Word: chicago
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...conniving Sammy Davis Jr.? Spare me, Mr. Kilson, I will not stoop so low. As for your concept of success, take a look at all of the past few years' graduates presently enrolled at Harvard Law, Business, and Medical Schools, Stanford Law School, Duke Medical School, University of Chicago Law School, and a long list of others just as impressive. Let me tell you now that these are people whom I knew, who helped me as a struggling pre-freshman and freshman, and who "hung out" all or mostly black. Are they failures by virtue of this social pattern...
...Streets represents a slightly new direction for Chicago. They de-emphasize the familiar script Chicago emblem on the cover, put their pictures up front for the first time, and try a different musical tack. They even use the Bee Gees for background vocals on one song. But the similarities are more important than the changes. Hot Streets is another high-class Chicago album, another platinum-to-be. Chicago is "Alive Again...
...Chicago is blessed with so much creative ability that virtually every band member has composed a song or two on Hot Streets, which is reflected in the album's diversity of form and sound. The first cut, called "Alive Again" as a defiant challenge to the fates that almost broke-up the group, begins with a single guitar line, which is soon joined by another, and then a couple of horns sneak in, until, having followed the first guitar along, you find yourself enveloped in the upbeat, thematic richness of the chorus of voices and instruments...
...before you can dwell on the strength of the first rocker, Chicago comes back with a soft, mellow love song, done with great control and feeling by bassist Peter ("et") Cetera. It may not be their most effective attempt, but sandwiched between two hot, hard-driving numbers it does very well for itself. While Cetera and Dacus, along with pianist Bobby Lamm, do all the vocals, the highlighted instrument in each number varies, with flutes, trombones, guitars, pianos, and even synthesizers snaking their way through the medley of sound. Chicago pieces are rarely dominated by a single performer. However...
...problem with Hot Streets is its narrow focus on love and the loss of love as song subjects. Only the fact that Chicago can do a love song in a great variety of styles and patterns--from slow and moody, to light and airy, to classic bop-bop-bop hard rocking--saves the album from an over-specialization of theme. Still, one wishes they would throw in a few of the political songs they once did, before the '70s musical paradigms ruled out everything but immediate gratification as valid musical topics...