I saw Chicago Transit Authority in Vancouver, before they were really big. The opening band was Illinois Speed Press, a great opening band, but when Chicago came on, the stage was black, but they opened with the horns playing "Introduction" and the entire audience stood up. That was an amazing moment, since probably half the audience had never heard of them before. The sound of those horns was amazing.
Same here, saw them in 1970 at my GF's high school (Gov Livingston Regional in NJ) and they just blew us all away. I think they encored with an extended I'm a Man.
When they asked Hendrix how it felt to be the world's greatest guitarist he said : Go ask that dude in Chicago. CTA played my high school graduation dance. (Lord am I getting old!) Wheeling High School Wheeling,Illinois, Class of '69.
Saw them - if you can believe it - at a concert in the gym at the University of Hartford in the spring of 1969 - just before “Beginnings” was released as a single. (Opening act was Tim Hardin.) Blew us away and totally unexpected.
I was lucky to see them on four occasions in Portland, in the 70s. They played so professionally that, as a child of a musical family, I couldn't enjoy many concerts after watching them. I still listen to those first five albums occasionally and still love them. Thanks for your comments and letting me enjoy it with you!
Go dig up their debut album when they were known as The Chicago Transit Authority and play these two tracks: "Introduction" and "Poem 58". Guitar player Terry Kath wrote "Introduction" and sang lead vocals. He was called "The White Ray Charles" by his bandmates. Soulful baritone voice! "Poem 58" is nine minutes of PURE FUNK led by Terry Kath on guitar, Danny Seraphine on drums, and Peter Cetera on bass. Kath's guitar will have you needing an ice pack for your jaw after you pick it up from the floor! When they were "The Chicago Transit Authority", they were the house band at the Whisky a Go Go in LA. One night between sets, Jimi Hendrix, who was in the audience, went to their dressing room after catching their first set. He walked up to their sax player Walt Parazaider and said, "You guys have a horn section that sounds like one set of lungs and a guitar player that's better than me! You wanna go on the road?" They said "YEAH!". And that's how they became Hendrix's opening act on a national arena tour.
Thanks, I'm a huge fan of that first record and have played a bunch of those songs with other musicians - just for fun - including Introduction, what a work of art. - G
Chicago and Blood Sweat and Tears are absolutely connected. The Chicago horns were in a practice room waiting to record in the studio for their 1st album when someone walked in and heard them. They liked the idea and went out and got a bunch of studio musicians and created BS&T and the BS&T album came out 1st. That is according to "Jimmy ... Jimmy Trombone" in an interview. You have to see "Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon" live (Tanglewood 1970) "...from this same concert to get the reference to "Jimmy ... Jimmy Trombone"... Terry was correcting Robert Lamm.
“’25 or 6 to 4′ is a song about writing a song,”the bands trombonist James Pankow said. “Robert was laying on the floor of his house in the Hollywood Hills looking over the city of Los Angeles just before dawn. He had been up all night.” “I just, I looked across the room and there was an old Grandmother’s clock on the wall,” he continued. “I couldn’t quite make out what the time was, but the hands on the clock were somewhere around 25 or 26 to 4 a.m., and I just began to just jot down what the hell I was doing there, and I thought, ‘Well, for now, I’m just going to describe the process of writing this song, and I’ll figure out what the lyrics are going to be later,’ but I didn’t need to.*This information comes from Jay McDowell, writer for The American Songwriter site. February 1, 2024.
Hahaha....another job I did for Bill Graham at Tanglewood! Also Jethro Tull....✌️ PS: Same venue - Chicago- I'm a Man has more Terry Kath greatness and also shows off how good of a vocalist he was.
You guys just witnessed one of the greatest live guitar solos ever!!! I was fortunate to have seen Chicago at Fillmore East about 3 weeks prior to this concert. Terry was on fire that night too. 🎸🔥
Excellent reaction guys! You gave some insightful history on the song before and after playing it, played a great video of a song I could actually see while you both stayed in your respective little corners and let the song play! Terry Kath was an animal! God only knows what he could have done had he had more time.
@@eumaeus My two "millenial" daughters have never referred to a time as a certain number of minute(s) to an hour in my presence. They use the number of minutes past an hour. ie: "Three thirty-five" or "Three thirty-six". Confusing, I know.
Hola Adrian y Glenn, gracias por esta entretenida reacción!!. 25 or 6 to 4 es una de las canciones más icónicas de Chicago, nunca fuí muy fan de Chicago, solamente de ciertos temas de la banda, hasta que conocí los covers de su música a cargo de la banda rusa Leonid and Friends
Esta versión a la que ustedes reaccionan es especial en cuanto al solo de guitarra porque es más extenso que el grabado en disco, el guitarrista hace gala de su gran talento, la canción lo hace lucirse... el excelente cover que hace Leonid and Friends es apegado a la versión en disco, y el guitarrista hace un solo exacto al original... Esta banda rusa se inició con covers de Chicago, pero tambien tienen covers de Earth Wind and Fire y otras bandas, todos excelentemente ejecutados; son músicos excelentes y graban en estudio acompañándose de cuerdas si es necesario....
Leonid & Friends llevan varios años haciendo tours de conciertos en USA. Otra banda a la que sigo y que es norteamericana es LEXINGTON LAB BAND, tienen excelentes covers ejecutados por excelentes músicos. Sus covers son de varias bandas y artistas como Journey, The Eagles, U2, Boston, Foreigner, Pink Floyd, y un largo etc... Es una banda " underrated" , que se merece ser más vista y escuchada, tener mas difusión y ustedes pueden ayudar en ese cometido. Un abrazo a cada uno!
"Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon" live (Tanglewood 1970) It is Chicago from the same concert and Terry is still on FIRE! He also is the lead singer in 2 sections while Robert is lead on another section.
I just listened to the Chicago medley you guys reacted to, and I seen that yous reacted to this song, love this song live. Again, Hendrix said once that Terry was the best guitarist in the universe. Good one guys.
Yes, that horn section! Saw you playing trombone Glenn haha. My older sister turned me on to Chicago. The story goes, somebody asked Jimi Hendrix how it felt to be the best guitar player in the world, he said go ask Terry Kath. Saturday In The Park, Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is. Another great performance Black Sabbath, War Pigs live Paris 1970. All incredible performances but Bill Ward on drums was on fire!🤘
You hear people talk about a band being "tight", well these guys were SO tight that Terry could start strumming his axe perfectly timed to when the others would finish getting set up and come in with him right on time, in sync, not breaking rhythm with each other, gliding into the song as smoothly as an Olympic ski jumper sliding down the ramp to the gold medal flight. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jimi Hendrix told Chicago's publicist that Terry was a better guitar player than he was. They actually had plans to do shows together. When Chicago made the studio album with this song on it, Cetera's jaw had been broken and he had to sing it through clenched teeth because his jaws were wired shut. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tanglewood is the super famous venue where the Boston Symphony Orchestra gives sold out performances. It has been around for a long time. Tanglewood is a music venue and festival in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the Tanglewood Music Center, Tanglewood Learning Center, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Besides classical music, Tanglewood hosts the Festival of Contemporary Music, jazz and popular artists, concerts, and frequent appearances by James Taylor, John Williams, and the Boston Pops. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The real Chicago Transit Authority, the one that has been around since the 19th century, the one that is a department of the City of Chicago that regulates, oversees, maintains, et cetera, the commuter trains, ferries, and much other stuff, told the band to stop using their name or get their pants sued off. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The lyrics say it, after that guitar solo, I feel like I need to sleep too.
@@glennandadriansrocktalk A guy that used no pedals at all was Alvin Lee of Ten Years After. Blisteringly fast guitarist. TH-cam's got a great video of TYA live at Winterland (black and white) doing 'I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes'. 👍
@@SueKay-rq1lr Peter Cetera gets plenty of credit (and rewarded financially) for his unique and soaring singing but indeed not enough credit for his bass playing
Not an expert on facts, but i did read several times last century that Chicago came before Blood Sweat n Tears, BUT......Chicago were held back until BS&T got established and then Chicago got introduced to the broader audience outside Chicago. A bit like Englebert and Tom Jones. Englebert was first and ready to conquer the world when his manager secured Tom Jones......so Englebert was pushed backwards until middle aged women started throwing soiled panties at Tom.. ...then they released Englebert and had 2 radio superstars at the same time.
Wasn’t the title a reference to narcotics or some type of hippie drug use of the time.?? Terry Kath was likely one of the very best guitarist AND rock/blues singers of all time! Sadly, in his music prime, he did a “Hunter Biden” and stoned most of the time. During one of these binges, he was fuckering with a handgun (NEVER handle a firearm when under the influence of anything !) and removed the loaded magazine from the weapon , forgetting about the round he had in the chamber. He jokingly held the gun to his temple and…. Click->> KABOOM! 😢 That was a real tragedy and I still remember the day my Dad came home from work and told us about the worst day he ever had on the job.
He was a firefighter/paramedic, one of the initial DOT EMT/paramedic programs in the nation. I only saw my Dad cry twice in his life (other than family deaths). When he went on the Terry Kath call and when President Reagan was shot. (he’d definitely be crying if he was alive to see the current poster child for dementia sitting in office).. 🫣 CTA “Chicago Transit Authority”, their original band name and the title of the first album. It was MY first record album, a double record 33 LP, given to me with a Garrard (spelling?) turntable and my folks let me connect it to their “hi fi” system to play my albums. They had a reel-to-reel tape deck and tuner only. Chicago’s Tanglewood live performance video is one I play nearly every day. Thanks for your video and review.
@@PowderMill Don't know why you felt the need to bring politics into this, not once, but twice. Addiction is not a joke and certainly not a political issue. Yet you felt compelled to play that card.
This is not 100% correct. I saw a documentary and other videos that said Terry was not stoned at the point when he shot himself. He apparently had been stoned days before but had not slept at all for two days leading up to the fatal accident Also, this song is about the moment when Robert Lamm wrote 25 or 6 to 4 in the early morning hours. It wasn’t about being high or his experience being high
I saw Chicago Transit Authority in Vancouver, before they were really big. The opening band was Illinois Speed Press, a great opening band, but when Chicago came on, the stage was black, but they opened with the horns playing "Introduction" and the entire audience stood up. That was an amazing moment, since probably half the audience had never heard of them before. The sound of those horns was amazing.
Same here, saw them in 1970 at my GF's high school (Gov Livingston Regional in NJ) and they just blew us all away. I think they encored with an extended I'm a Man.
When they asked Hendrix how it felt to be the world's greatest guitarist he said : Go ask that dude in Chicago. CTA played my high school graduation dance. (Lord am I getting old!)
Wheeling High School
Wheeling,Illinois, Class of '69.
I saw this terrific band play this song at my very first concert (age 13) in Philadelphia that same year. They were never the same after Kath died.
I'm not an envious person, but boy, you were so lucky to have seen them live, at their height (pre 'pop' era).
Saw them - if you can believe it - at a concert in the gym at the University of Hartford in the spring of 1969 - just before “Beginnings” was released as a single. (Opening act was Tim Hardin.) Blew us away and totally unexpected.
Wow what a double bill! That's amazing.
I was lucky to see them on four occasions in Portland, in the 70s. They played so professionally that, as a child of a musical family, I couldn't enjoy many concerts after watching them. I still listen to those first five albums occasionally and still love them. Thanks for your comments and letting me enjoy it with you!
Go dig up their debut album when they were known as The Chicago Transit Authority and play these two tracks: "Introduction" and "Poem 58". Guitar player Terry Kath wrote "Introduction" and sang lead vocals. He was called "The White Ray Charles" by his bandmates. Soulful baritone voice! "Poem 58" is nine minutes of PURE FUNK led by Terry Kath on guitar, Danny Seraphine on drums, and Peter Cetera on bass. Kath's guitar will have you needing an ice pack for your jaw after you pick it up from the floor!
When they were "The Chicago Transit Authority", they were the house band at the Whisky a Go Go in LA. One night between sets, Jimi Hendrix, who was in the audience, went to their dressing room after catching their first set. He walked up to their sax player Walt Parazaider and said, "You guys have a horn section that sounds like one set of lungs and a guitar player that's better than me! You wanna go on the road?" They said "YEAH!". And that's how they became Hendrix's opening act on a national arena tour.
Thanks, I'm a huge fan of that first record and have played a bunch of those songs with other musicians - just for fun - including Introduction, what a work of art. - G
Chicago and Blood Sweat and Tears are absolutely connected. The Chicago horns were in a practice room waiting to record in the studio for their 1st album when someone walked in and heard them. They liked the idea and went out and got a bunch of studio musicians and created BS&T and the BS&T album came out 1st. That is according to "Jimmy ... Jimmy Trombone" in an interview. You have to see "Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon" live (Tanglewood 1970) "...from this same concert to get the reference to "Jimmy ... Jimmy Trombone"... Terry was correcting Robert Lamm.
Thanks for the info!
Terrys rhythm riff is a jewel of the song.
One of the best live concerts ever.
“’25 or 6 to 4′ is a song about writing a song,”the bands trombonist James Pankow said. “Robert was laying on the floor of his house in the Hollywood Hills looking over the city of Los Angeles just before dawn. He had been up all night.” “I just, I looked across the room and there was an old Grandmother’s clock on the wall,” he continued. “I couldn’t quite make out what the time was, but the hands on the clock were somewhere around 25 or 26 to 4 a.m., and I just began to just jot down what the hell I was doing there, and I thought, ‘Well, for now, I’m just going to describe the process of writing this song, and I’ll figure out what the lyrics are going to be later,’ but I didn’t need to.*This information comes from Jay McDowell, writer for The American Songwriter site. February 1, 2024.
Hahaha....another job I did for Bill Graham at Tanglewood! Also Jethro Tull....✌️
PS: Same venue - Chicago- I'm a Man has more Terry Kath greatness and also shows off how good of a vocalist he was.
Very cool! Sounds like it was a great job!
You guys just witnessed one of the greatest live guitar solos ever!!! I was fortunate to have seen Chicago at Fillmore East about 3 weeks prior to this concert. Terry was on fire that night too. 🎸🔥
That is awesome.
Totally agree mate,,my absolute favourite solo ,,I’ve watched it countless times….
Excellent reaction guys! You gave some insightful history on the song before and after playing it, played a great video of a song I could actually see while you both stayed in your respective little corners and let the song play! Terry Kath was an animal! God only knows what he could have done had he had more time.
Thanks! And, totally agree on Terry
I believe those who grew up using digital clocks and watches are confused by the title.
HAHA, that's the funniest comment I've ever seen to the title of this track. Bravo!
@@eumaeus My two "millenial" daughters have never referred to a time as a certain number of minute(s) to an hour in my presence. They use the number of minutes past an hour. ie: "Three thirty-five" or "Three thirty-six". Confusing, I know.
Hola Adrian y Glenn, gracias por esta entretenida reacción!!. 25 or 6 to 4 es una de las canciones más icónicas de Chicago, nunca fuí muy fan de Chicago, solamente de ciertos temas de la banda, hasta que conocí los covers de su música a cargo de la banda rusa Leonid and Friends
Esta versión a la que ustedes reaccionan es especial en cuanto al solo de guitarra porque es más extenso que el grabado en disco, el guitarrista hace gala de su gran talento, la canción lo hace lucirse... el excelente cover que hace Leonid and Friends es apegado a la versión en disco, y el guitarrista hace un solo exacto al original... Esta banda rusa se inició con covers de Chicago, pero tambien tienen covers de Earth Wind and Fire y otras bandas, todos excelentemente ejecutados; son músicos excelentes y graban en estudio acompañándose de cuerdas si es necesario....
Leonid & Friends llevan varios años haciendo tours de conciertos en USA.
Otra banda a la que sigo y que es norteamericana es LEXINGTON LAB BAND, tienen excelentes covers ejecutados por excelentes músicos. Sus covers son de varias bandas y artistas como Journey, The Eagles, U2, Boston, Foreigner, Pink Floyd, y un largo etc... Es una banda " underrated" , que se merece ser más vista y escuchada, tener mas difusión y ustedes pueden ayudar en ese cometido. Un abrazo a cada uno!
Good to know, perhaps we will check them out someday.
@@glennandadriansrocktalk Do it please, I am contemporary with you.
Southern California Purples is a great cut from their first LP. I dont think there are any live videos out there, but the studio version is FIRE!
"Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon" live (Tanglewood 1970) It is Chicago from the same concert and Terry is still on FIRE! He also is the lead singer in 2 sections while Robert is lead on another section.
I just listened to the Chicago medley you guys reacted to, and I seen that yous reacted to this song, love this song live. Again, Hendrix said once that Terry was the best guitarist in the universe. Good one guys.
This takes me back to my High School daze.
Yes, that horn section! Saw you playing trombone Glenn haha. My older sister turned me on to Chicago. The story goes, somebody asked Jimi Hendrix how it felt to be the best guitar player in the world, he said go ask Terry Kath. Saturday In The Park, Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is.
Another great performance Black Sabbath, War Pigs live Paris 1970. All incredible performances but Bill Ward on drums was on fire!🤘
Astounding
RIP Terry.
You hear people talk about a band being "tight", well these guys were SO tight that Terry could start strumming his axe perfectly timed to when the others would finish getting set up and come in with him right on time, in sync, not breaking rhythm with each other, gliding into the song as smoothly as an Olympic ski jumper sliding down the ramp to the gold medal flight.
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Jimi Hendrix told Chicago's publicist that Terry was a better guitar player than he was. They actually had plans to do shows together.
When Chicago made the studio album with this song on it, Cetera's jaw had been broken and he had to sing it through clenched teeth because his jaws were wired shut.
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Tanglewood is the super famous venue where the Boston Symphony Orchestra gives sold out performances. It has been around for a long time.
Tanglewood is a music venue and festival in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the Tanglewood Music Center, Tanglewood Learning Center, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Besides classical music, Tanglewood hosts the Festival of Contemporary Music, jazz and popular artists, concerts, and frequent appearances by James Taylor, John Williams, and the Boston Pops.
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The real Chicago Transit Authority, the one that has been around since the 19th century, the one that is a department of the City of Chicago that regulates, oversees, maintains, et cetera, the commuter trains, ferries, and much other stuff, told the band to stop using their name or get their pants sued off.
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The lyrics say it, after that guitar solo, I feel like I need to sleep too.
By the way...Terry onviously used a wah-wah pedal, but that was it.
Yeah that occurred to me as we were listening! He was a master on the wah.
@@glennandadriansrocktalk A guy that used no pedals at all was Alvin Lee of Ten Years After. Blisteringly fast guitarist.
TH-cam's got a great video of TYA live at Winterland (black and white) doing 'I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes'. 👍
Classic
tower of power had horns also.
Peter Cetera was a main asset for the band. He needs to get more recognition. Peter is an awesome bass player. Of course, Terry was awesome.
nope, he's great in his way but kath was the leader and the backbone of this group.
@@SueKay-rq1lr Peter Cetera gets plenty of credit (and rewarded financially) for his unique and soaring singing but indeed not enough credit for his bass playing
I knew that
Not an expert on facts, but i did read several times last century that Chicago came before Blood Sweat n Tears, BUT......Chicago were held back until BS&T got established and then Chicago got introduced to the broader audience outside Chicago.
A bit like Englebert and Tom Jones.
Englebert was first and ready to conquer the world when his manager secured Tom Jones......so Englebert was pushed backwards until middle aged women started throwing soiled panties at Tom.. ...then they released Englebert and had 2 radio superstars at the same time.
Wasn’t the title a reference to narcotics or some type of hippie drug use of the time.??
Terry Kath was likely one of the very best guitarist AND rock/blues singers of all time!
Sadly, in his music prime, he did a “Hunter Biden” and stoned most of the time.
During one of these binges, he was fuckering with a handgun (NEVER handle a firearm when under the influence of anything !) and removed the loaded magazine from the weapon , forgetting about the round he had in the chamber.
He jokingly held the gun to his temple and…. Click->> KABOOM! 😢
That was a real tragedy and I still remember the day my Dad came home from work and told us about the worst day he ever had on the job.
He was a firefighter/paramedic, one of the initial DOT EMT/paramedic programs in the nation.
I only saw my Dad cry twice in his life (other than family deaths). When he went on the Terry Kath call and when President Reagan was shot. (he’d definitely be crying if he was alive to see the current poster child for dementia sitting in office).. 🫣
CTA “Chicago Transit Authority”, their original band name and the title of the first album.
It was MY first record album, a double record 33 LP, given to me with a Garrard (spelling?) turntable and my folks let me connect it to their “hi fi” system to play my albums. They had a reel-to-reel tape deck and tuner only.
Chicago’s Tanglewood live performance video is one I play nearly every day.
Thanks for your video and review.
@@PowderMill Don't know why you felt the need to bring politics into this, not once, but twice. Addiction is not a joke and certainly not a political issue. Yet you felt compelled to play that card.
This is not 100% correct. I saw a documentary and other videos that said Terry was not stoned at the point when he shot himself. He apparently had been stoned days before but had not slept at all for two days leading up to the fatal accident
Also, this song is about the moment when Robert Lamm wrote 25 or 6 to 4 in the early morning hours. It wasn’t about being high or his experience being high