Funny you say that, as Poem 58 is one of the songs I use to counter the argument that Pete was just the pretty boy sappy love song singer in the band. I always considered this to be a taste of what Pete, Danny, and Terry would have been like as a power trio.
Yes, one of the best debut albums, and a dual album on top of that. Most listeners don't realize that Terry Kath was a founding member of Chicago. The guitarists of his time all recognized his greatness, and Jimi Hendrix definitely held him in high regard. If he was in a trio he would have been considered one of the top 5 guitarists of his era. R.I.P., Terry, died way too young, like so many of his contemporaries.
I’ve been waiting for this reaction of this song for a while and I’m so glad you’ve finally done it! It’s one of the best Chicago songs and one of the many great songs on this album. Great tune.
The lyrics are simple to understand. He doesn't wish he was there more, he wants to have known her forever. I've often wondered what it would have been like to have known my wife when she was a little girl or to have gone to high school with her. All those wonderful first experiences and the excitement of life, to have been with her then. To have been the first one she loved, the first one she turned to when things were hard. To me, they're very simple.
This is what I love about 70s rock. Just hearing the bass and drums just pushing the guitar solo to new heights. Not just laying a beat. Playing off each other. Magic.
@@bjhellstream That's a surefire indicator you were sort of right. Of course, the close proximity to the seventies in the first place, but also that you knew their mode of music was very seventies. For the way the guitarist played (Kaths was his name?) I think at that time only Hendrix played that way. I know it was fairly deep into the seventies when I ever heard anything like that, because my mode of music was listening to the radio back then, and I never heard Hendrix there (maybe a slight hint of Purple Haze), plus Poem 58, as an example, was far too long to be played in fullness on that radio. I didn't listen to hard rock stations, so they had to climb the pop charts for me to hear them. All I ever heard from Chicago was almost entirely their horns stuff, and of course Color My World. I did buy what I believe was their first greatest hits album, and have since bought their portrait one (on cd), but I had no idea of this ballet this came from, including probably their version of I'm a Man (though it is on the portrait set). We just heard the stuff in it like Make Me Smile and Color My World on the pop charts. It's quite a joy to discover the ballet. Hard to believe somebody could've started so hot on their first album, only to largely change styles years later (not bad stuff either). There's just something about all the individual butt kicking they do here, because they have a very dramatic sense to the overall music, this song being a rather dramatic example. The switch from instrumental hard rock guitar, to suddenly blues, just blows away in this song. This song is rather the opposite to most hard rock. Take Stairway to Heaven as the perfect example. Stairway starts as smooth and mellow, a lot like the blues portion here, and THEN goes hard rock, but this does it the other way around. Seriously, I don't think I ever heard this done before, it's that uncommon, to start hard, switch up and then go sort of soft. You would think with as much as it's commonly done the Stairway way, this would sound like a disorganized mess, and in spots in the beginning it might, but the more you listen to it, the more it really sounds like them just doing things differently with a concerted effort, and it definitely works.
It is amazing how much the music scene changed in a few years in the late 60s and early 70s. So many amazing new groups playing so much incredible music. It was a renaissance in so many ways.
Your "Beginning(s)", to "Make Me Smile"! Maybe "Someday" You'll play the "Introduction"( or have you and time i tricking my mind?) That would "Liberate" me from the "South California Purples"!". And yes this IS the best debut ever, possibly? ( Another big city, might claim that, Boston!). Would love to hear the unreleased tracks that came prior to this, Questions #1 -#66, and Poems 1-57! Good lord Terry was one of those lost too soon legends that hit me as Jim,Janis, and Jimi, Jim Croce, Harry Chapin, Brian Jones, and too many more did! Peace & Love.
I’ve been following your channel for quite awhile now, and I love how you review, songs and artists that aren’t always mainstream, but are always extremely talented and have influenced the music industry.
THIS is the Chicago I loved! Terry Fkn Kath just KILLS IT with that guitar and Danny Seraphine on drums. This is what made Hendrix tell Chicago their guitar player was better than Jimi himself.
This is what I used to call filler, though it’s Chicago filler on the first few terrific albums, not crappy normal filler. I said used to… I was young and couldn’t really take everything in at the time. So much great music being played to me, on radio and albums, I just wasn’t hearing it right, here I can, and it’s not filler by a long shot or if it is, it’s what filler should be, experimental, exciting, crushing drive and passion, that’s what filler should be.
I was maybe 15 the first time I heard Poem 58. I thought it a trifle too "acidic" for my young musical palate. The second time I listened to I thought, That cat on guitar is good. After the third time, it was for Poem 58 I listened to CTA. Best guitar solo EVER.
Some nice guitar magic going on there. Another guitar album from the same 1969-1970 era you should check out is Blows Against The Empire by Jefferson Starship. It has some great guitar riffs by Paul Kantner and Jerry Garcia. And David Crosby plays some nice acoustic on it, too.
Hi Justin. Dave from Blighty. Simply The Best, Better Than All The Rest. That's what I feel about Terry's guitar solo in the first part of Poem 58. And Danny's drums and Peter's bass accompany it perfectly as it builds to a climax. It really rocks, but every note counts. Fantastic stuff. Great riff in the second part, as you say, and a terrific song, but a bit eclipsed by that phenomenal solo. Word of warning. The next track is Free Form Guitar, and that's basically what you get. P.S. my song ref Simply The Best is of course by Tina Turner (who sadly left us recently).
One of Robert Lamm's funkier compositions and a real showpiece for Terry Kath's guitar. But the drive from the bass and guitar are just phenomenal throughout.
This is what the later incarnations of Chicago were missing - the driving rock edge. There isn't much point in people complaining about the horns, since the arranger and trombonist, and the sax and trumpet players were also founding members of the group, back in 1967, when they had a different name. In the movie about guitarist Terry Kath produced by his daughter, it does say that he wanted to get away from playing with horns all of the time.
That was going, yes. Really enjoyed it. (Can't think of anything else I have to say about it, though.) If you want to listen to an interview that's about 80% strange but lovely music (full songs, not excepts - but there are some glitches), and 15% conversation, and, said the evil accountant. If that, then you might enjoy this quite old interview of music teacher (and so, musician), *William D Drake* , tracking his musical life in a sequence of songs. th-cam.com/video/DpmQbl9iwi4/w-d-xo.html It was before their disaster and the end of that world, so there's still talk of a future with the talk of the past. The songs are fairly diverse, but all a bit nice and strange. (Yes, same one who played in early *Cardiacs* .) It ends with the song he wrote when he was 3 years old. It's not as strange.
You stated that the problem some listeners had was .... there was to much horn play!!! Chicago is/was all about the horns, providing a unique invigorating sound to the Rock scene, when all there seemed everybody was into was the 'gittar' sound and nothing else.These 'listeners' must really ditz out over Jethro Tull's flute. Ho boy......
Justin, I'm glad you enjoyed Poem 58. Just a little warning, you may want to skip or at the least, truncate free-form guitar. It's not a song you would ever hear on the radio to put it bluntly. It's not even a song, actually. Just a practice session from Terry Kath and only should be listened to by those curious to find out more about our beloved guitarist.
I've seen the lyrics online, but as usual, they don't tell you what the back singers are singing. Do they keep singing "I" and "do"? If they are, it's perfect, and I don't think I would ever hear that done as a foundation to a song, for if it is that, it's the marital vow. Not sure they intended it that way, but if that's what they're singing, it sure seems to be. It is a bit unfortunate that a good deal of the Kath lyrics can't be heard too well due to them being a bit louder than he is and them clashing with him at times.
If Chicago had done more songs like Poem 58 they would have brought on all those who disliked Chicago because of the horns. My favorite Chicago song and most underrated in my opinion. True rock song. I know you won’t but please skip Free Form Guitar and go straight to South California Purples. FFG only miss on this great debut album.
I'm one of the 10 people on the planet who actually likes FFG. The really weird part is, I really didn't like guitar before I heard this album. I was about 11 years old and when I got to FFG, I would turn off the lights and picture being under the hood of a car speeding around a racetrack, looking out through the grill. OK, yeah, I was a weird kid...😁
When you get to it, do yourself and almost everyone else a favor and skip "Free Form Guitar". Anything you can learn about Terry Kath as a guitarist experimenting with sound from that song can better be found on the excellent "Liberation", the closing track.
I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to skip the next track called Free Form Guitar. It's not a song but rather just 6.5 minutes of Terry Kath improvising on his guitar.
I wasn't in the mood for all the shredding. I walked away. I came back saying, "Oh there are words?" I guess I like Chicago's other tunes better. I like their horns. The horns give them a distinct sound in a world of guitar shredders. Hit like. Good review.
I like the horns. IMO, they saved this piece along with the vocals. I thought the guitar riff was bland and overly repetitive. The horns added a nice contrast and were not predictable. They gave my ears and brain something to latch on to.
Poem 58 is one of the songs I suggest to people who don't understand the difference in Chicago with or without Terry Kath.
Funny you say that, as Poem 58 is one of the songs I use to counter the argument that Pete was just the pretty boy sappy love song singer in the band. I always considered this to be a taste of what Pete, Danny, and Terry would have been like as a power trio.
It is one of the greatest debut albums ever, no doubt.
This has to be my favourite track on the album!!! Just jamming all along. Terry Kath the great under-rated guitarist
Jimi Hendrix was interviewed once stating Kath was the best guitarist working at the time. It was a tasty solo. Nice song.
Yes, one of the best debut albums, and a dual album on top of that. Most listeners don't realize that Terry Kath was a founding member of Chicago. The guitarists of his time all recognized his greatness, and Jimi Hendrix definitely held him in high regard. If he was in a trio he would have been considered one of the top 5 guitarists of his era. R.I.P., Terry, died way too young, like so many of his contemporaries.
I’ve been waiting for this reaction of this song for a while and I’m so glad you’ve finally done it! It’s one of the best Chicago songs and one of the many great songs on this album. Great tune.
The lyrics are simple to understand. He doesn't wish he was there more, he wants to have known her forever. I've often wondered what it would have been like to have known my wife when she was a little girl or to have gone to high school with her. All those wonderful first experiences and the excitement of life, to have been with her then. To have been the first one she loved, the first one she turned to when things were hard. To me, they're very simple.
This is what I love about 70s rock. Just hearing the bass and drums just pushing the guitar solo to new heights. Not just laying a beat. Playing off each other. Magic.
Sixties to be technical.
@@charles2241 They were before their time... 😀
@@bjhellstream That's a surefire indicator you were sort of right. Of course, the close proximity to the seventies in the first place, but also that you knew their mode of music was very seventies. For the way the guitarist played (Kaths was his name?) I think at that time only Hendrix played that way. I know it was fairly deep into the seventies when I ever heard anything like that, because my mode of music was listening to the radio back then, and I never heard Hendrix there (maybe a slight hint of Purple Haze), plus Poem 58, as an example, was far too long to be played in fullness on that radio. I didn't listen to hard rock stations, so they had to climb the pop charts for me to hear them. All I ever heard from Chicago was almost entirely their horns stuff, and of course Color My World.
I did buy what I believe was their first greatest hits album, and have since bought their portrait one (on cd), but I had no idea of this ballet this came from, including probably their version of I'm a Man (though it is on the portrait set). We just heard the stuff in it like Make Me Smile and Color My World on the pop charts. It's quite a joy to discover the ballet. Hard to believe somebody could've started so hot on their first album, only to largely change styles years later (not bad stuff either). There's just something about all the individual butt kicking they do here, because they have a very dramatic sense to the overall music, this song being a rather dramatic example. The switch from instrumental hard rock guitar, to suddenly blues, just blows away in this song.
This song is rather the opposite to most hard rock. Take Stairway to Heaven as the perfect example. Stairway starts as smooth and mellow, a lot like the blues portion here, and THEN goes hard rock, but this does it the other way around. Seriously, I don't think I ever heard this done before, it's that uncommon, to start hard, switch up and then go sort of soft. You would think with as much as it's commonly done the Stairway way, this would sound like a disorganized mess, and in spots in the beginning it might, but the more you listen to it, the more it really sounds like them just doing things differently with a concerted effort, and it definitely works.
The Chicago that rocks. I miss them.
Great riff from Terry and a brilliant solo. Absolute top tier band while Terry was still alive.
It is amazing how much the music scene changed in a few years in the late 60s and early 70s. So many amazing new groups playing so much incredible music. It was a renaissance in so many ways.
@manuad7577 It WAS!!! The late 60's and early 70's were truly a music RENAISSANCE!
Man they were tight…it really features the musicianship of Terry, Peter & Danny.
Pretty much every genre of music in one song.
Just Chicago saying "Hello World"! ❤
A lot like ‘introduction’
Your "Beginning(s)", to "Make Me Smile"! Maybe "Someday" You'll play the "Introduction"( or have you and time i tricking my mind?) That would "Liberate" me from the "South California Purples"!". And yes this IS the best debut ever, possibly? ( Another big city, might claim that, Boston!). Would love to hear the unreleased tracks that came prior to this, Questions #1 -#66, and Poems 1-57! Good lord Terry was one of those lost too soon legends that hit me as Jim,Janis, and Jimi, Jim Croce, Harry Chapin, Brian Jones, and too many more did! Peace & Love.
I’ve been following your channel for quite awhile now, and I love how you review, songs and artists that aren’t always mainstream, but are always extremely talented and have influenced the music industry.
Appreciate it lj🙏
Chicago are the only band I know who can make horns sound heavy and yes, horns essential.
Agree. No horns, no Chicago. Peace out.
THIS is the Chicago I loved! Terry Fkn Kath just KILLS IT with that guitar and Danny Seraphine on drums. This is what made Hendrix tell Chicago their guitar player was better than Jimi himself.
Hendrix was a gentle soul and praised a lot of guitar players..... this is not the best terry anyway
It's hard to even quantify with words the utter BRILLIANCE of Chicago Transit Authority.... the early stuff = MUSICAL GENIOUS.
Excellent track off an excellent debut album.
For sure!🎸
This is what I used to call filler, though it’s Chicago filler on the first few terrific albums, not crappy normal filler. I said used to… I was young and couldn’t really take everything in at the time. So much great music being played to me, on radio and albums, I just wasn’t hearing it right, here I can, and it’s not filler by a long shot or if it is, it’s what filler should be, experimental, exciting, crushing drive and passion, that’s what filler should be.
It’s true. There was just so much music flooding over us. We had no idea how lucky we were to be alive and young for it.
@@glenndespres5317
Well, it wasn’t allll great, sappy radio pop, bubblegum, etc. but we won’t talk about that…
@@-davidolivares A cartoon band, The Archie’s, had a number one hit with Sugar Sugar for a ridiculous number of weeks but that’s not why we’re here. 😎
@@glenndespres5317
TMI, Sugar Sugar was meant for the Monkees but they wanted to do original songs… thus…
Killer guitar work by Terry Kath, just a great jam. More of that to come. Definitely a terrific first album
I was maybe 15 the first time I heard Poem 58. I thought it a trifle too "acidic" for my young musical palate. The second time I listened to I thought, That cat on guitar is good. After the third time, it was for Poem 58 I listened to CTA. Best guitar solo EVER.
The closing track on this album is called "Liberation". Well worth listening to. It goes through multiple transitions and is a 15 minute jam session!
Some nice guitar magic going on there. Another guitar album from the same 1969-1970 era you should check out is Blows Against The Empire by Jefferson Starship. It has some great guitar riffs by Paul Kantner and Jerry Garcia. And David Crosby plays some nice acoustic on it, too.
Hi Justin. Dave from Blighty. Simply The Best, Better Than All The Rest. That's what I feel about Terry's guitar solo in the first part of Poem 58. And Danny's drums and Peter's bass accompany it perfectly as it builds to a climax. It really rocks, but every note counts. Fantastic stuff. Great riff in the second part, as you say, and a terrific song, but a bit eclipsed by that phenomenal solo.
Word of warning. The next track is Free Form Guitar, and that's basically what you get.
P.S. my song ref Simply The Best is of course by Tina Turner (who sadly left us recently).
Awesome tune, can't wait till you get to " South California Purple's" 😎😎👍👍👍
One of Robert Lamm's funkier compositions and a real showpiece for Terry Kath's guitar. But the drive from the bass and guitar are just phenomenal throughout.
Hey Justin! Hope you are well and enjoying your summer? CHICAGO❗️TERRY❗️AWESOME❗️❗️❗️😎
Ty Jeff, you as well!
This is what the later incarnations of Chicago were missing - the driving rock edge. There isn't much point in people complaining about the horns, since the arranger and trombonist, and the sax and trumpet players were also founding members of the group, back in 1967, when they had a different name. In the movie about guitarist Terry Kath produced by his daughter, it does say that he wanted to get away from playing with horns all of the time.
I'll just post an actual quote from Jimi Hendrix about Terry Kath.
"He's the greatest guitar player in the universe." (actual honest to God quote)
It's top 5 songs all time
Terry Kath!!!!
CTA was great, dbl debut album - predominantly Terry’s showcase.. my fave track is from Chicago 2- make me smile( part of a sweet suite)
I've heard a fair chunk of Chicago back in the late 70s but never got into them, this song is a banger though, loved the transitions.
Now I know what listening to Van Halen's first 5 albums for the first time in 2023 would feel like. Yep that groovy. Diolch.
First time seeing you.. nice take on one of the greatest groups/ songs..
Thanks so much Dave! I'm glad you enjoyed the video, and I appreciate you watching :)
That was going, yes. Really enjoyed it. (Can't think of anything else I have to say about it, though.)
If you want to listen to an interview that's about 80% strange but lovely music (full songs, not excepts - but there are some glitches), and 15% conversation, and, said the evil accountant. If that, then you might enjoy this quite old interview of music teacher (and so, musician), *William D Drake* , tracking his musical life in a sequence of songs. th-cam.com/video/DpmQbl9iwi4/w-d-xo.html
It was before their disaster and the end of that world, so there's still talk of a future with the talk of the past. The songs are fairly diverse, but all a bit nice and strange.
(Yes, same one who played in early *Cardiacs* .)
It ends with the song he wrote when he was 3 years old. It's not as strange.
Listen to 'em go! It's poetry, JP, but not as we know it.
You stated that the problem some listeners had was .... there was to much horn play!!! Chicago is/was all about the horns, providing a unique invigorating sound to the Rock scene, when all there seemed everybody was into was the 'gittar' sound and nothing else.These 'listeners' must really ditz out over Jethro Tull's flute. Ho boy......
Justin, I'm glad you enjoyed Poem 58. Just a little warning, you may want to skip or at the least, truncate free-form guitar. It's not a song you would ever hear on the radio to put it bluntly. It's not even a song, actually. Just a practice session from Terry Kath and only should be listened to by those curious to find out more about our beloved guitarist.
Real Chicago died with terry kath
I've seen the lyrics online, but as usual, they don't tell you what the back singers are singing. Do they keep singing "I" and "do"? If they are, it's perfect, and I don't think I would ever hear that done as a foundation to a song, for if it is that, it's the marital vow. Not sure they intended it that way, but if that's what they're singing, it sure seems to be. It is a bit unfortunate that a good deal of the Kath lyrics can't be heard too well due to them being a bit louder than he is and them clashing with him at times.
The vocals switching between left and right channels is Peter Cetera singing (left) I (right) Do (left) Love (right) You.
@@craigw1911 I was thinking the second bit was "now you" instead. I can hear the 'love' now that you mention it. Thanks for the help.
If Chicago had done more songs like Poem 58 they would have brought on all those who disliked Chicago because of the horns. My favorite Chicago song and most underrated in my opinion. True rock song.
I know you won’t but please skip Free Form Guitar and go straight to South California Purples. FFG only miss on this great debut album.
Agree, FFG would be a tough song for a reactor.
I'm one of the 10 people on the planet who actually likes FFG. The really weird part is, I really didn't like guitar before I heard this album. I was about 11 years old and when I got to FFG, I would turn off the lights and picture being under the hood of a car speeding around a racetrack, looking out through the grill. OK, yeah, I was a weird kid...😁
When you get to it, do yourself and almost everyone else a favor and skip "Free Form Guitar". Anything you can learn about Terry Kath as a guitarist experimenting with sound from that song can better be found on the excellent "Liberation", the closing track.
I heard Poem 57 sucked.
Glad they wrote another one 😱🤪
And 56 was even worse!
@@ljsites nails on a chalkboard worse : )
It ranked about the same as Preparation G.
I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to skip the next track called Free Form Guitar. It's not a song but rather just 6.5 minutes of Terry Kath improvising on his guitar.
Excuse me? Why Peter n Terry together are so missed.
I wasn't in the mood for all the shredding. I walked away. I came back saying, "Oh there are words?" I guess I like Chicago's other tunes better. I like their horns. The horns give them a distinct sound in a world of guitar shredders. Hit like. Good review.
These over long jams are what bring this album down for me.
I like the horns. IMO, they saved this piece along with the vocals. I thought the guitar riff was bland and overly repetitive. The horns added a nice contrast and were not predictable. They gave my ears and brain something to latch on to.