Received my shipment today and have started listening to the albums. Having purchased the original Rhino CTA release I decided to start with Chicago II. I got through Chicago II and III and decided to go back and give CTA a listen after all. Generally speaking, as a whole, I have never been a big fan of Chicago. They were a band that came out smack dab in the beginning of my teenage years. So, I was certainly in their target demo. Having said that overall I was never a big fan of Chicago, I LOVE Chicago Transit Authority! In my opinion, that first album is amazing. From the beginning there was that distinctive sound that was Chicago. It's not like some groups where early recordings sound like they were from a completely different group than later recordings. All the elements that people came to know as "Chicago" were all there on that first double album. The thing that was different, and never really demonstrated on any future albums, was a "heavier" influence in their sound on that first album. The guitar playing could have been coming from Jimi Hendrix himself on some songs. There were clearly influences from bands from that era. CTA came out in April of 68, less than a year after the release of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. There is even a tip of the hat to Magical Mystery Tour in South California Purples when they sing, I am you and you are me and we are all together... (Or however that line goes) It is that heavier, psychedelic influence of the bands from that time that make me LOVE this first album. Great Hendrix style guitar playing, amazing percussion, classic rock band Hammond organ. It is that layering of the sounds and styles of bands from that era over the framework of Chicago composed songs that makes this first album and exceptional standout. My personal favorites from this first album are South California Purples and I'm a Man. The cuts that I tend to describe on later albums as "musical masturbation," are far more psychedelically influenced on this first album. That changes to more jazz and classical influence on subsequent albums.
By Chicago II that "heavy" influence of the era was gone and what would become the consistent Chicago sound emerged. That's not to say that the other albums aren't impressive and sophisticated examples of music from that era. The musicianship and song composition of the band is incredibly sophisticated, particularly when you think about how very different they were from other rock bands of that time. There weren't a whole lot of rock bands with a great horn section. While I don't necessarily love all their remaining catalog, I can certainly appreciate Chicago as a band.
From a surround perspective there is absolutely nothing to complain about. The separation is incredibly discrete and well thought out in the placement of instrumentation. To my ears the sound quality is also fantastic. Rhino could easily have just released the greatest hits disc and most folks would have been happy. But I am glad they decided to release their 4.0 catalog. On those later albums I am hearing little gems among the cuts that were never big hits. In fact, most of the big hits are my least favorite titles on the recordings because they were played to death on the radio when the albums first came out. So it's great to sit down and listen to the discs in full in chronological order. I can say that I don't like all of it, but I certainly like and appreciate enough of it to be very happy with this purchase. It really gives me an appreciation of a band that I had no appreciation for at all after the release of that first amazing album. Even though I have not listened to every disc, I know this boxset deserves a 10 and that is what I'm voting.
By Chicago II that "heavy" influence of the era was gone and what would become the consistent Chicago sound emerged. That's not to say that the other albums aren't impressive and sophisticated examples of music from that era. The musicianship and song composition of the band is incredibly sophisticated, particularly when you think about how very different they were from other rock bands of that time. There weren't a whole lot of rock bands with a great horn section. While I don't necessarily love all their remaining catalog, I can certainly appreciate Chicago as a band.
From a surround perspective there is absolutely nothing to complain about. The separation is incredibly discrete and well thought out in the placement of instrumentation. To my ears the sound quality is also fantastic. Rhino could easily have just released the greatest hits disc and most folks would have been happy. But I am glad they decided to release their 4.0 catalog. On those later albums I am hearing little gems among the cuts that were never big hits. In fact, most of the big hits are my least favorite titles on the recordings because they were played to death on the radio when the albums first came out. So it's great to sit down and listen to the discs in full in chronological order. I can say that I don't like all of it, but I certainly like and appreciate enough of it to be very happy with this purchase. It really gives me an appreciation of a band that I had no appreciation for at all after the release of that first amazing album. Even though I have not listened to every disc, I know this boxset deserves a 10 and that is what I'm voting.