Chicago XI is the end of the classic Chicago sound. Released in the fall of 1977, it is most notable for being Terry Kath's last album with the band. In January of 1978, Kath died from an accidental self-inflicted gunshot.

The music of this album is inseparable from the tragedy that would strike the band shortly after its release, and though the songs were recorded before Kath's death, some of them seem to foreshadow it.

This is especially the case with the two compositions by drummer Danny Seraphine and his writing partner David Wolinski (of Rufus), both of which had a very personal meaning for Seraphine, but are extremely haunting in light of Kath's death.

"Take Me Back to Chicago" was an elegy to a friend of Seraphine's who had died earlier that year and "Little One" (sung by Kath himself) was a song Seraphine had written for his young daughter. The former is a light-jazz-pop song with one of Robert Lamm's best vocal performances, and a guest spot by Wolinski's own bandmate Chaka Khan. "Little One", with its mournful but summery groove feels like a benediction to Kath's own family (and also to the band), an incredibly fitting swan song for Kath ("Don't live in fear of the future, cause I will always be there").

Both songs are miraculous and seemed to signal that Chicago were finally starting to get there focus after several albums of debilitating style-hopping. They also point to one of the band's most under-rated and under-used talents - Danny Seraphine.

While nothing else on XI reaches those highs, a couple of tunes come close. Most notably is Robert Lamm's poignant "Policeman" - a sympathetic portrait of an urban policeman with a quiet, stately horn arrangement and a jazzy harmonic chorus.

"Mississippi Delta City Blues" and "Takin' It Uptown" show Kath in Electric Mud(dy Waters) mode, and "This Time" is a soulful rock song with a lead vocal by Kath-soundalike and erstwhile trumpeter Lee Loughnane. "Till the End of Time" is a 60's style slow-soul-stomper with a vocal from James Pankow (which, unfortunately, makes his nuanced lead on Chicago X's "You Are On My Mind" seem like a fluke). Robert Lamm's "Vote for Me" mines the same political-but-light-and-fluffy ground as Chicago VIII's "Harry Truman", this time with full gospel choir and Hammond organ flourishes.

Chicago XI did manage to deliver one huge hit in the gratuitous "If You Leave Me Now" re-write, "Baby, What a Big Surprise". It would be the band's last top 10 hit for 5 more years, and it further cemented the band as an easy-listening ballad factory (a reputation they really didn't deserve until the 80s).

Chicago XI is heartbreaking in the fact that it shows a band that seems just about to find their footing again after a period of drift, and it contains some of their very best performances. The experience of the album is overwhelmingly colored with thoughts about "what else might have been" if Kath had lived. In 1977, despite growing commercial indifference, the possibility of a great new artistic rebirth seemed within reach. Chicago XI is far from a masterpiece, but it suggests that the band still had a masterpiece in them.

Rhino's reissue has terrific sound and packaging, fully restoring the album's original artwork, and adding informative, if uncritical, liner notes, and two bonus tracks: the strong instrumental jam "Wish I Could Fly" and a jazzy Robert Lamm demo "Paris".

- - - - -

"Chicago XI" by Chicago
Rhino Records
Originally released on Columbia Records 9/77
Reissue released 2/25/03

Producer: James William Guercio

Songs: Mississippi Delta City Blues - Baby What a Big Surprise - Till the End of Time - Policeman - Take Me Back to Chicago - Vote For Me - Takin' it on Uptown - This Time - The Inner Struggles of a Man - Prelude (Little One ) - Little One /BONUS: Wish I Could Fly - Paris


Recommended: Yes