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Rating: The sweetness and emotion that Chicago has infused in their listeners are nowadays indelible: songs like "If You Leave Me Now," "Saturday In The Park," and many others have often left their mark on romantic compilations from the '80s. This album collects a bit of everything Chicago has offered us up to today in a sweet and musically complete mix: from jazz to rock n' roll, from soul to funk, etc…
The first song "If You Leave Me Now" is the most important of the album and the group's history, although it is very melancholic and not very substantial technically speaking. However, it's a beautiful romantic and sweet song, just like the second song on the album "Baby What A Big Surprise". Both serve as a prologue to the captivating "Saturday In The Park" where you can hear a multitude of different sounds and riffs, produced by the numerous instruments used, from the piano to the trumpets, organ, and guitar.
Then follows the syrupy "Wishing You Were Here", a very rhythmic song but with a central refrain worth listening to over and over… "25 Or 6 To 4" is the most engaging and powerful on the album, with its perfect alternations of trumpet and trombone (Lee Loughnane and James Pankow) and Robert Lamm’s voice (very sweet in the other songs but decisive and sentimental in this one).
"I'm A Man" would have been much better if it lasted just four minutes instead of seven: with its entire drum solos and particularly bass drum solos which I'd prefer not to comment on, the piece becomes very heavy, and it automatically induces one to switch to the next song: "Feelin' Stronger Everyday", a undoubtedly fascinating song, with an upbeat and entertaining rhythm, in my opinion, the best on the album.
The eighth track "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" is the most elegant, with its piano beginning and then the entrance of the trumpet to season a beautiful song but for refined tastes ;-). "Street Player", takes its roots from the '80s disco, is thus danceable and carefree, with a complex rhythm full of a multitude of sounds, like most of Chicago's historical tracks.
"Low Down" and "I've Been Searching So Long" are songs that are too syrupy and inferior to others like "Make Me Smile" in which Robert Lamm is excellent and "Take Me Back To Chicago" melancholic but with a captivating riff.
Therefore, a very beautiful album, for connoisseurs, those who don't appreciate it are either biased against the band or simply ignorant, because this might seem like commercial and stupid music, but (this is where you see if one understands music or not) by listening to it carefully, you catch different languages and emotions with each listen, due to the numerous musical instruments used to compose these pieces now indelible in music history, now instrumentalized and meaningless.
In conclusion: throw away your Fabri Fibra, Eminem, or Mondo Marcio CDs (and many others if you have them), buy this album and listen to it. You won’t regret it…
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 If You Leave Me Now (03:54)
If you leave me now
You'll take away the biggest part of me
Ooh, no, baby please don't go
And if you leave me now
You'll take away the very heart of me
Ooh, no, baby please don't go
Ooh, girl, I just want you to stay
A love like ours is love that's hard to find
How could we let it slip away
We've come too far to leave it all behind
How could we end it all this way
When tomorrow comes and we both regret
The things we said today
A love like ours is love that's hard to find
How could we let it slip away
We've come too far to leave it all behind
How could we end it all this way
When tomorrow comes and we both regret
The things we said today
If you leave me now
You'll take away the biggest part of me
Ooh, no, baby please don't go
Ooh, girl, just got to have you by my side
Ooh, no, baby please don't go
Ooh, mama, I just got to have your loving
03 Saturday in the Park (03:54)
Saturday in the park
I think it was the fourth of July
Saturday in the park
I think it was the fourth of July
People dancing
People laughing
A man selling ice cream
Singing Italian songs
'E con parre', y se nade'
Can you dig it (Yes I can)
And I’ve been waiting such a long time
For Saturday
Another day in the park
I think it was the fourth of July
Another day in the park
I think it was the fourth of July
People talking
Really smiling
A man playing guitar (play his song, play his song, play on)
Singing for us all
Will you help him change the world
Can you dig it (Yes I can)
And I’ve been waiting such a long time
For today
Slow motion riders fly the colors of the day
A bronze man still can tell stories his own way
Listen children all is not lost
All is not lost, oh, oh no
Funny days in the park
Every days the fourth of July
Funny days in the park
Every days the fourth of July
People reaching
People touching
A real celebration
Waiting for us all (Waiting for us all)
If we want it, really want it
Can you dig it (Yes I can)
And I’ve been waiting such a long time
For the day, yeah yeah yeah
Oohh
Mmmmhh, mmmh mmm
*
04 Wishing You Were Here (04:32)
Sleepless hours and dreamless nights and far aways
Ooh, wishing you were, wishing you were here
Heaven knows and lord it shows when I'm away
Ooh, wishing you were, wishing you were here
Same old show, in a different town, on another time
Ooh, wishing you were, wishing you were here
Even though you're far away, you're on my mind
Ooh, wishing you were, wishing you were here
And I'd like to change my life, and you know I would
Just to be with you tonight, baby, if I could
But I've got my job to do, and I do it well
So I guess that's how it is
Ooo, wishing you were here [x4]
On the road, it's a heavy load, but I'll get by
Ooh, wishing you were, wishing you were here
Pay the price, make a sacrifice, and still I'll try
Ooh, wishing you were, wishing you were here
Ooh, wishing you were, wishing you were here
Ooh, wishing you were, wishing you were here
05 25 or 6 to 4 (04:50)
Waiting for the break of day
Searching for something to say
Flashing lights against the sky
Giving up, I close my eyes
Sitting cross-legged on the floor
Twenty-five or six to four
Staring blindly into space
Getting up to splash my face
Wanting just to stay awake
Wondering how much I can take
Should I try to do some more
Twenty-five or six to four
Feeling like I ought to sleep
Spinning room is sinking deep
Searching for something to say
Waiting for the break of day
Twenty-five or six to four
Twenty-five or six to four
09 Street Player (04:16)
I'll never forget those aimless years
Street sounds swirling through my mind
Trouble was often in the air
So we fought to forget our despair
I'm a street player
And I'll play you a song
'Cause you know, my heart & soul
Will carry, carry on
Carry on
Carry on
Carry on
City life's the only way
Street corners and billiard halls was our home away
Lessons learned still help me today
I'm a street player
I've seen it all
Hit men, thieves and many a brawl
But as you see I still stand tall
It was such a small space in time
I never knew that I would find
A musical path for all to see
Anxiety into ecstasy
I'm a street player
I'm a street player
I'm a street player
I'm a street player
I'm a street player
I've seen it all
Hit men, thieves and many a brawl
But as you see I still stand tall
It was such a small space in time
I never knew that I would find
A musical path for all to see
Anxiety into ecstasy
I'm a street player
I'm a street player
I'm a street player
I'm a street player
11 Take Me Back to Chicago (05:11)
Take me back to Chicago
And lay my soul to rest
Where my life was free and easy
Remember me at my best
Take me back to Chicago
Where my music was all I had
I tried to be good as I could
And sometimes it made me sad
Take me back to Chicago, to Chicago
Take me back, take me back
Take me back to Chicago
I still dream of the Lake of peacefulness
A warm summer breeze
'Cause my life was so much simpler then
Street corners and Tastee Freeze
Take me back to Chicago
'Cause hustling's not my style
L.A. was just a bit too hard
I wish I could be a child
Livin' back in Chicago, in Chicago
Take me back, take me back
Take me back to Chicago
To Chicago
Take me back to Chicago
And lay my soul to rest
Where my life was free and easy
Remember me at my best
Take me back to Chicago
'Cause hustling's not my style
L.A. was just a bit too hard
I wish I could be a child
Livin' back in Chicago, in Chicago
Take me back, take me back
Take me back to Chicago
To Chicago, yeah, yeah, yeah
Take me back, take me back
12 Make Me Smile (02:59)
Children play in the park
They don't know
I'm alone in the dark
Even though
Time and time again I see your face
Smiling inside
I'm so happy
That you love me
Life is lovely
When you're near me
Tell me you will stay
Make me smile
Living life is just a game
So they say
All the games we used to play
Fade away
We may now enjoy the dreams we shared
So long ago
Oh my darling
Got to have you
Feel the magic
When I hold you
Cry sweet tears of joy
Touch the sky
Now I need you
More than ever
No more crying
We're together
Tell me you will stay
Make me smile
16 Bigger Than Elvis (04:31)
Come, let's talk just you & me
For once just let me be.
The little boy you used to know.
Relive that summer's bliss.
Cause they came no more like this.
Those were the days,
The days when love was still in style.
All I ever dreamed I'd be
Is what you are to me.
Bigger than elvis.
And for all the missing years,
A memory reappears.
Bigger than elvis.
I saw you on tv.
The king, you were to me.
Could you feel me watching you?
At times my heart got mad,
Only heros are allowed
To run free, that they could come back inside of me.
All I ever dreamed I'd be,
Is what you are to me.
Bigger than elvis.
And for all the missing years,
A memory reappears.
Bigger than elvis.
We know the sadness of goodbyes
Must be the one that's bringing tears to your child's eyes.
Oh, from now on I'll walk with you
Making music like you do.
Would you believe I always knew?
You were never hard to take
In some mysterious way
Bigger than elvis
And for all the missing years
Your memory reappears
Bigger than elvis.
Now I've found the missing years,
Forgotten all my tears.
I've found the missing years.
17 Let's Take a Lifetime (03:19)
Say no more
If you want to kiss goodnight
That's all right by me
Close your door
Make sure the latch is tight
Fall gently to sleep
We don't have to rush ahead
Putting questions in your head
And an ache in your heart
Let's take a lifetime
All that we desire
Build it day by day into forever
Let's take a lifetime
All that you require
Here and now and ever
In these times
Love is not some harmless game
It's played strictly for keeps
No, it's no crime
Wanting me to feel the same
With the water so deep
Come tomorrow once again
We'll be together until then
We have dreaming to do
Let's take a lifetime
All that we desire
Build it day by day into forever
Let's take a lifetime
(Let's take a lifetime)
All that you require
(All that you require)
Let's not hurry through the night
When our love could last a lifetime
Let's take a lifetime
All that we desire
Build it day by day into forever
Let's take a lifetime
All that you require
Let's not hurry through the night
When our love could last a lifetime
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