Chicago VII

Chicago VII is the sixth studio album by American rock band Chicago and was released in 1974. It is notable for being their first double album of new material since 1971's Chicago III, and remains their final studio release in that format. It features session percussionist Laudir de Oliveira who would become a full-fledged band member for the release of Chicago VIII the following year.[3]

Chicago VII
Studio album by Chicago
Released	March 11, 1974
Recorded	August – December 1973, Caribou Ranch, Nederland, Colorado
Genre	Jazz fusion, jazz, soft rock, progressive rock, symphonic rock
Length	72:15
Label	Columbia
Producer	James William Guercio
Chicago chronology
Chicago VI (1973) Chicago VII (1974) Chicago VIII (1975)
Singles from Chicago VII
"(I've Been) Searchin' So Long" Released: February 1974 "Call on Me" Released: June 1974 "Wishing You Were Here" Released: October 1974

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Rolling Stone	(not rated)[2]

Background

While touring in support of Chicago VI in 1973, the band began getting restless and started integrating some lengthy jazz instrumentals into their sets.[4] While audiences' reactions varied, Chicago greatly enjoyed the experience, decided (after years of talking about it) to record a pure jazz-influenced set of tracks, and headed straight to producer James William Guercio's Caribou Ranch studios to cut their ambitious new album.[5]

While the sessions began well, there was soon dissension within the group about the jazz project, with, reportedly, Peter Cetera and Guercio both wary of the commercial risk of such an undertaking.[5] While the band reasoned that some of the jazzy material was too good to throw away, the others finally relented and accepted including the more pop and rock-oriented songs that the band had composed in the meantime. Almost by accident, Chicago had another double album on their hands.

Of the more conventional material, Chicago once again turned in a varied set of songs, with Terry Kath's "Byblos", named after a club that Chicago had played in Osaka, Japan, ranking among his best efforts. Robert Lamm, who was recording a solo album entitled Skinny Boy at the time, turned in several new songs, even donating his solo album's title track, featuring The Pointer Sisters on backing vocals. James Pankow came through with another success, "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long" (#9), and trumpeter Lee Loughnane succeeded on his first try at songwriting with the hit "Call on Me" (#6). Peter Cetera made the biggest strides on Chicago VII, composing "Happy Man" and "Wishing You Were Here" (#11), a lush ballad (signs of the future) that features three of The Beach Boys on backing vocals and which became a big hit in late 1974. "Happy Man" was subsequently covered by Tony Orlando and Dawn on their album To Be With You. Peter Cetera also covered "Happy Man" in 1995 on his solo album One Clear Voice and again in 2005 on his solo album Faithfully which is a re-release of One Clear Voice.

Chicago VII is notable for having writing contributions from all (and only) the members of the band, and for having most of the members stretching out in new ways: Loughnane sang lead ("Song of the Evergreens") and wrote a song, Pankow sang backup, Kath played bass, Cetera played guitar, and Walter Parazaider and Danny Seraphine composed.

Released in March 1974, Chicago VII - despite its first disc being almost exclusively jazz instrumentals - reached #1 in the US, becoming another big success for the band.

The album was mixed and released in both stereo and quadraphonic. In 2002, Chicago VII was remastered and reissued on one CD by Rhino Records with one bonus track: an early rehearsal of Kath's "Byblos". Initial pressings of this edition contained an edited version of the track "Happy Man" that had appeared on Greatest Hits, Volume II, which omitted the "false start" and studio countdown heard on the original Chicago VII LP.

Track listing

Side One

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Vocals	Length
1.	"Prelude to Aire"	Danny Seraphine	Instrumental	2:47
2.	"Aire"	Seraphine/Walter Parazaider/James Pankow	Instrumental	6:27
3.	"Devil's Sweet"	Seraphine/Parazaider	Instrumental	10:07

Side Two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Vocals	Length
4.	"Italian from New York"	Robert Lamm	Instrumental	4:14
5.	"Hanky Panky"	Lamm	Instrumental	1:53
6.	"Life Saver"	Lamm	Lamm	5:18
7.	"Happy Man"	Peter Cetera	Cetera	3:34[6]

Side Three

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Vocals	Length
8.	"(I've Been) Searchin' So Long"	Pankow	Cetera	4:29
9.	"Mongonucleosis"	Pankow	Cetera/Lamm/Pankow (briefly at the beginning)	3:26
10.	"Song of the Evergreens"	Terry Kath	Lee Loughnane	5:20
11.	"Byblos"	Kath	Kath	6:18

Side Four

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Vocals	Length
12.	"Wishing You Were Here"	Cetera	Kath/Cetera	4:37
13.	"Call on Me"	Loughnane	Cetera	4:02
14.	"Woman Don't Want to Love Me"	Lamm	Cetera	4:35
15.	"Skinny Boy"	Lamm	Lamm	5:12[7]

Bonus track (2002 re-issue)

16. "Byblos (Rehearsal)" (Kath) – 5:40

Personnel

Chicago

• Peter Cetera – bass guitar, lead and backing vocals, acoustic guitar on "Wishing You Were Here"
• Terry Kath – guitar, lead and backing vocals, bass guitar on "Wishing You Were Here", sleigh bells on "Song of the Evergreens"
• Robert Lamm – acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes, Moog synthesizer, Mellotron, clavinet, ARP synthesizer, lead and backing vocals
• Danny Seraphine – drums, percussion, bass drum and hi-hat on "Byblos"
• Lee Loughnane – trumpet, flugelhorn, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Song of the Evergreens"
• James Pankow – trombone, percussion, backing vocals
• Walter Parazaider – saxophones, flute

Additional musicians

• Laudir de Oliveira – percussion
• David Wolinski – ARP synthesizer, acoustic piano, Mellotron, Fender Rhodes
• James William Guercio – guitars, bass
• Jimmie Haskell – strings
• Wayne Tarnowski – acoustic piano
• Ross Salomone – drums
• Guille Garcia – percussion
• Bobbi Roen, Camelia Ortiz, Diane Nini, Hank Steiger and Julie Nini – background party noises on "Mongonucleosis"
• Al Jardine, Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson – backing vocals on "Wishing You Were Here"
• The Pointer Sisters – backing vocals on "Skinny Boy"

Production

• Produced by James William Guercio
• Engineered by Wayne Tarnowski and Jeff Guercio
• Strings recorded by Armin Steiner at Sound Labs (Hollywood, CA).
• Mixed by Phil Ramone
• Cover Photo – John Berg and Nick Fasciano
• Photography – Urve Kuusik

Charts

Chart (1974)	Peak position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[8]	13
United States (Billboard 200)[9]	1

Certifications

Organization	Level	Date
RIAA – USA	Gold	March 18, 1974
RIAA – USA	Platinum	November 21, 1986

Notes and references

1. Planer, Lindsay. "Chicago VII - Chicago: Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
2. Marsh, Dave (1974-05-23). "Chicago: Chicago VII: Music Reviews: Rolling Stone". RollingStone.com. Archived from the original on 2008-04-18. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
3. Seraphine, Danny (2011). Street Player: My Chicago Story. John Wiley & Sons Inc. p. 138. ISBN 9780470416839.
4. Fine, Marshall (August 17, 1973). "Chicago 'explores' old ground in concert". The Minneapolis Star. p. 28. Retrieved June 29, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
5. Ruhlmann, William James (1991). Chicago Group Portrait (Box Set) (CD booklet archived online) (Media notes). New York City: Columbia Records. p. 7. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
6. On the original LP & CD this song begins with a false start, and about 20 seconds of studio chat/noise. This is omitted on some remastered copies.
7. The same track appears on Robert Lamm's 1974 solo album Skinny Boy, but without horns and with a fade-out at 4:30.
8. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 62. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
9. "Billboard 200: Chicago III". Billboard. Retrieved January 21, 2019.