Maps of Music

Chicago 18 (1986)

Where the lyrics of Chicago 18 take you, and where it was really made.

Chicago 18 was the first studio album in the band's history with no official guitarist, and the first without Peter Cetera.

Key places

Chartmaker Studios in Malibu (1986)

Recording site Bob Dylan's garage studio (Malibu) — Chicago 18 was recorded at Chartmaker Studios in Malibu, California, together with Lion Share Recording Studio in Los Angeles. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Lion Share Recording Studio in Los Angeles (1986)

Recording site Lion Share — Part of Chicago 18 was recorded at Lion Share Recording Studio in Los Angeles, and the album was also mixed there. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Chicago 18: fifteenth studio album, eighteenth overall, by the American rock band Chicago
• Released September 29, 1986
• First album without original vocalist Peter Cetera
• First album with Jason Scheff on bass and vocals
• First studio album since the band's inception without an official guitarist
• Studio guitarists Steve Lukather, Michael Landau, and Howard "Buzz" Feiten appear as session musicians

Background

• Cetera left the band in mid-1985 to pursue a solo career
• Chicago hired Scheff in fall 1985 to fill Cetera's vocal and bass position
• Bill Champlin, who joined in 1981, became a lead voice alongside Scheff
• Chicago hired producer David Foster again to create a follow-up to Chicago 17
• This was the final album Foster produced for the band before other producers were brought in
• An updated, high-tech remake of "25 or 6 to 4" (#48) was the first single, released in August 1986

Recording

• Recorded at Chartmaker Studios (Malibu, CA) and Lion Share Recording Studio (Los Angeles, CA)
• Engineered and mixed by Humberto Gatica
• Horn sessions recorded at Skyline Recording Company (Malibu, CA)
• Originally mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound (New York, NY)

Cover

• Album cover (mosaic) by Maria Sarno
• Art direction by Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff
• Design by Hugh Brown and Jeri McManus
• Group photography by Guy Webster

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ko.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Chicago is an American rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1967.
• The band described itself as a "rock and roll band with horns" and blended classical music, jazz, R&B, and pop.
• The group first called itself the Big Thing, became Chicago Transit Authority in 1968, and shortened its name to Chicago in 1969.

Members

• The original line-up was Peter Cetera (bass), Terry Kath (guitar), Robert Lamm (keyboards), Lee Loughnane (trumpet), James Pankow (trombone), Walter Parazaider (woodwinds), and Danny Seraphine (drums).
• Lamm, Loughnane, and Pankow have remained constant members since 2009.
• Terry Kath died in 1978 after an accidental gunshot wound.

Career

• The band's debut double album, Chicago Transit Authority (1969), was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014.
• In 1971 Chicago became the first rock act to sell out a week at Carnegie Hall.
• "If You Leave Me Now" (1976) became the group's first number-one single and won its only Grammy.
• Billboard placed the band among the most successful chart acts in its history, and it has sold more than 100 million records.
• The original line-up was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.
• Chicago received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award on October 16, 2020.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• "25 or 6 to 4" remake: first single in August 1986, peaking at #48
• "Will You Still Love Me?": released October 1986, peaking at #3
• "If She Would Have Been Faithful…": released March 1987, peaking at #17
• "Niagara Falls": released June 1987, peaking at #91

Reappraisal

• Japanese Wikipedia: after this album, Chicago came to be seen as a group that scored singles hits while its albums sold only moderately
• Japanese Wikipedia: sales fell clearly compared with the period when Cetera was in the band

Records

• United States: gold certification
• United States: peaked at #35 on the Billboard Top 200
• United States: spent 45 weeks on the chart
• United Kingdom: did not chart

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ko.wikipedia.org · ja.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Pankow's "Free Flight" is a 25-second unlisted horn piece that opens "Nothin's Gonna Stop Us Now"
• Scheff asked Foster how to sing the song, and Foster replied with "Just like Cetera"
• This album was the final one Foster produced for the band before other producers were brought in
• The predecessor, Chicago 17, was a 1984 multi-platinum album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ko.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · ja.wikipedia.org

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