Stone of Sisyphus (XXXII) - Dark Publications

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"Sisyphus has attained legendary status among rock critics, Chicago fans, those who've heard parts of it and those who have only read about it." —from liner notes by Bill DeYoung

Formed in its namesake city in 1967, Chicago is the first American band ever to propel albums into Billboard's pop Top 40 for five consecutive decades, and is among the most successfully charting U.S.-grown acts of all time. Now, another page in the band's history is revealed with the long-awaited release of Stone Of Sisyphus, the once shelved album that has attained legendary status among fans and critics alike. Recorded in 1993 and originally intended as Chicago XXII, the disc marked a return to the genre-transcending, adventurous fusion of sounds that defined the group's 1970s-era heyday. Three tracks from it surfaced on Rhino's 2003 Chicago box, but the album itself is previously unissued—now, this momentous release also features four incredibly rare bonus tracks.

Album Description
Includes Bonus Tracks. 16 tracks.Chicago XXXII: Stone of Sisyphus is an album by Chicago released in June 2008 by Rhino Records. Originally recorded in 1993 for Reprise Records and scheduled for a March 1994 release, Stone of Sisyphus was ultimately rejected by the latter label, leading Chicago to leave Reprise shortly afterwards. Band management was negotiating with the label regarding a licensing of the extensive Chicago back catalog. When these talks stalled, the label apparently retaliated by scrapping the project. Reprise's loss is Rhino's gain. Listen and judge for yourself. A hidden artifact of days gone by anew again.

Customer Reviews: Read 73 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Lives Up To The Hype June 19, 2008
32 out of 36 found this review helpful

Well, by now, if you're a Chicago fan, you've read up on the back-story, so I'll save you the history lesson here and get to my thoughts on the music.

In short: this stuff lives up to the hype.

A few provisos. First, if you think Chicago died when Terry Kath shot himself, STONE OF SISYPHUS is not for you. Second, if you think Chicago died when Peter Cetera quit, STONE OF SISYPHUS is not for you. Third, if you don't like Jason Scheff and/or Bill Champlin, STONE OF SISYPHUS is not for you--they're all over this album. Finally, if the exclusion of "Get On This" (a great track, by the way) works you into a fit, this version of STONE OF SISYPHUS is not for you.

If you're like me, though, and can accept those things--and if you've always preferred "Listen" to "You're the Inspiration," or "Sonny Think Twice" to "Hard to Say I'm Sorry"--then this is the Chicago album you've been waiting for.

The band brings its A-Game here. Want some upbeat nostalgia? Check out "All the Years." Want straight-ahead rockers? Check out "The Pull" and the title track. Feeling funky? Cue up "Mah Jong," or rap along with the fellas on "Sleeping In the Middle of the Bed." Yeah, there's a ballad or three, but good ones: "Bigger Than Elvis," "Let's Take A Lifetime," and the very catchy "Here With Me (A Candle For the Dark)." And then, there are a few songs that just defy description. My own personal favorite--and (imo) one of the best songs Chicago has ever done--is "Plaid." EVERYTHING that's good about Chicago is in evidence here, from the dense rhythms to the wailing brass, from the meaningful lyrics to the vocal harmonies. And Bill Champlin just sings the spots off of it.

There are, of course, other cool tunes--"Cry For the Lost" and "The Show Must Go On" are both really good--and the production by Peter Wolf is spot-on. Kudos must go to then-guitarist Dawayne Bailey for his significant contributions, but everyone--especially Robert Lamm, Champlin, Scheff, and James Pankow--really steps up.

Kudos, too, to Rhino for the packaging. The liner notes are detailed and informative (though I'd like to see a few Bailey quotes), and the cover design is stellar. The bonus tracks are interesting. While "Love Is Forever" doesn't really catch my attention (but that's just me), the demo of "Mah Jong" is a funky delight, every bit as good as the album cut in its own way--and that's saying something. The alternate take of "Stone of Sisyphus" is interesting, too; without the extra reverb, the horns sound much cleaner.

Hey, since the late 70's, I've heard Chicago fans asking, "When are they going to cut loose again?" When I first (admittedly) obtained my bootleg copy of STONE in 2000, I would say, "They TRIED in 1993." Now I can say, "They HAVE. Check out THIS CD."

4 out of 5 stars

Chicago Reclaim Their Greatness June 19, 2008
27 out of 29 found this review helpful

Now THIS is more like it. THIS is the Chicago band that I like! However, let me say right at the top of my review that I do not claim to be a top authority on Chicago. I am merely a casual fan of the group. I believe that Chicago were a great band *up to a point*, say, up through the end of the 70's. Those early Chicago albums are indeed phenomenal, their early music is intelligent, daring, and truly sophisticated (and Terry Kath, brother, you are greatly missed). But then along came the 80's, and this once mighty jazz/rock band, sadly, devolved into doing syrupy power ballads and nothing but (and it may be easy to point the finger at Peter Cetera for this, but I don't think he was entirely to blame). However, like many other fans of the group, I had long heard about their unreleased 1993 album, "Stone Of Sisyphus," and all the inside buzz about how this was the best album Chicago had done in years, and how it was a crime that this amazing album was still being held prisoner in the vaults. Well, a big 15 years after Chicago recorded it, on June 17, 2008, "Stone Of Sisyphus" was finally set free into the world (albeit missing one song, "Get On This," presumably for some legal reason or other). So, how is it? My verdict: while "Sisyphus" is not the band's masterpiece---after all, it isn't a *complete* throwback to their jazz/rock glory days---one thing is perfectly clear: "Stone Of Sisyphus" is the first Chicago album that I have liked in a long, LONG time. The stories about this album are true: Chicago really were trying very, very hard with "Sisyphus" to break away from all those goopy love songs and make a daring, intelligent, sophisticated album just like they used to make 'em, only this time with a 90's polish. And overall, the band greatly succeeded. These songs are smart, catchy, and expertly played and sung with great feeling and power, and with *none* of the schlock-poppy, manufactured "Look Away"-type songs of later years. Clever lyrics, too! And Warner Bros. Records actually didn't like this album? What idiots. I love the up-tempo numbers like the memorable grooves of the title track, the funky "Mah-Jong" and "Sleeping In The Middle Of The Bed," "The Pull" and "Plaid," and the softer tunes like "Bigger Than Elvis" and "Let's Take A Lifetime" are pretty without ever being cloying. Now, if only Chicago can make more albums like "Sisyphus"....who knows if they ever will? But, for this one album at least, they remembered the *quality* of the music that made them a great band in the first place. I'm thrilled that Chicago fans can finally get their hands on "Stone Of Sisyphus." It truly is one of Chicago's greatest acheivements. Buy it right now, recommend it to all your friends, and get the word out that "Stone Of Sisyphus," Chicago's lost gem-of-an-album, has finally been found at last. And a hearty congratulations to Chicago themselves for making it.

5 out of 5 stars

Glad SoS Finally Rolled to the Top June 17, 2008
13 out of 13 found this review helpful

It's easy to see why Warner Bros. Records pulled Stone of Sisyphus 15 years ago: the same reason that made Chicago a super group in the 1970s -- creativity. Like many, I'd heard the praise from owners of bootlegged discs that circulated, had heard the title track on the Canadian Overtime CD and slightly different versions of Sleeping in the Middle of the Bed and All the Years on Robert Lamm's solo discs, so I was pleased to learn that Rhino was releasing this now near legendary disc, all the original tunes save one.

This disc is a throwback to Chicago's early years, sans Terry Kath's influence, when they wrote and recorded uncensored by record executives. As on many of Chicago's early releases, the best tunes on SoS are those that break the rules of contemporary music, push the envelope, don't adhere to the formula that the suits require. Prior to SoS, Chicago had fallen into a rut of writing a string of top 40 hits that received plenty of airplay on adult contemporary radio stations but left the band creatively flat.

From the title track, a driving rocker with a nearly frantic rhythm section, to the funked up version of Mah-Jong, All the Years (reminiscent of some of the ever-social conscious Robert Lamm's best penned tunes) and Sleeping in the Middle of the Bed, a heavy hip-hop tune with that unmistakable Chicago influence (if not the best tune on the disc certainly the most creative), this disc definitely deserved to be heard and Kudos to Rhino Records for making it happen.

In addition to several bonus tracks of alternate takes, other notable cuts include The Pull, Here With Me (a Candle for the Dark), Cry for the Lost, Plaid and The Show Must Go On (the latter two with a distinct anti-corporate theme) -- all unmistakably Chicago but lacking the formula responsible for the sad state of today's music industry.

The horn charts are spectacular, forging ahead with hot, creative riffs that recall the sound that propelled this band to one of the best-selling bands of all time.

Guest artists include The Jordinaires and Jerry Scheff on Bigger than Elvis, Jason Scheff's tribute to his father, who once played for Elvis, and producer Peter Wolf.

Also included with the disc are copious liner notes with comments from band members.

Highly recommended.

4 out of 5 stars

Chicago releases 'lost' album 15 years after recording it June 17, 2008
9 out of 21 found this review helpful

CNN) -- Some fans of the band Chicago thought this day would never come. Many have waited 15 years for it.

An album the band recorded in 1993 finally goes on sale Tuesday, long after a squabble between the group and its former record company shelved the project.

The album's release by Rhino Records has set off a wave of excitement on Chicago's fan club Web site.

"I am waaaaay excited about this," said a fan nicknamed "sprout." "I've been hearing about these songs for years, and now I'll actually get to hear them for myself! Yea!!!!!!"

"I am really glad to see Rhino finally releasing a forgotten masterpiece," another fan said.

The album, "Stone of Sisyphus," takes its name from a character in Greek mythology who rolls a heavy stone up a hill only to have it roll back down -- again and again -- for eternity.

"It's very apropos, isn't it?" producer Peter Wolf said. "It took us 15 years to see the light of day."

The album harkens back to the band's socially conscious early days, recorded in a style much different from the light-rock ballads that sent Chicago to the top of the pop charts.

The band formed in 1967, committed to the concept of a rock 'n' roll band with horns. First called The Big Thing, the group was known as Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) on its debut album before taking its present name.

In more than four decades, Chicago has sold more than 122 million recordings. It had five consecutive No. 1 albums and has had more than 50 Top-40 singles.

The band became a staple of underground FM and college radio stations a few years after forming. Disc jockeys talking in low, slow tones feasted on tracks like "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" and "Beginnings."

Listeners debated the meaning of "25 or 6 to 4." Some said it was about an LSD trip, and that got it banned from some radio stations. Chicago was so hip that Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix invited the group on tour.

Yet that sense of cool was lost as Chicago launched a string of successful -- if horn-muted -- ballads in the late 1970s and 1980s. Producer David Foster is credited with resurrecting Chicago's career and shoving it into overdrive by downplaying the band's traditional sound in favor of more synthesizers and ballads.

Foster's formula thrust singer Peter Cetera into the spotlight. Chicago became a pop music juggernaut. Cetera left in 1985 after "Chicago 17," the group's biggest-selling album, and was replaced by Jason Scheff, son of Elvis Presley's former bassist, Jerry Scheff.

But little changed as the band continued to roll out a familiar string of pop ballads - topped by the million-selling "Look Away" in 1988.

By the early 1990s, however, producer Wolf was happy to oblige band members after learning that they wanted to return to their roots.

"I was always a huge Chicago fan. It was a natural thing for me wanting them to sound like the Chicago I love," Wolf said. "They have an incredibly identifiable horn sound. You have to bring that out or you're not doing it right."

The band was on a mission to bring back the old sound, said former Chicago guitarist Dawayne Bailey, who composed the title track of the new album.

"The entire project was a direct and deliberate response to what they had been releasing up to that point " he said.

Chicago brought back the horns and the rock 'n' roll attitude on "Stone of Sisyphus," but Warner Brothers Records shelved the project.

"It was a little too adventuresome, shall we say, for the label at the time," trombonist and founding member James Pankow recalled on A&E's "Private Sessions." "They were expecting another 'If You Leave Me Now,' 'Hard to Say I'm Sorry.'"

Wolf said the rejection had little to do with the music.

"It was only about politics and greed," Wolf said, "nothing to do with the talent."

"They heard the album and they didn't get it," Pankow said. "They asked us to go back and do it again and we said, 'Sorry, this is where we're at.'"

Trumpeter Lee Loughnane said the band was "dumbfounded" by the rejection.

"We had finished and released 21 previous recordings," he said, "so I guess the shock of our first rejection took a little time for us to get used to."

When the band left Warner Bros, they took the album with them. They shifted their focus to other projects, other songs, but the fans did not forget. They passed along rumors that the album would come out in the mid- 1990s, but that didn't happen.

A few fans obtained taped copies of the album. They would copy the tapes and trade them by mail, each successive copy worse than the one before.

Hard-core fans yearned to hear the Chicago of old -- with the trademark horn style -- but Chicago continued in the 1990s to record the type of ballads members said they wanted to get away from. That only increased fans' curiosity about "Stone of Sisyphus."

Chicago teased its fans in 2003, making three tracks from the album available as part of a four-CD, career-spanning box set.

Fans weren't satisfied.

"All the fans have been e-mailing us again and again to release the record," Wolf said. "Nothing could hold it back."

A few versions of the "lost" album became available for download on the Internet, but that was a bootleg release, and relatively few people knew about it.

Now the album is available to the general public, a varied collection with the Chicago horns up front and prominent.

The styles range from rock to pop to soul -- true to the band's Grammy-winning, genre-blending formula -- with a few ballads thrown in for good measure.

"Even though there's still some soft, fuzzy ballads ... that we were supposedly getting away from," Bailey said, "the lyric edge in (the) songs proves that we were going for more organic true expression over uninspired canned radio product."

The band hopes "Stone of Sisyphus" reminds its most ardent fans of a sound that launched the band in the late 1960s.

"Good things come to those who wait," Loughnane said.

3 out of 5 stars

Average album with more low than high moments June 30, 2008
7 out of 9 found this review helpful

Here we have the only other new release after the not-so-great 21 in 1991 and the "just-ok" Chicago XXX in 2006. With Sisyphus, I knew that we'd be getting a mini-jump back in time, as this was recorded in 1993. I was very happy to learn that it was going to be unlike 21, which, like Crystal Pepsi, was an experiment gone horribly wrong.

In the world of music, if I like at least half of the songs on an album, it's worthy of at least four stars. With many Chicago records, I like over half of the songs on every album. I really wanted to enjoy this unreleased gem.

Here I can only get excited about a few: Stone of Sisyphus, Mai Jong, and the bonus track version of Mai Jong. That's it. Not a lot to get excited about here. That's way lower than I expected with all the buzz this album was getting.
*sigh*
The rest sounds TOO MUCH like run of the mill early 90s pop, and the fact that it's CHICAGO does not give it any extra stars. It's not that the early 90s was a bad era, it's just that a lot of the tunes on this album are not "stand up and cheer" music that we would be getting excited about. Sure, there are ballads...they just are not that great. Yes, there are rock songs that go against the grain of 21 but they just don't come off as memorable must-hear tracks.
As with many Chicago Rhino releases, there are some great liner notes, featuring many viewpoints on songs and a great backstory to all the controversey. There are some decent but grainy pictures as well.

Chicago fans will be adding SOS to their collection. Let's see how our guys soldier on after this one.

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