Stone of Sisyphus: XXXII

Performer: Chicago
Engineer: Paul Ericksen
Producer: Peter Wolf
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Personnel: James Pankow (vocals, trombone); Robert Lamm, Bill Champlin (vocals, keyboards, background vocals); Sheldon Reynolds, Bruce Gaitsch (guitar); Tris Imboden (harmonica, drums, percussion); Walter Parazaider (woodwinds, background vocals); Lee Loughnane (trumpet, flugelhorn, background vocals); Peter Wolf (keyboards, keyboard bass); Joseph "Gospel Joe" Williams, Jason Scheff, The Jordanaires (background vocals). Audio Mixer: Tom Lord-Alge. Audio Remasterer: David Donnelly. Audio Remixers: Paul Ericksen; Peter Wolf . Liner Note Author: Bill DeYoung. Recording information: Embassy Sutdios, Simi Valley, CA (1993); Nashville, TN (1993). Photographers: Jimmy Katz; Paul Ericksen. Arranger: Peter Wolf . Among followers of Chicago's latter-day works, STONE OF SISYPHUS developed its own mythology over the years. It was recorded in 1993, and was originally slated to follow the TWENTY 1 album, but disputes between the band and their label resulted in the project being shelved. Several tracks leaked out here and there over the years on bootlegs, compilations, and box sets, but it wasn't until 15 years later that the album was officially released in its entirety, at which point it was subtitled XXXII. The story that the label deemed the material non-viable seems unfounded, as these tracks are very much in keeping with the band's other albums of the era. Big production, massive pop hooks, and Bill Champlin's soulful vocals define most of the cuts, and despite an ill-advised rap on "Sleeping in the Middle of the Bed," there's little kowtowing to the trends of the time. It's perhaps not the great long-lost treasure fans may have hoped for, but it surely won't be a disappointment to them.

Chicago was the longest-running and most commercially successful of the hordes of jazz-rock bands with horn sections that sprang up in the late-1960s wake of Blood, Sweat & Tears. After myriad personnel changes (including the death of founding guitarist Terry Kath due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound), Chicago eventually mutated into a more conventional pop group that was able to score hit after hit well into the '80s, usually with romantic ballads. They remain among the best-selling American bands of all time. In the mid 1990s they briefly returned to their roots with an album of big band-era standards given the Chicago treatment.

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