Peter Buck once made the assertion that R.E.M. would break up by the year 2000. When his bandmate Michael Stipe was quizzed about the subject in an interview in the early 90's, he said something like, "Well, obviously, we don't want to do a Chicago XIV."

Unfortunately, of course, Chicago did do a Chicago XIV.

The late 70s found Chicago, once one of the best selling, most successful singles artists, in a state of ruin. The band was reeling from the death of founding guitarist/resident legend Terry Kath early in 1978. They had also dumped their former svengali James William Guercio who had been with them from the start, in order to gain more autonomy in their music.

But increased control over output doesn't necessarily make the quality of output better, and the band failed to find a producer that was both sympathetic to the band's ideas and firm enough to rein them in and focus them. Their albums "Hot Streets" and "13" were both full of pointless genre-hopping, unfinished songs, and embarrassing - sometimes even offensive - recording ideas (i.e. the "P.C. Moblee" vocals on Chicago 13).

To compound matters, the band had hired Donnie Dacus to replace Kath, and while Dacus couldn't be expected to match Kath, what he brought to the band (namely a folksy southern rock influence, reedy tenor vocals, and a youthful image) wasn't what the band needed. Worse, he didn't gel personally with the rest of the band, and he left shortly after recording wrapped on Chicago 13.

Finally, the band's management were at war with Columbia Records (despite that the band had just extended their contract with the label), which resulted in general neglect of the band and their new album.

Success was simply not in the stars for Chicago XIV.

That's a shame, because Chicago XIV, far from being the proverbial career abyss Michael Stipe joked about, is actually a pretty decent album - probably the best thing they'd recorded since Chicago VIII.

After two disastrous albums with producer Phil Ramone, the band hired producer Tom Dowd, along with session guitarist Chris Pinnick to play on the record. (Pinnick was never listed as a full member of the band).

Chicago XIV has a rawer, rockier edge to it throughout, but most notably on the Robert Lamm-written album opener "Manipulation" - which is the closest the band ever came to new wave power pop. But while the sound was raw, the writing was actually very complex and polished, with nifty time changes, and even an instrumental interlude that quotes the riffing of the James Gang's "Funk #49".

"Thundering and Lightning" (a rip on the band's label dressed up as a song of marital infidelity) is an effective hybrid of the quirky jazz of Steely Dan, and the sunny harmonic (but bitter under the surface) pop of Fleetwood Mac. And it was almost a hit!

"Overnight Cafe" recalls the anthemic dynamics of Boston; and both Lamm's snarky "I'd Rather Be Rich" and James Pankow's "The American Dream" head back into the topical territory that used to dominate Chicago's earliest work.

Of course, the album's punchline reputation isn't wholly undeserved. Without a third vocalist (and with Lamm receding more and more into the background), Peter Cetera's vocals dominate Chicago XIV - he sings lead on all but two songs here - and where Peter Cetera goes, saccharine love songs follow.

The worst of the bunch is the single "Song for You", which sounds like Cetera's best attempt at writing a John Denver song. But the bombastic "Where Did the Lovin' Go?" and "Birthday Boy" are nearly as bad, replacing the delicate 12-string plucking of "Song for You" with arena rock power chords. "Hold On" is an especially klutzy attempt by Cetera to be a down-and-dirty rock singer - a la Lou Gramm - but, he just can't pull this kind of thing off.

Chicago XIV may be a joke, but it's not bad. If anything, it demonstrates that the band is willing and able to face tough odds - and it represents probably the last time they ever took any real musical risks. Next up would be Chicago 16 (15 was Greatest Hits Vol. II), and the song "Hard to Say I'm Sorry", and after that, everything would change irreversibly.

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"Chicago XIV" by Chicago
Rhino Records
Originally released by Columbia Records, 7/80
Reissue released 4/22/03

Producer: Tom Dowd

Songs: Manipulation - Upon Arrival - Song For You - Where Did the Lovin' Go - Birthday Boy - Hold On - Overnight Cafe - Thunder and Lightning - I'd Rather Be Rich - The American Dream / BONUS: Doin' Business - Live it Up - Soldier of Fortune







Recommended: No