Maps of Music

Chicago III (1971)

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

Chicago III was the band's third double album in under two years, and its poster listed the casualties from each war up to release.

Key places

CBS 30th Street Studio (1971)

Recording site Columbia 30th Street Studio — The album's Wikipedia entry lists CBS 30th Street Studio in New York City as its studio. The point is placed at the exact building coordinates. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Chicago III: third studio album by the American rock band Chicago
• Released January 11, 1971 through Columbia Records
• Produced by James William Guercio
• Third consecutive double album in less than two years
• Combines multi-part suites with conventional individual songs
• Blends folk, country, free improvisation and musique concrete into the band's jazz-rock style
• First album by the band to carry a Roman numeral in its title

Background

• Band spent almost all of 1970 on the road after the worldwide success of its second album
• Former drummer Danny Seraphine described the members as fatigued and road-weary entering the studio
• The band had used up its original material on its first two albums, so new songs had to be written
• Seraphine said the band took the opportunity to experiment with instrumentals
• Long touring gave songwriters Robert Lamm, Terry Kath and James Pankow more serious subject matter than the first two sets

Recording

• Producer Guercio had produced the band's first eleven albums
• Mixed and released in both stereo and quadraphonic
• In 2002 Rhino Records remastered the album and reissued it on one CD

Cover

• The cover design is titled Tattered Flag on the band's website
• Included poster showed the band in America's war uniforms in front of a field of crosses
• The poster also gave the number of casualties from each war up to the album's release

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

• Billboard wrote that Chicago showed once again quality exceeds quantity with its third release
• Billboard highlighted Free, Loneliness is Just a Word and What Else Can I Say as the songs with the most commercial vocals
• Cashbox believed sides one and four were rather tedious in their pretentiousness
• Cashbox said the other two sides showed an excellent Chicago in a transitional stage that pointed to an explosive fourth album
• Record World called Chicago III another one of the band's impressive two-record sets
• Don Lass of the Asbury Park Press believed the instrumental passages were better than the lyrics
• Lass concluded the album went in so many directions that it was excellent only about half of the time

Reappraisal

• Jeff Giles, in a retrospective review, wrote that Lamm's Travel Suite was inspired by the boredom, loneliness and beauty of the road
• Giles characterized Pankow's Elegy suite as an ecologically minded composition

Records

• Peaked at number two on the Billboard 200, the band's highest US chart placement at that point
• Free reached the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 at number 20
• Lowdown reached the top 40 at number 35
• Peaked at number 9 in the UK in a brief chart run
• Certified gold by the RIAA a month after release

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

Trivia

• Chicago III was the first album by the band to put a Roman numeral in its title.
• The included poster showed the band in America's war uniforms in front of a field of crosses for those who died in the still ongoing Vietnam War.
• In 1974 jazz bandleader Stan Kenton added a suite of songs from the album to his repertoire and released them on Stan Kenton Plays Chicago.
• Lowdown was Danny Seraphine's first co-writing credit, and he appreciated the support Peter Cetera gave him during writing.
• The 2002 Rhino Records reissue remastered the album onto one CD.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ko.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact