Walter Parazaider (sax, woodwinds), Lee Loughnane (trumpet), James Pankow (trombone), Robert Lamm (keyboards, vocals), Terry Kath (guitar, vocals), Danny Seraphine (drums), and Peter Cetera (bass, vocals) formed Chicago in the Second City in 1967. They released their debut album, Chicago Transit Authority, in 1969. The double LP sold more than two million copies on the strength of sweet pop hits and psychedelic rock explorations that appealed to traditional Top 40 fans as well as hipper listeners tuning in to the new free-form FM radio.

This was just the start of Chicago's enduring popularity, which includes five consecutive #1 albums, 21 Top 10 singles, and worldwide sales of over 120 million. Chicago continues to be a major concert draw, their lineup now including Bill Champlin (keyboards, vocals), Jason Scheff (bass, vocals), Keith Howland (guitar), and Tris Imboden (drums), along with founding members Lamm, Parazaider, Loughnane, and Pankow.

The ride is basically like watching a huge beautiful vessel being built, put to sea, taking speed, crossing the Atlantic only to reduce speed and slowly die a long death sinking in the sea.

Chicago had everything, exceptional talent, intelligent lyrics, a combination of expertise in different styles from different members (Terry Kath the rocker, Robert Lamm the political commentarist and soul man, Peter Cetera the pop and R&B craftman, James Pankow the intricate arranger), and through their first five six albums, all was fine. Like The Grateful Dead, Fleetwood Mac and other "mixed-styles" bands, the combination was powerful, invigorating, innovative and commercial. They were progressive but focused, tight but loose.

But once the formula was set and the pressure for hits overtook the ability to write what they wanted, rot set in and everything went downhill. It is painful and sad to see the slow decline and ultimate abandon to corporate-formula rock from such an innovative act. Just why this box has so many cuts from the dreadful Hot Streets-Chicago 16 era is sadistic to say the least.

Then everything that made this band one of the most energetic live and recording acts in rock was lost in favour of indistinguishable FM friendly soft rock. They took a giant leap towards corporate-rock-hell to compete with the REOs of the 80s, setting themselves as a syrup ballad formulaic Peter Cetera vehicle. Ultimately the frontman would go solo to reach even lower depths of musical boredom, leaving the band in "outside writers hands to maintain the syrup production. The last years of commercial success saw them accept songs from anyone in order to "stay in radio". Even Robert Lamm and the rest of the current line-up regret the path they chose, as can be proved by the fact that the play mostly pre-1976 stuff live. They ultimately redeemed themselves a bit with their ignored big band album.

So my recommendation is: If you want all the great stuff (and some stinkers, I admit) get Group Portrait. If you want the 80s Toto-REO-Richard Marx stuff, get The Heart Of Chicago 1982-1997, both are cheaper and less disheartening. This Box Set doesn't do justice to any era and will not appeal to fans of one or the other. By the way, go see them live. They're still amazing.


PERFECT!!! "CHICAGO 28" COULDN'T BE IMPROVED!!   July 23, 2003
 43 out of 47 found this review helpful

OK, whew, where do I start?? First off, this is the best put-together box I think Rhino has ever produced. There is nothing wrong, everything right. The packaging is immaculate, sorta like the Yes box but better.

"Chicago 28" (proof, count the number of logos!!), aka "The Box" covers all the bases of this groundbreaking, highly underrated, lately critically overlooked and underappreciated, innovative, unclassifiable "rock + roll band with horns", and ties up all loose ends. The 60-page booklet is awesome, with tons of cool photos, memorabilia, quotes, and well-written essays. The detailing is thorough, with all proper Billboard chart info, album covers, the works. Oh and the DVD is cool, exciting, historic, and really fun. The song choices are spot-on, with all charting singles included (except for the 1986 remake of "25 Or 6 To 4", no biggie), key and band/fan fave album-only songs + suites, and all tracks from the double "Very Best Of Chicago/Only The Beginning" aka "Chicago 27" included (except for "Sing Sing Sing" from "Night & Day/Big Band" aka "Chicago 23", again, no biggie, "Caravan" is here instead), so no need to buy the double CD anymore, served its purpose. PLUS, 3 songs from the Holy Grail, "Chicago 22/Stone Of Sisyphus" are included, woohoo!! (Those songs are AMAZING, Warner dropped the ball in rejecting the album back in 1993 due to it not being a radio POP album--they were tired of that kind of predictable stuff--it was pure art, like the first 3 albums with modern production touches!!) The way things look, Rhino will probably release that masterwork in the near future, along with remasters of their Warner-period 80s-90s albums, which NEED an overhaul.

What's also cool about this box is it includes all the loose songs from soundtracks and compilations: "Good For Nothing" (from "USA For Africa/We Are The World"), "Hearts In Trouble" (from the "Days Of Thunder" soundtrack), and the 4 songs from the 2 parter "The Heart Of Chicago" aka "Chicago 24" ("Here In My Heart", "The Only One", "All Roads Lead To You" and "Show Me A Sign"). Some of the songs are cool, rare single mixes, like "Along Comes A Woman", a few are edits (5 to be exact, out of 94 songs?? Not bad at all!!), but most are the album versions, plus some full suites are included too, like "Ballet For A Girl In Buchannon" and "An Hour In The Shower".

Basically, discard all 6 hits collections/compilations (9,15,20,27,IYLMN, TMBTC), and the 4CD "Group Portrait" box on Sony, this box covers ALL of those, and THEN some, with amazing artwork, packaging and remastering. This box also serves a dual purpose: a one-stop place for the casual fan (this box covers ALL they will ever need), AND a starting point for any fan who wants to discover more of this underrated band, who should then proceed to the Rhino remasters of Chicago's catalogue. To all the oldtime fans who thought Chicago lost their touch in the 80s, they should STILL own this, for the artwork and photos, the fact that this period is only a disc and a half (out of 5), the proof they didn't LOSE their touch (as per the SOS tracks and the last 4 songs, espesh the Lenny Kravitz-produced "The Only One", which sounds straight outta the early 70s!!), and the fun DVD, which has footage from a 1972 concert, and the hysterical promo film for "Chicago 13" from 1979. If there is one downfall, no live songs are included from the Carnegie Hall + Japan albums (both to be reissued on Rhino), nor any from "Chicago 25/The Christmas Album", or "Chicago 26/Live In Concert", the recent live album, both on the band's Chicago Records label. Perhaps Rhino will be reissuing those in the future as well(???)...

The proof is there that Rhino put their love and care into this box, and it really shows!! This should win some awards at next year's Grammys, AND Chicago should finally be nominated into the Rock + Roll Hall Of Fame. The proof is in "Chicago 28" aka "The Box", and the great music is there for the discovering for fans and future generations. Bravo!!!


An Excellent Career Spanning Boxed Set   July 1, 2005
 10 out of 12 found this review helpful

I know fans of Chicago have mixed feelings about this boxed set. Well, in this fan's opinion, "The Chicago Box" is a near-perfect Covering everything from 1969 to 1999, this cd has all the stuff a Chicago can ask for, even a great bonus dvd to augment the five discs of music.

As I said, this collection has everything a Chicago could want. For starters, all the big hit singles are here, from "25 Or 6 To 4" to "If You Leave Me Now" to "Hard To Say I'm Sorry". Also, many underrated minor singles, are included, such as "Harry Truman", "Brand New Love Affair", "Street Player", "Thnder And Lightning", "Must Have Been Crazy", "Niagra Falls", "Hearts In Trouble" and "Chasin' The Wind". As with most if not all boxed sets, tons of underrated album tracks are including, and this one is no exception. This collection has stuff like "South California Purples", "Listen", "A Hit By Varese", "In Terms Of Two", "Mongonucleosis", "Happy Man", "Never Been In Love Before", "Forever", and "Heart In Pieces" are just some of the forgotten album gems included here. And finally, this collection does something that "Only The Beginning: The Very Best Of Chicago" didn't do (okay, one track). It goes beyond "Chicago Twenty 1". All the way up. I was really happy they did this, since songs like "All The Years", "Bigger Than Elvis", "Here In My Heart", and "All Roads Lead To You" rank among my favorite Chicago songs.

The bonus dvd is excellent. It has performances from the Aerie Crown Theatre and a promo film for "Chicago 13". The booklet is excellent. It has a briliant essay, rare photos and song and album information. In this reviewer's opinion, as expensive as it is, this boxed set is definitely a must own.


A GREAT DOCUMENTARY BOX SET FOR A GREAT BAND!!!   August 21, 2003
 9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Rhino's recent box set "Chiago" is awesome! Overall, the delivery is quite professional and complete. From "Introduction" to "Show me a Sign" are all here, including a DVD of vintage footage of Terry, Danny and Pete, jamming once again with the era's best brass section pounding away at complex charts, while Lamm remains busy on keys all over the place. I loved listening to it and watching the bonus DVD. I highly recommend it. If you love actual music, then you'll love this box set. Yes, Chicago are a musician's band, which makes them the coolest of all! Who cares what a person's opinions are, when he/she has little ability? If you don't have ability, then buy this box set and perhaps you'll learn to make a guitar talk or write a toon, or pop a note through brass! Rock on!


Don't Listen To Anyone Else!   February 11, 2005
 8 out of 9 found this review helpful

This Chicago box set is fantastic. I don't care what anyone else has to say about it. I am a huge Chicago fan and have most of their stuff on vinyl. Then came cd's. First came the "Group Portrait" 4 disc cd set that Columbia put out covering the first half of the bands music. Then came "The Heart of Chicago" volume 1 and 2. Finally "The Very Best Of Chicago" 2 cd set was released. So, having all these Chicago cd's, why would I need another box set? Well, after over a year of putting it off, I starting to really think about it. One day, I printed off a list of songs from this Rhino 5 cd, 1 dvd set. To my suprise, there were 32 songs on this set, that I did not have on any previous cd's. Plus, with the addition of the dvd with excellent footage of the band in the Terry Kath and Peter Cetera days, I figured it was time to get it. You can't go wrong with this set. Also, with the 60 page + cover booklet and the box itself, any Chicago fan will be proud to own this set. The only thing not in this set are songs from "Whats It Gonna Be Santa", but who wants to hear Christmas music in the middle of summer anyways. Hope this review helps with your buying decision.