Get yer Tootsie-Frootsie Icea Cream ..
Posted on 11/01/2024 4:22:49 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Oh damn. What a terrible story.
Chicago was the first band that caught my early musical ear. I was YOUNG but loved music. How they played all those instruments and sounded so great was a huge, first influence on my wanting to be a musician.
I heard the changes and I think after Wishing You Were Hear I got bored, but by then I was getting into so many other bands and genres the loss was hardly noticed.
Sad. They were great.
only saw Chicago once. April 1969 at the LA Forum, my first concert. They were second bill to Jimi Hendrix.
Remember Terry well. he hardly faced the audience at all. Mostly faced his amps. But boy howdy he could play that guitar.
Thought to myself, is Jimi going to be this good?
He was.
Kath was singularly irreplaceable. most cover bands need at least 2 if not 3 people to emulate him.
I always thought the one guy who could have conceivably replaced Kath was Stevie Ray Vaughan, who could play and even somewhat could sing like him.
Cetera is kind of like Phil Collins.
Most people know Phil from his sappy 80s solo songs, but they don’t know what a bad-ass he was on drums.
Same with Cetera, definitely one of the best bassists in rock.
I would pin Chicago V as the point where they went soft.
A Hit By Varese, soft?!?!?!
The thing is, they were very left-wing and anti-Nixon. I think that fueled a lot of Bobby Lamm’s writing in those days.
Once Nixon resigned, he lost the fire.
V is probably my favorite Chicago album. I love their harmonies on “All Is Well Again.”
♫ People talking, people laughing, a man selling ice cream, singing Italian songs ♫
Ok, I usually skip that one since I’ve only heard it about a thousand times.
Stevie Ray Vaughan was a star in his own right. Playing/singing for Chicago would have been a step down for him.
Not in 1978, he would have been much better than Donnie Dacus.
I liked their 82 and on stuff a lot better than the late seventies material when Terry Kath died. They were stale. No way they could replace him.
The song “Street Player”, came out right at the tail-end of disco, but it did find a resurgence years later.
Which also is the title of Danny Seraphine’s book about his time with the band.
Get yer Tootsie-Frootsie Icea Cream ..
He tried to get rid of the horns.
He was a total POS.
SRV would have been a good choice. He was 22 at the time of Kath’s death.
Chicago was Dead after Kath’s Death.
Foster saved Chicago. A different style of music, no doubt.
Without Foster, Chicago would have died, as well.
They continue to play all their hits at concerts.
And people still pay money to hear those songs,
even though there are only a few original member still in the group.
I was in college in the early 80’s.
Chicago 16 was “we have ladies in the house” music. That, and Steely Dan’s Gaucho.
Made me a very happy young man.
Laura Denise...I know you are out there...the album still makes me smile.
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