The Rock Band With Horns Remembers How to Rock: Chicago 19 at 35

Chicago 19 arrived in record stores thirty-five years ago today and it marked a change for the band. After a three-album run, producer David Foster and the band parted ways. But Foster had made his mark and helped revitalize Chicago for a brand-new decade and audience and, in doing so, put the spotlight on Peter Cetera, who, after singing the band’s biggest hits in the early 80s, departed for a solo career. Back in 1986, Cetera and his former band each had new albums, but with Foster behind the boards for Chicago 18 and Cetera sticking close to the sound of Chicago 16 and Chicago 17, Solitude/Solitaire and Chicago 18 sounded in the same ballpark. It was the height of the Eighties, and synth-heavy pop music was all over the airwaves.

But things changed with Chicago 19. The sound of the decade was changing. There were still plenty of synth pop on the radio but hair metal had taken a firm foothold on the radio. Def Leppard’s Hysteria was still releasing singles. Gun N’Roses had debuted, INXS was in the mix, and even George Michael had distanced himself from the synthpop of Wham to a more acoustic sound.

Chicago did what Chicago always does: they adapted. And they took a more active role in what their sound would be in the last two years of the decade.

After being largely sidelined by Foster for three albums, horn players James Pankow, Walt Parazaider, and Lee Loughnane wanted to bring the horns back to the forefront. After all, Chicago was always billed as the rock band with horns. Bill Champlin would be recording his fourth album with the band, having re-injected a soulful baritone the band had missed since the untimely passing of founding guitarist and singer Terry Kath. Keyboardist Robert Lamm and drummer Danny Serephine were ready for a change, but I suspect the person most looking forward to a new album and a newer sound was Jason Scheff.

Scheff had taken over lead vocals and bass from Cetera on Chicago 18. Producer Foster pretty much tried to make Scheff sound like Cetera, but their vocal ranges don’t exactly match. The Chicago 18 tour saw Scheff keep trying to do Cetera. If fans truly wanted to know how Scheff sang, they’d get their answer on Chicago 19.

Transitions

I am always fascinated at musical transitions between albums. Take, for example, the last track of Chicago XIV (1980’s “The American Dream”) and the opening track of Chicago 16 (“What You’re Missing”). As a teenager who only discovered the band in 1985, the Eighties sound was the sound for me. I can’t imagine what it was like for those long-time fans from 1969 hearing the Foster-produced Chicago 16 in 1982. The transitions from Chicago 16 to 17 to 18 were pretty similar.

I remember in 1986 when I bought the cassette single for the new “25 or 6 to 4,” I was excited. But the flip side was “One More Day,” the last track on the actual album. Upon hearing that tune after a marching band practice, my band friends and I all looked at each other and declared “Now that’s Chicago.”

So, as fans bought Chicago 19 in June 1988, we had a question: what would the band sound like?

The Uptempo Songs

“Heart in Pieces,” the opening song, answered the question. Scheff’s echoed vocals, his in-your-face bass playing, and drums that sounded real blasted from our speakers. The harmonies between Champlin and Scheff helped this tune breathe, the horns were back in the mix doing little accents, and then there was that guitar solo. Studio musician Dan Huff’s guitar work could have been played on any rock band’s song and sounded right at home. The rock band with horns really rocked.

Leave it to founding member Robert Lamm to always write songs that reflect Chicago’s roots. He did it on every album and he did it here as well. “I Stand Up” has the horns all over it with a number that can easily stand alongside “Beginnings,” “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” and “Saturday in the Park” as some of the best tunes he’s written for the band.

“Come in From the Night” again features Scheff’s more rock-oriented bass style (a style Cetera used to play on the earlier albums), horns aplenty, and Champlin’s vocals harmonizing with Scheff. Speaking or harmonizing, “Runaround” is just a good, old-fashioned, straightahead rock song with Sheff and Champlin trading vocals. All the faster songs on 19 are great, but there is one that has vaulted to top of my list.

“You’re Not Alone” is the third single released from the album and it has, over the past thirty-five years, become my favorite 80s-era song by Chicago. I know, I know it doesn’t have any horns on it—in concert, the horn players would play rhythm guitar or keyboards—and it was written by an outside writer but there it is. Champlin belting out his lyrics with his usual passion is great, but that guitar work is stellar. Whether it’s Dan Huff or then touring guitarist, Dwayne Bailey, I’m not sure. In concert, Bailey just wailed and shredded this solo, harmonizing on guitar with Champlin who came down from behind the keyboard and sang at center stage. I listen to this song at least once a week and it is always played loud.

The Ballads

By 1988, however, Chicago was known by the public as the ballad band so there was always going to be ballads. “I Don’t Wanna Live Without Your Love” was the lead single, written by Diane Warren. Yeah, it was a ballad, yeah it opened with keyboard, but it sounded different. For one, Bill Champlin sang lead. It wasn’t the tenor voice, and his soulful urgency gave this tune some gravitas. Again, the guitar work was ripped from the hair metal power ballads of the day, especially that soaring solo. Even the keyboards sounded different. This was Chicago doing a muscular power ballad. More of that please.

Warren’s second single was Chicago’s last Number 1 song of the 1980s: “Look Away.” Again sung by Champlin, the keyboard sound is close to the syrupy sound of 16-18, but like IDWLWYL, there’s an edge here. The lead guitar helps give this tune more of a power ballad vibe that could have been on a Bon Jovi album or KISS’s 1987 album, Crazy Nights.

“We Can Last Forever” could be considered the most 80s-like ballad, but still, the harder-edged guitar differentiates it from other ballads like “You’re the Inspiration” and “Hard to Say I’m Sorry.” “What Kind of Man Would I Be” was the last single from the album and this one features a horn break. In fact, in one of the bootlegs on the internet from 1990, Pankow commented that the guys had to learn the tune again since it was a hit nearly two years after release.

The Concerts

Just over two weeks after this album was released, Chicago headlined the Fourth of July FreedomFest here in Houston. The four brand-new songs were front-loaded and they sounded fantastic. Scheff sang the old tunes in a slightly different style than before and he really By the summer of 1989, “You’re Not Alone” would join the setlist and stay there for the next five or so years. “What Kind of Man Would I Be?” was played in 1990, marking Chicago 19 as last time at least half of an original album’s songs were played in concert (Night and Day and 25 don’t really count since they were primarily cover songs). This was the era in which I’d see the band in Houston or Dallas one night and then drive to the other city to see them again. With Champlin often strapping on a guitar and Bailey adding all his Van Halen-inspired guitar pyrotechnics (in line with other guitarists of the era), one could argue that this era was the last time they truly rocked out.

A complete Chicago 19 tour recording is one of those things I actively search for, the one where “Heart in Pieces” segues right into “Come in From the Night”. Maybe someday.

The Verdict

For a band that adapted over the 55 years of its existence, Chicago 19 is just one more adaptation. After having success with David Foster for three albums, they wanted to try something different, and those differences are what make Chicago 19 unique and special. It wasn’t the first time, and it wasn’t their last either.

The times were changing by the late Eighties and Chicago changed as well. They released an album full of great songs, great arrangements, and excellent guitar work that made them sound like a rock band with horns again.

Over the years, Chicago 19 has steadily risen in my personal list. Chicago 18 may have been the first new album of theirs I bought after I became a fan, but Chicago 19 is the one 1980s-era album I enjoy the most. In fact, other than Chicago Transit Authority, Chicago 19 is the album I listen to the most, especially if you throw in the various live versions of these songs in the mix. It is my favorite 1980s-era Chicago album and it features my favorite 1980s-era song, “You’re Not Alone.” It is in my Top 5 favorite Chicago albums, usually vying with Chicago II for the second spot. (CTA is top and “Introduction” is my all-time favorite Chicago song).

Happy Anniversary, Chicago 19. I’ve rocked out with you since the day I brought you home.