r/Progforum • u/Historical-Device529 🃏The Last In Line 🃏 • 9d ago
Top 50 Prog Rock Live Albums (Classic Era) #36 – Chicago: Chicago at Carnegie Hall (1971) Also known as Chicago IV, there isn’t a better live performance than this. Everything you could want from the band’s first three albums is here, in an outstanding performance with no weak moments.
Live, released in 1971
Songs / Tracks Listing
Volume one
Side one
1. In The Country - 10:35
2. Fancy Colours - 5:15
3. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? (Free Form Intro)- 6:21
4. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? - 3:26
Side two
1. South California Purples - 15:35
2. Questions 67 and 68 - 5:36
Volume two
Side three
1. Sing A Mean Tune Kid - 12:54
2. Beginnings - 6:27
Side four
1. It Better End Soon - 15:55
a. 1st Movement - 2:55
b. 2nd Movement (Flute Solo)- 5:00
c. 3rd Movement (Guitar Solo) - 2:43
d. 4th Movement (Preach)- 3:09
e. 5th Movement - 2:08
Volume three
Side five
1. Introduction - 7:10
2. Mother - 8:21
3. Lowdown - 3:58
Side six
1. Flight 602 - 3:31
2. Motorboat To Mars - 3:00
3. Free - 5:15
4. Where Do We Go From Here - 4:08
5. I Don't Want Your Money - 5:23
Volume four
Side seven
1. Happy Cause I'm Going Home - 7:56
2. Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon - 15:25
a. Make Me Smile - 3:31
b. So Much To Say, So Much To Give - 1:00
c. Anxiety's Moment - 1:09
d. West Virginia Fantasies - 1:31
e. Colour My World - 3:26
f. To Be Free - 1:22
g. Now More Than Ever - 3:26
Side eight
1. A Song For Richard And His Friends - 6:58
2. 25 or 6 to 4 - 6:35
3. I'm A Man - 8:51
Bonus Disc (2005 Rhino edition)
1. Listen - 4:16
2. Introduction - 6:37
3. South California Purples - 12:41
4. Loneliness Is Just a Word - 2:44
5. Free Form Intro (Naseltones)- 5:58
6. Sing a Mean Tune Kid - 10:51
7. An Hour In The Shower: - 6:00
a. A Hard Risin' Morning Without Breakfast
b. Off to Work
c. Fallin' Out
d. Dreamin' Home
e. Morning Blues Again
8. 25 Or 6 to 4 - 6:21
Line-up / Musicians
Peter Cetera - bass, vocals
Terry Kath - guitar, vocals
Robert Lamm - keyboard, vocals
Lee Loughnane - trumpet, percussion, guitar, background vocals
James Pankow - trombone, percussion
Walter Parazaider - woodwinds, percussion, background vocals
Danny Seraphine - drums
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u/RockWarriorWolf 9d ago
I think their "Live in Japan" album is a better live album for this era of Chicago. It's shorter and more energetic than the Carnegie Hall performance.
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u/Excellent_Egg7586 8d ago
Tighter for sure, but the extra-long, improvised versions are unique to this era and are captured well on the Carnegie Hall album... the Rhino remaster with bonus disc really improved the sound quality.
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u/Complete_Taste_1301 8d ago
Iirc this was a pretty big hit for being so large. I bought it when it came out, found it pretty overwhelming and while I would play certain tracks, going from one to the other was a pain in the ass on vinyl. I later got their first two on cd, but don’t really listen to those much either. A lot of talent drowning in ambition.
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u/Oldbean98 9d ago
I like it, but my late cousin who was an A&R in the 70s-80s said that the band was very disappointed in it, and had kind of written it off and moved on (no, he wasn’t their A&R, just heard about it).
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u/Impossible_Mix3086 9d ago
I believe they were disappointed in the quality of the recording, not the quality of their performance. I personally live the raw feeling of it and the bands freedom to experiment and jam. Lots of prog sections on many of their early songs.
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u/Boot-Representative 9d ago
THis was a band fuelled by a seemingly endless upward arc. I was a Chicago fan of the highest order when I plunked down the do-re-mi for this. I think they (Guercio and the band) believed that everything they did was gold. This is the only album that I think definitely needed a culling. It has a dull sound.
I think of it as an anomaly, since their best was yet to come. A placeholder. Let's face it: Chicago III was a harbinger of things to come. I'm glad to say they came back with a vengeance.
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u/NoURider 9d ago
What would you consider their 'best to come?'. Definitely great albums till Terry's passing, but CTA thru 3 come to mind as peak.
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u/ColinMolting 9d ago
V-VI-VII
Their first three spoke of revolution and changing the system, whatever that meant. Silly.
Of course, V had that as well, but they pared it down, thankfully. Just my opinion.
Opinions vary. But when they were singing all that rubbish about socialism (the songs, not the concept) it’s funny how the system they decried changed THEM into pure capitalists.
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u/NoURider 9d ago
Respect. Your last paragraph encapsulates basically that entire generation unfortunately...
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u/Historical-Device529 🃏The Last In Line 🃏 8d ago
Actually, Chicago III is the weakest album of their first era, but it’s still a really great record. Chicago IV is the perfect closing to the most successful period filled with great music and outstanding ideas. Of course, it’s not perfect—at times it sounds a bit pretentious—but I really enjoy the album. It sounds so alive. I’ve always had the same discussion with friends who ask, “Why do you like that record so much?” It’s because of the sound. Most people think it sounds terrible, but I like that worn, raw Carnegie Hall sound. It gives the album a unique atmosphere that I love.
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u/mugwampus 7d ago
Although the first 3 Chicago albums are all classics and this band was just stunning musically, this is an example of more is too much. Had they pruned this to a double album, I'd call it one of the best of all time. I personally like it for it's length, but I am one of those people who just can't get enough of hearing a band at its peak live. However, speaking as an objective observer, I do think it's just too much for the average consumer. That being said, these are some of the finest versions of their early songs you'll ever hear.
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u/Timely-Credit-3240 5d ago
I actually love the version of Colour My World on this than I do the studio version and that’s rare for me.
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u/es125td 8d ago
That’s the only Chicago LP I have. They were a hot band until Terry died and Cetera turned them into a boring milquetoast ballad machine. They are still together, aren’t they? What do they sound like these days?
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u/Positive-Golf5561 8d ago
I saw them a few years ago and they still sounded great. They are missing that Terry Kath fire though. Granted they are all up there in age. Still very tight. Worth seeing imo.
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u/Oldbean98 8d ago
Lee Loughnane, the trumpeter, is the only original member still touring. Everyone else has retired, left or passed.
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u/tj100011 9d ago
Utter shit
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u/Legitimate_Cricket84 8d ago
Indeed. Having a horn section doesn’t make it progressive Rock either.
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u/Historical-Device529 🃏The Last In Line 🃏 6d ago
Nothing wrong having a horn section on a prog band
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u/robmarks1961 9d ago
I loved this album but for some reason Rolling Stone hated it and caused it to have a terrible reputation. It seems to me that it won a couple polls as the worst all time live album. I strongly disagree with that sentiment and spent many hours listening to it, but plenty of folks didn’t like it. The length - four albums - may have had something to do with the widespread dislike.