Chicago VII was a decent, but messy, album loaded with great pop songs but weighted down by a side and a half of lame jazz fusion. While it was their most successful charting album to date, and landed 3 top 20 singles, the band wisely decided to trim the fat with the follow-up.

Chicago VIII was the band's 7th studio album (IV was a 4-disc live album) in as many years. 4 of those albums were double albums, and in between the writing and recording of all this work was constant touring. Very few bands work as hard nowadays as Chicago did in the early 70s. So, it's understandable the band was exhausted.

That exhaustion was apparent in the lyrical themes of Chicago VII: the loneliness of the road in "Wishing You Were Here", the loss in "Byblos", the yearning in the epic "Song of the Evergreens." And that theme continues on Chicago VIII, though ironically, this return to the single disc format is even less focussed then the middle portion of Chicago VII.

However, song-for-song, it is more consistent, and while it doesn't break any sonic ground or expand on the Latin rhythms they'd been experimenting with, Chicago VIII proves to be a simply enjoyable record with few extreme highs or lows.

That very relaxed middle-of-the-road feeling is exemplified by the album opener, the straightforward "Anyway You Want", in which Peter Cetera delivers his most relaxed vocal to date. It literally sounds nothing like Peter Cetera for most of the song, and that's a good thing. It's not their best song ever, but it's damn good, and it's a helluva lot easier to tap your toes to than any of the fusion on "VII."

Terry Kath delivers a beautifully Ray Charles-ish vocal on the torchy "Brand New Love Affair", and then later does a terrific Jimi Hendrix impression on the 7 minute "O Thank You Great Spirit."

The Beach Boys don't sing on this one, but their influence is apparent in the harmonic chorus of the Cetera ballad "Never Been in Love Before".

Robert Lamm does a bunch of style-hopping in the second half. "Harry Truman" (a minor Top 20 hit) is loving tribute, complete with concert hall singalong chorus, to a president who must have taken on some mythical aura Post-Watergate. "Long Time No See" finds Lamm doing his best Joe Walsh impression while the band (especially the sax part) try their hand at glam. And "Ain't It Blue" featuring tag-team lead vocals by Kath and Cetera is a decent piano driven blues-rocker.

The album's only major groaner is the "Mississippi Queen" knock-off "Hideaway." Peter Cetera is NOT a heavy metal singer, and Kath's riffing sounds generic, especially next to his brilliant playing elsewhere.

It's also sad to hear the horns taking something of a back seat on this album. They are completely absent in several songs, and elsewhere, they are merely accents.

Chicago VIII closes with "Old Days", which was the album's biggest hit, and it's pleasant enough, but it points to the bands future as a generic radio-pop factory. The song demands little from the band, and Kath especially phones his part in. Cetera sang the lead, but hated the lyrics (especially the "Howdy Doody" line) because he felt it dated the band. He had a point.

Chicago VIII is a fine album if you're not expecting much. Rhino's reissue is well-annotated, and features three completely disposable bonus tracks (actually, they all would have been right at home on the first side of VII).



Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Cleaning the House