Word: songs
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...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...
...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...
Perhaps the best love song is "No Tell Lover," which treads a fine line between being too up to be true and being too down to keep from falling into a sentimental stupor...
...album's lead song, "It's a Laugh," provides the newest offering for their "at-large" following. With a strong saxaphone line from the latest of the group's sax players, Charlie DeChant, "It's a Laugh" combines breezy lyrics with a light pop tune that has already appealed to "top pop" listeners...
...such a cut contrasts dramatically with a tune like "Have I Been Away Too Long." The song is a showcase for Daryl Hall's free-wheeling, bluesy vocal style. He scales to ear-shattering highs and teams with John Oates for swirling harmonies that sharpen the tonal disparity between their voices. It's a fine song reminiscent of many earlier Daryl Hall tunes, but it probably will be disliked by many listeners because of its loose sound...