Maps of Music

Hot Streets (1978)

Where the lyrics of Hot Streets take you, and where it was really made.

Chicago gave this album a title instead of a number, and it was made without guitarist Terry Kath, who died in January 1978.

Key places

Miami sessions for Hot Streets (1978)

Recording site Criteria Studios — Part of the album was recorded in Miami in spring 1978, in the same studio where the Bee Gees were recording Spirits Having Flown next door. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Los Angeles sessions for Hot Streets (1978)

Recording site Record Plant (Los Angeles) — Part of the album was recorded in Los Angeles in spring 1978, after the band had spent years working at Guercio's Caribou Ranch in Colorado. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Hot Streets: tenth studio album and twelfth overall album by the American rock band Chicago
• Released 2 October 1978 by Columbia Records
• First album of all-new material since their second that did not have a numbered title
• First album without original guitarist, vocalist and founder Terry Kath, who died in January 1978
• Donnie Dacus took Kath's place as guitarist on this album

Background

• Chicago had worked with producer James William Guercio since their 1969 debut
• The band parted ways with Guercio after the release of Chicago XI in 1977
• Kath accidentally shot himself at a roadie's house while playing with a gun
• The members were devastated and considered breaking up; after the initial shock they decided they still had something to offer
• Phil Ramone, who had mixed some of their earlier albums, was called to co-produce the new album
• Finding a new guitarist came before recording; Dacus had earlier worked with Roger McGuinn and Stephen Stills
• The title was chosen to mark a new beginning, breaking the band's tradition of numbered albums

Recording

• Sessions took place in Miami and Los Angeles in spring 1978, after years of working at Guercio's Caribou Ranch in Colorado
• The Bee Gees and keyboardist Blue Weaver were recording Spirits Having Flown next door at the same Miami studio
• The Gibb brothers sang on 'Little Miss Lovin'', and Weaver added synthesized strings to 'No Tell Lover' and 'Show Me The Way'
• Chicago's horn section played on Spirits Having Flown, including the hits 'Too Much Heaven' and 'Tragedy'

Cover

• The cover shows a photo of the band, shot by photographer Norman Seeff, instead of only the group logo
• A later marketing survey found that consumers expected the logo on the cover
• The logo returned as a high-rise building for the follow-up album, Chicago 13

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · it.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

• Cash Box praised the single 'Gone Long Gone' for its slick harmonies, smooth production and Donnie Dacus' guitar shadings, and said its guitar introduction sounds like George Harrison
• Record World described 'Gone Long Gone' as a soft, mid-tempo rocker carried by Peter Cetera's vocals and lofty guitar work
• The commercially unsuccessful single was released as the album's promotion
• The lead single 'Alive Again' came out before the album
• The band had been concerned the public might not accept them without Kath

Records

• The album went platinum
• Another hit for the group, with 'No Tell Lover' scoring a second top-twenty hit
• The album was the first Chicago album since their debut that failed to reach the US Top 10
• The album peaked at number 12 on the US chart
• The twelfth album peaked at number 12, a fitting result given its place in the band's discography

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The band broke with tradition by giving the album a title rather than a number, to mark their new beginning
• Chicago's horn section played on the Bee Gees' Spirits Having Flown, which was being recorded at the same Miami studio
• Dacus was released from the group at the end of the Christmas 1979 tour, after Chicago 13 came out
• The band had doubted the public would accept them without Kath, yet the album became another hit
• The cover photo was shot by photographer Norman Seeff

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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