Maps of Music

Chicago V (1972)

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

Chicago's fourth studio album was cut in just over a week, yet its release was held back until the following summer.

Key places

Recorded and mixed at Columbia Studios, New York (1971)

Recording site Columbia — Recorded and mixed at Columbia Recording Studios in New York, per the Discogs notes. The pin uses the listed studio coordinates, so it marks the studio area rather than a verified exact address. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Fourth studio album by the American rock band Chicago
• Released July 10, 1972 by Columbia Records
• First single-disc album after three consecutive double albums and the four-disc live box set Chicago at Carnegie Hall
• Titled Chicago V because the live box set is counted as Chicago IV

Background

• Follows Chicago III (1971); the group moved away from double albums with extended suites
• Often seen as a return to basics, with a sound resembling the debut Chicago Transit Authority
• Robert Lamm wrote eight of the ten tracks
• Terry Kath wrote and sang the final track "Alma Mater"
• Peter Cetera has no composition here, the last album without his songs during his tenure
• The single "Saturday in the Park" was released shortly before the album and was the band's biggest hit to that point

Recording

• Cut in just over a week
• Recorded just before Chicago at Carnegie Hall came out in late 1971
• Release was held until the following summer
• Recorded and mixed at Columbia Recording Studios, New York
• Engineer: Wayne Tarnowski
• Mixed and released in both stereo and quadraphonic

Cover

• Gatefold sleeve with a large foldout group poster
• Eight-panel foldout with color photos of each member of the group

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

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

• Received critical acclaim on release
• Became Chicago's first No.1 album in the US, spending nine weeks atop the charts
• Ranked top of Billboard's rock album chart in 1972
• Ranked top of Billboard's jazz album chart in 1973
• The follow-up single "Dialogue (Part I & II)" reached No. 24 in the US

Records

• US: first No.1 album for the band, nine weeks at the top
• UK: peaked at No. 24
• "Saturday in the Park" reached No. 3 in the US
• "Dialogue (Part I & II)" peaked at No. 24 in the US
• 1973: Best Small-Combo LP, Playboy Jazz & Pop Poll
• 2002: remastered and reissued by Rhino Records with three bonus tracks

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Robert Lamm wrote eight of the ten tracks, a large share of the songwriting on this album.
• Terry Kath wrote and sang the final track "Alma Mater", which showed off his acoustic guitar playing.
• "A Hit by Varèse" is a tribute to French-American composer Edgard Varèse.
• The 2002 Rhino reissue added three bonus tracks, including an early rehearsal of Kath's "Mississippi Delta City Blues".
• In 2011 Warner Japan released a hybrid stereo-multichannel Super Audio CD of the album in its Warner Premium Sound series.
• The single "Saturday in the Park" came out shortly before the album and was the band's biggest hit to that point.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ja.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

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