Steely Dan is one of my favorite bands, they got me interested into Jazz-rock so I checked this album out. All in all, pretty good and action packed and was never boring throughout the whole listen.
It might only be because I like jazz and rock, but I loved this. The solos were great and it has a lot of variation. I never found myself bored while listening.
The late 1960s birthed a torrent of innovative and ambitious rock bands, including many that started out interesting before eventually creatively caving in in the mid 70s. In this respect, Chicago's debut sounds five years ahead of its time, successfully fusing hard rock and Jazz while also exhibiting a lot of the self-indulgence that would lead to the back to basics backlash of punk rock. Yes, there may be a 7 minute track of ear scraping acid guitar improv, but there's also 'Does Anybody ... read more
The instrumentation was great, but I'm not a huge fan of the songwriting. Not bad, just not very impressive.
Knowing that by the 1980s, Chicago would devolve into mediocre softrock (look, the 80s were hard on a lot of bands), it's easy to forget that they began life in this original form blending jazz-funk horn sections with hard edged acid rock. Sort of like a version of Blood, Sweat, & Tears that didn't suck. Pro-tip: This one's best heard on a pair of decent headphones to get the full effect of their sound - particularly what they do with the drums and percussion. That's not to say it's without ... read more
Chicago stepped hot out of the gates with the brilliant "Chicago Transit Authority" album from 1969. This brilliant and ambitious double album is marked by the dynamic and tightly arranged horns of Pankow, Loughnane, and Parazaider. One of the most understated guitar heroes Terry Kath lets loose here and shows his skills with many great solos and additionally in the bands most unrestricted songs they would ever do (Free Form Guitar, Liberation). With 3 great singers in Lamm, Kath and ... read more
1 | Introduction 6:35 | 89 |
2 | Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? 4:33 | 90 |
3 | Beginnings 7:58 | 90 |
4 | Questions 67 and 68 5:04 | 85 |
5 | Listen 3:22 | 80 |
6 | Poem 58 8:37 | 79 |
7 | Free Form Guitar 6:53 | 61 |
8 | South Calofirnia Purples 6:10 | 77 |
9 | I'm a Man 7:40 | 86 |
10 | Prologue, August 29, 1968 0:57 | 56 |
11 | Someday (August 29, 1968) 4:13 | 80 |
12 | Liberation 15:41 | 81 |