "25 Or 6 To 4" – while some of the other single edits are available on the July 2002 "Very Best Of" double-Cd compilation.

Live and in your studio face - their 2^nd and third albums were just as good – but “Chicago Transit Authority” has a freshness and vitality about it (despite their acknowledged lack of recording experience) that is still kicking to this day. A very cool little CD reissue indeed… 

"Boston" by BOSTON (2006 Epic/Legacy '30th Anniversary Edition' CD Reissue - Remastered by Guitarist Tom Scholz) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With Hundreds of Others Is Available In My

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"…More Than A Feeling…"

When you look at the recording duration of Boston’s debut album – October 1975 to April 1976 – it almost seems indulgent for a starting point. But when you play this Seventies Rock behemoth – you immediately hear where all those months (and as it transpires years leading up to the recording) went. It’s dense, brilliant and packed with ludicrously hooky guitar rock. I remember first hearing it and being amazed (like 17 million other Americans and many millions more worldwide).

Well here comes the inevitable '30th Anniversary CD' Remaster done by Band founder member and Lead guitarist Tom Scholz - and despite its lack of any extras – "Boston" by BOSTON is a sonic doozy. Here are the smokin' details...

1. More Than A Feeling [Side 1]

2. Peace Of Mind

3. Foreplay/Long Time

4. Rock & Roll Band [Side 2]

5. Smokin’

6. Hitch A Ride

7. Something About You

8. Let Me Take You Home Tonight

Band leader and guitarist TOM SCHOLZ had built a studio in his Massachusetts home – fooled Epic into thinking he was recording at some bigwig recording plant somewhere – and gingerly gotten on with his Boston sound. Released in August 1976 in the USA on Epic JE 34188 and December 1976 on Epic S EPC 81611 in the UK – it was an instant hit – propelled by a stunning lead off single “More Than A Feeling”. While the album reached 3 in the USA charts (no 11 in the UK in February 1977) – the "More Than A Feeling" single went to Number 5 and along with further 45s "Long Time" and "Peace Of Mind" gave the album sales power that burned and burned for over a year and a half - until the follow up “Don’t Look Back” in August 1978. In 1980 it received the ultimate audiophile accolade at the time by being part of CBS’s “Half Speed” Mastersound series of vinyl LPs.

Schulze has returned to the tapes and reportedly done an exhaustive and painstaking remaster – and when you play boogie like “Smokin’” and the lovely Rock ballad of “Hitch A Ride” - it sounds just huge and ballsy – and not just trebled up for the sake of it. You’re also reminded of Scholz’s virtuosity as a musician – every instrument on both tracks is him – guitars, keyboards, bass (bar the drums which were put on by Sib Hashian). The musicality of the multi-layered soloing at the end of “Hitch A Ride” is wildly brilliant.

UK and USA re-released June 2006 on CD – "Boston" by BOSTON on Sony/Epic/Legacy 69699863222 (Barcode 696998632226) comes in card digipak packaging with a 12-page booklet. It’s peddled as a 'Collector's Limited Edition' but it's widely available for sale – and at a pittance of a price too (37:44 minutes). There are liner notes from Scholz and uber-fan David Wild that elaborate on the tortuous process of getting it made at all (years of gestation).

But if I was to single out one track that exemplifies aural improvement – it would be the astonished Side 1 double-closer “Foreplay/Long Time”. It’s an almost Prog Classical piece of Guitar Rock that is breathtaking in its complexity - and yet melodically accessible to.

Re-listening to "Boston" in 2017 – its easy to hear why this kind of Rock caught the attention and hearts of millions – and this superb remaster does that feeling more than proud...

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