Chicago XXX

Performer: Chicago
Engineer: Jay DeMarcus; Sean Neff; James Matchack; Jeff Balding; Ben Fowler; Chas Sandford
Producer: Jay DeMarcus; Jay DeMarcus
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Chicago: Bill Champlin (guitar, keyboards); Keith Howland (guitar, background vocals); Walter Parazaider (woodwinds); Robert Lamm (keyboards); Jason Scheff (electric bass); James Pankow, Lee Loughnane, Tris Imboden. Personnel: Jay DeMarcus (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, programming); Bill Champlin (vocals, piano, Fender Rhodes piano); Robert Lamm (vocals, piano, Wurlitzer organ); Gary LeVox, Joe Don Rooney, Jason Scheff, Shelly Fairchild (vocals); Dan Huff, Dean DeLeo, Yankton Mingua, Keith Howland (guitar); Tom Bukovac (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Walter Parazaider (flute, saxophone); Lee Loughnane (trumpet, piccolo trumpet, flugelhorn); Lee Thornberg (trumpet); James Pankow (trombone); James Matchack (keyboards); John Brockman, Tris Imboden, Steve Brewster (drums); Joseph "Gospel Joe" Williams, Bobby Kimball (background vocals). Additional personnel: Gary LeVox, Joe Don Rooney, Jay DeMarcus. Audio Mixers: James Matchack; Jeff Balding. Recording information: Cartee Day Studios, Nashville, TN; Emerald ENtertainment, Nashville, TN; Glenwood Place Studios, Burbank, CA; Secret Sound, Nashville, TN; Sound Stage Studios, Nashville, TN; Studio J, Nashville, TN; Westlake Audio, Hollywood, CA. Photographers: Hugh Brown; Jimmy Katz. Arrangers: Jay DeMarcus; James Matchack. Though often disparaged by music critics, Chicago maintained a consistent output--and sold millions of records in the process--from their first album in 1969 right into the early 2000s. They dabbled variously in rock, jazz, and R&B before settling into smooth, adult-contemporary fare in the 1980s, becoming staples of MOR radio. 2006's XXX is a return to that MOR sound, with sweet memorable melodies that recall the band's Peter Cetera-led heyday. "King of Might Have Been" is a fine example, finding a place alongside the best of Chicago's mainstream power ballads. "Feel (Hot Single Mix)" traffics a bit in the textures of electronica, but beneath that the sound is, unmistakably, Chicago. The production from Rascal Flatts' member Jay Demarcus is sharp and crisp and brightens the overall sound while showcasing the band's classic elements. XXX is perhaps Chicago's most consistent pop release since 1991's TWENTY 1. Despite the possible euphemisms of the title, 2006's Chicago XXX is not the band's raciest album since Hot Streets, nor is it their installment in the extreme-action spy series kicked off by Vin Diesel -- instead, it's the veteran group's first proper studio album since 1995's flop Night and Day: Big Band, and considering that was a detour into retro-swing, XXX is their first mainstream pop album since 1991's Twenty 1, which is a 15-year gap between pop records. That's an awfully long wait -- in the meantime, the band has been putting out live albums, Christmas records and hit comps, bringing the total up to 30 LPs -- but apart from the diluted trip-hop beat from "Feel (Hot Single Mix)" that kicks off the album, you'd never know that XXX was made and recorded in 21st century. It sounds like it could have been released in 1991 as Twenty 1, since it contains the same kind of sunny good-time pop and power ballads that made Chicago a staple on adult contemporary stations in the late '80s. But there is a difference this time around: XXX is actually a better overall record than anything the group released in the wake of Peter Cetera's departure. Song for song, it's memorably melodic and Jay Demarcus, best-known as a member of contemporary country-pop act Rascal Flatts, has given the album a bright sheen that is nevertheless varied, punching up the horns on "Better," emphasizing the sweet melody on the "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" dead ringer "King of Might Have Been," turning up the guitars on "Caroline," a happy variation on "Look Away." It sounds as if Chicago and Demarcus went into the album with the intention that this would be a hit along the lines of Chicago 19, and while that kind of wishful thinking may not be fulfilled -- there are very few radio stations in 2006 that will play this kind of slick adult contemporary music -- this sense of purpose and drive has resulted in a surprisingly strong, thoroughly entertaining comeback album that's actually better than the albums it intends to emulate. It's not for every Chicago fan -- those who long for either the early-'70s or early-'80s heydays will find this too produced and MOR for their liking -- but fans of Chicago's late-'80s albums will find themselves right at home on XXX. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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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