Finally, Chicago album post twelve! After the Chicago XI album in 1977, the band parted with their manager and producer, James William Guercio. On January 23, 1978, eight days before his 32nd birthday, guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Terry Kath died. Chicago carried on... CHICAGO ALBUM 12: “Hot Streets” October 1978 Columbia Records Produced by Phil Ramone and Chicago It was Chicago’s twelfth album, but it wasn’t Chicago XII. The follow up to “Chicago XI” was “Hot Streets”, Chicago’s tenth studio album and their twelfth overall. In more ways than one, “Hot Streets” signaled the beginning of a new era for Chicago. Needless to say, the band was reeling after the death of Terry Kath and, for a short time, they considered breaking up. Terry was the heart and soul of the band and even though he could not be replaced, Chicago soon decided to somehow carry on. In addition to the loss of their friend, brother and bandmate, Chicago was also faced with life after James William Guercio, who they parted with after “Chicago XI” was released in September 1977. After years of being under his control, Chicago had grown unhappy with many of the artistic and business decisions being made by Guercio. So, they cut the cord, anxious to move on. The first order of business was to hold auditions to find a new guitarist and vocalist. Chicago decided to go with Donnie Dacus, a talented guitarist, singer and songwriter. Dacus had recently worked with Stephen Stills and had a part in the film adaptation of “Hair”, which would be released in 1979. With their new guitarist on board, Chicago was ready to head back into the studio. The band decided to produce the next album themselves with Phil Ramone sharing in the responsibilities. Ramone knew Chicago well, having worked behind the scenes on some of their earlier albums. Recording sessions took place in the spring in Miami with finishing touches done in Los Angeles and New York. Despite the sadness the band must have been feeling in the wake of Terry Kath’s death, the results were very strong. (In my opinion, the twelfth album was their finest since “Chicago VII”.) As a way of erasing some of the fingerprints left behind from James William Guercio’s tenure with Chicago, the band decided to abandon two traditions with the new album. Instead of calling the new album Chicago XII, a conventional title was chosen – “Hot Streets”, which was the name of one of Robert Lamm’s songs on the album. In addition to refusing to number the new album, Chicago intentionally put the focus on themselves by having a band photo serve as the prominent image on the album’s wrap around cover. The Chicago logo was deemphasized and was used solely to identify the album’s artist. Drummer Danny Seraphine figured prominently in the songwriting department on “Hot Streets”, having had a hand at writing four of the album’s ten songs, including “The Greatest Love On Earth” and “Show Me The Way”, which were written with his music partner, David “Hawk” Wolinski. Seraphine co-wrote “Ain’t It Time” with newcomer Donnie Dacus and Warner Schwebke (who worked with Dacus in his pre-Chicago days). There’s a unique collaboration between Seraphine, Peter Cetera and Lee Loughnane on the ballad “No Tell Lover”. Peter Cetera and Robert Lamm both wrote two songs each. Cetera contributed the rocker “Little Miss Lovin”, which featured the Bee Gees on backing vocals, and “Gone Long Gone” while Lamm composed the title track and “Love Was New”. Lee Loughnane worked with Stash Wagner on “Take A Chance”. Finally, James Pankow’s lone contribution to “Hot Streets” was the brilliant album opener, “Alive Again”, which declared that Chicago was still on its feet, determined to survive and thrive despite the blow it was dealt from the death of Terry Kath. Peter Cetera sang lead on half of the album’s tracks while Robert Lamm and Donnie Dacus split the other half. Three singles were released from “Hot Streets”. First up was an edit of the exhilarating “Alive Again”, which was released in October 1978 and climbed to number 14. It was followed in December 1978 with the ballad “No Tell Lover”, which also topped out at 14. Finally, in March 1979 came “Gone Long Gone”, which could only manage to reach 73. Peter Cetera was the primary lead vocalist on all three songs. “Hot Streets” became the first studio album since “Chicago III” to fail to produce at least one top ten hit. As for its performance on the album chart, “Hot Streets” only managed to reach number 12, becoming the first album since the debut (“The Chicago Transit Authority”) to fail to reach the top ten. Despite the fact that “Hot Streets” was a fine album, the commercial fortunes of Chicago were clearly slipping and would hit a full blown free fall with their next effort. Next: Unlucky 13.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 02:29:54 +0000
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