Maps of Music

Twenty 1 (1991)

Where the lyrics of Twenty 1 take you, and where it was really made.

The label handed the band songs by outside writer Diane Warren, and two of those songs released as singles flopped.

Key places

Recorded at Record Plant in Hollywood (1991)

Recording site Record Plant Studios — Twenty 1 was recorded at three studios, and Record Plant in Hollywood is one of them. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recorded at Can-Am Recorders in Tarzana (1991)

Recording site Can-Am Studios — Can-Am Recorders in Tarzana was one of the three studios used for Twenty 1, alongside Record Plant and Ground Control Studios. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recorded at Ground Control Studios in Santa Monica (1991)

Recording site Ruby Red — Ground Control Studios in Santa Monica is one of the three studios named for Twenty 1. The map point sits at the city center, not at the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Twenty 1: seventeenth studio album by the American band Chicago, twenty-first overall
• Released January 29, 1991; the band's first album of the 1990s
• Three singles: "Chasin' the Wind", "Explain It to My Heart", "You Come to My Senses"
• Last full-length album of original songs before Chicago XXX in 2006

Background

• Founding drummer Danny Seraphine had left; the band's "great new drummer" Tris Imboden joined
• Dawayne Bailey, touring guitarist since 1986, is credited as guitarist for the sessions
• The record company asked the band to record Diane Warren songs
• Two of those songs were released as singles and flopped, with one more to follow
• The band kept producer Ron Nevison, who had already done Chicago 19
• Stone of Sisyphus, planned as the 22nd album with producer Peter Wolf, was postponed indefinitely in 1994
• Stone of Sisyphus was released in 2008 as Chicago XXXII

Recording

• Band members rarely were in the studio together; session musicians worked while the band was on tour
• Session player John Keane played most of the drum tracks
• Mike Landau handled all guitars
• Humberto Gatica mixed the final version without Nevison's input

Sources: en.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

• Billboard 200: eleven weeks on the chart, peak No. 66
• UK: did not chart
• "Chasin' the Wind" peaked at No. 39
• Shifting trends toward the grunge movement are said to have cost the band radio support

Reappraisal

• Nevison maintains the album could have been more successful had his original mixes been used
• Ranked the band's second least successful non-greatest hits album, only behind Chicago XIV

Records

• Billboard 200: eleven weeks, peak No. 66
• Charted in the United States only; no UK chart entry
• "Chasin' the Wind" single peak No. 39
• Singles released in January, April and August 1991
• Second least successful non-greatest hits album in the band's catalog, behind Chicago XIV

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The record company requested Diane Warren songs for the album.
• A demo of "Love Is Forever" from the Twenty 1 sessions was included on Stone of Sisyphus, released in 2008.
• The demo "Holdin' On" was recorded in 1988 with Tamara on lead vocals and Dawayne Bailey on guitars, and was originally intended for Chicago 19.
• "Secrets of the Heart" stayed unreleased and was replaced by "Explain It to My Heart" on the final track list.
• The 2009 remaster adds the single edit of "Explain It to My Heart" as a bonus track.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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