Maps of Music

Chicago (Chicago II) (1970)

Where the lyrics of Chicago (Chicago II) take you, and where it was really made.

The album was recorded in less than a month in August 1969, yet it became the band's breakthrough, and the Chicago logo first appeared on its cover.

Key places

Recorded at CBS studios in Los Angeles (1969)

Recording site CBS Columbia Square — The band recorded the second album at CBS Studios in Los Angeles in August 1969, fitting recording into gaps between tour dates. The album was recorded in less than a month. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording listed at CBS 30th Street Studio, New York City (1970)

Recording site Columbia 30th Street Studio — The album's recording credits list the CBS 30th Street Studio in New York City as a recording site. The album was recorded in August 1969. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Chicago (also known as Chicago II): second studio album by the American rock band Chicago
• Released January 26, 1970 by Columbia Records
• Double album, like the debut Chicago Transit Authority (1969)
• First album released under the name Chicago, after the name was shortened to avoid a threatened lawsuit from the actual mass-transit operator
• Often considered the group's breakthrough album
• Centerpiece is the 13-minute song cycle "Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon" by trombonist James Pankow

Background

• Preceded by the 1969 debut Chicago Transit Authority, which was also a success
• Three singles reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100: "Make Me Smile", "Colour My World", "25 or 6 to 4"
• Released as an instant hit, reaching number 4 on the Billboard 200 and number 6 in the UK

Recording

• Produced by James William Guercio, who produced the band's first eleven albums
• Recorded in less than a month, during August 1969
• Pankow later said the band felt they were not yet a recording group and that they were a live group

Cover

• The Chicago logo first appeared on this album's cover
• Designed by John Berg and fashioned by Nick Fasciano
• Both were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Album Cover

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Disc 1

Disc 2

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

• Al Rudis of the Chicago Sun-Times said the second album confirms the band as one of the most exciting, original, and accomplished jazz-rock groups
• Robert Christgau of The Village Voice gave a poor grade and called the album sterile and stupid
• Contemporary reviews for the album were mixed.

Reappraisal

• Lindsay Planer of AllMusic gave the album four-and-a-half out of five stars
• Planer wrote that the songs underscore a solid foundation of complex jazz changes with heavy electric rock and roll
• American Songwriter's Jim Beviglia wrote that the album still stands as one of the band's signature achievements

Records

• Reached No. 4 on the US Billboard 200 and No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart
• Produced three top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100
• Certified Gold by the RIAA in April of the year of its release
• Certified Platinum in 1991
• Received three Grammy Award nominations at the 1971 Grammy Awards: Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus, and Best Album Cover
• Voted the best album of 1970 by readers of Cash Box magazine
• Voted the 1971 best small-combo LP by readers of Playboy magazine

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album's cover logo was inspired by the Coca-Cola logo, according to designer John Berg.
• The cover artwork is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
• Robert Lamm said in an interview that the album has been nominated for the Grammy Hall of Fame more than once.
• Chicago Transit Authority was a success, yet many consider this album the group's breakthrough.
• Drummer Danny Seraphine wrote that the band squeezed the second album's recording into gaps between tour dates, in a more controlled approach than the first record.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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