ALBUM OF THE WEEK #15.5 CHICAGO - 18 (1986) (REQUESTED BY NIELS)

[RJhog (Admin)]

1. Niagra Falls

2. Forever

3. If She Would Have Been Faithful...

4. 25 Or 6 To 4

5. Will You Still Love Me?

6. Over And Over

7. It's Alright

8. Free Flight

9. Nothin's Gonna Stop Us Now

10. I Believe

11. One More Day

 

I have a special request for you from Niels.  He wants to hear and look at Chicago 18, so here we go.  This is the first post Peter Cetera release for Chicago.  It's from 1986 and honestly, I'd never heard the
whole album until it came in the mail a few days ago.  I've heard 2 of
the singles previously, but that's all I had to go by.  Jason Scheff
handled the lead vocals on all 3 of the singles, and I like his voice. 

 

Singles:

 

25 Or 6 To 4

Will You Still Love Me?

If She Would Have Been Faithful...

 

The first thing that jumps out at me is the remake of 25 Or 6 To 4.  It is slowed down from the original with much more emphasis on the horns than the guitar, although there is some guitar here.  And Scheff
sounds a lot like Cetera.  The original song is so good that anything
else would pale in comparison.  That said, I don't think this is awful,
but I miss Terry Kath's guitar on this version.  The other two singles
are both mid-80's ballad type songs.  Both are good in my opinion.

 

Album Cuts:

 

Well, the album cuts all follow the same pattern of either slow or mid-paced mid-80's made for radio ballads, with the exception of Free Flight, which is a very short instrumental break.  Only two album cuts
stand out for me, and that would be Niagra Falls and Nothin's Gonna Stop
Us Now.  Both of these songs probably could have been hits.  For the
others, it's not that they are bad, they just don't stand out in any
way. 

 

Hidden Gem Award:

 

This comes down to a toss up between Niagra Falls and Nothin's Gonna Stop Us Now.  I will give the award to Niagra Falls, based soley on the fact that it has a really cool title while the loser shares it's
lame name with a pop hit by Starship.

 

Overall, this is a decent album, but not great in any way.  The biggest thing for me on here is Jason Sceff's Peter Cetera-like vocals.  For some folks thats a con, for me it's a pro.  It's available from
Amazon for about 6 bucks brand new.  I know, 'cause I bought it from
there.  If you'd like to read the Wikipedia article on Chicago 18, click here.


***Please click here if you want to listen to Chicago 18***

 

[Niels (Mod)]

Thank you very much, RJhog. I'll listen, as soon as I get some time free.
I bought this album, when it was released in 1986, and I've allways loved "Niagara Falls". I don't have the album any more, and it's been a while since I last heard it, so i'm going to enjoy it. "I believe" is also a good track.

[Scott]

No offense, but not my cup of tea. Its cookie-cutter, contrived, and Cetera-less. I don't like the Scheff replacement, not that he's not talented etc etc... But I personally don't think he's a good replacement for Cetera. There was a rumor that Richard Page (from Mr. Mister fame) was the one they really wanted, and that, for me, would have been the smart move, but I think he turned them down. Maybe with songwriting like this, he was a lot smarter than I gave him credit for at the time...

Harsh? maybe, but its honest....

As with everything there is an exception to the rule and Chicago, sans Pete, recently released a very good album titled Stone of Sysiphus. This was supposedly put on the shelf by the record company at the time of its recording but was released in the last year. At least the songwriting is honest and the striving to be like Pete long gone. If you like Peter Cetera-less Chicago, then 'Stone' is their best... in my humble opinion....

[Jon]

"Stone" is a good album, what's as good is the whole story behind the album. Stupid record companies.


Nice that Rjhog posted this, if you waited for me it would have been the end of this month. Guess I ordered stuff that was out of stock at Amazon. Like you care, but I'm telling you anyway.