Chicago
The Very Best Of Chicago

THE REVIEW

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…