Chicago-Chicago II (1970)

 


Artist: Chicago

Title: Chicago II

Label: Columbia

Format: 8-Track

Catalog Number: 18 BO 0858

Year of Release: 1970

Country and Year of Edition: US 1970 red shell

Sell Price: $4.74

Sell Date: 6/21/26

Condition: VG/F tested sounds good, front cover label missing only tracks, 

Discogs Last Sold: 5/31/26 VG/not graded $3.00

Low: $0.49

Median: $3.50

Average: $3.24

High: $5.00

Current low price: $5.00

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 1

Have/Want: 90/55

Where Sold: Fort Worth, TX

Time It Took To Sell:  3 years

Where and When Bought Ebay 8-track lot

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A-

Sad To See It Go: No 

Chicago changed their name in 1970 to avoid a lawsuit by the Chicago Transit Authority.  I guess the city had better things to do.  Anyway this spawned a series of albums without a title for the brunt of the 70's until Hot Streets.  Retroactively they were assigned numbers to their titles.  This one is II or 2.  There were 3 top ten hits on this and they all are good ones in my view: "25 Or 6 To 4" has been hijacked recently by an Amazon record, but it has a rockin' bass out of the "Gimmie Some Lovin'" school and Terry Kath's guitar stands out.  Apparently the Quad version of this has even more Kath guitar in the mix.  "Make Me Smile" is a standout single or not and the sparse ballad "Color My World" was a late single from 1971 paired as a double A B-side with the prior album's "Beginnings."

Surprisingly this double (length) album was enjoyable to hear overall.  They are clearly a live band not bogged down in studio gloss.  The brass and classical suites is what made them too "adult" for later day corporate rock radio which also ignored Blood, Sweat and Tears.  The singles were strictly AM radio oldies by the late 70's.  Interesting how that happens.  The album itself sold over time finally hitting a million US sales in 1991 after going Gold in it's day.

The 8-track kept the same track order all the way through but to do this it was forced into three fades: "Now More Than Ever," "In The Country" and "Memories of Love."  On the record there are two side long suites: side two's "Ballet For A GIrl In Buchannon" which kicks off with "Make Me Smile" and side 4's four movent epic "It Better End Soon."

Still a Rock record as far as I'm concerned.

FOR FURTHER REVIEW:

Chicago Transit Authority (1969)

At Carnegie Hall Volumes III & IV (1971)

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