Chicago released their second album, "Chicago" (retroactively called "Chicago II") in early 1970. It was a big success, spawning three Top Ten hits in the US, "Make Me Smile," Colour My World," and "25 or 6 to 4." So the band was a very popular concert draw at this time.
This is the entire set. It was released in 2018 as the album "Chicago: Live at the Isle of Wight Festival." The sound is excellent, so I didn't have to make any edits or remixes this time.
Tracks 42 to 47 make up a song cycle called "Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon." I could have posted that as one giant track, but I broke it up into each named section.
Walter Parazaider, Chicago's saxophone player, later recalled the festival: “They had us in a holding area, with cottages and everything, which was just spectacular. The weather was great. Isle of Wight was our first experience of [playing festivals]. And you talk about people being really young – eyes as big as silver dollars, and taking everything in. The whole spectacle of it was amazing. It was massive. When you get that amount of people, just a whisper from a crowd is a roar. If you don’t keep within yourself, you could just as easily throw your horn in the crowd and run around like a lunatic, just freaking out. ... The crowd was very receptive. That first album had 'I'm a Man' on it – a Spencer Davis Group tune – and it had gone over quite well in England. They knew the material, and we were quite well received. It was one of the highlights of our career. It was a knockout."
Note that, like the previous album in this series, the first track here is not 01. Instead, the numbering continues where the previous set (Tony Joe White) left off. I'm going to stop mentioning this, but assume this pattern continues for the rest of the albums. I reset back to 01 each new day of the festival. This makes it easier if you want each day of the festival to be one non-stop listen.
This album is an hour and 29 minutes long.
31 Introduction (Chicago)
32 South California Purples (Chicago)
33 Beginnings (Chicago)
34 talk (Chicago)
35 In the Country (Chicago)
36 Intro [Instrumental] (Chicago)
37 Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is (Chicago)
38 talk (Chicago)
39 Mother (Chicago)
40 It Better End Soon (Chicago)
41 talk (Chicago)
42 Make Me Smile (Chicago)
43 So Much to Say, So Much to Give (Chicago)
44 Anxiety's Moment - West Virginia Fantasies [Instrumental] (Chicago)
45 Colour My World (Chicago)
46 To Be Free [Instrumental] (Chicago)
47 Now More than Ever (Chicago)
48 25 or 6 to 4 (Chicago)
49 talk (Chicago)
50 I'm a Man (Chicago)
The cover photo comes from this exact concert.
I've been trying to do my own version in the last year so all your hard work has saved me a lot of time - Thank you very much and looking forward to the rest of the series.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. If you have anything I've missed in good sound quality, please let me know. I've found mentions of songs here and there that I can't find.
DeleteSorry - no, you've already got more than I could find. A bit off topic have you seen that Who's Next is coming out next month in a Super deluxe box-set?
ReplyDeleteI'd heard vague things, but I only just now learned the details. It looks like they're doing a bang up job with it. I'm impressed:
Deletehttps://superdeluxeedition.com/news/the-who-whos-next-reissue/
Thanks for this legendary Chicago concert! The mix of the sound is spectacular, with individual instruments clearly placed into the soundstage. :^)
ReplyDeleteToo bad there is NO Lighthouse that has turned up! :^(
I believe the order of the Chicago setlist needs updating. I played it and this is the proper order (midway through after "...What Time It Is): Talk(0:23)/Make Me Smile/So Much to Say/Anxiety's Moment/Colour My World/To Be Free/Now More Than Ever/It Better End Soon/Talk(01:03)/Mother/25 or 6 to 4/Talk(0:53)/I'm a Man. Thanks for all of your hard work!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the image on this page.
ReplyDeleteIt was taken by my Father-in-Law Charles Everest, who was there at the event that weekend.
More of his photos from the event can be found at the link below and are all ©cameronlife
www.cameronlife.co.uk