Chicago 26 - Live In Concert Alaska

Chicago 26 - Live In Concert

Chicago

Chicago Records, 1999

REVIEW BY: Tommy Johnson

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 02/09/2002

"I suppose that after 30-something platinum albums and just as many years of touring, you would expect these guys to simply go through the motions and play the old hits, but nothing could be further from the truth. Every show I recorded was treated as if it was their last show - I never heard anybody perform at anything less than stellar levels." - Ted Perlman, engineer of Chicago 26

Chicago has had hits in four decades, with over 120 million albums sold, more than 20 Top Ten hits and five albums on the top of the American sales-charts. This makes Chicago one of the most popular American bands of all time. It all started in 1969, now the year is 2002 and Chicago's working on their 27th album.

However, the most recent Chicago recording is Chicago 26, released in 1999. Chicago 26 is a live album with three new songs at the end of the disc. Since the last live album they did was over 30 years ago ( Chicago IV: Live At Carnegie Hall in 1971) it was due that a Chicago live album with the current configuration was made.

The CD kicks off with the 1971 classic "Ballet For A Girl In Buchanon", a suite that includes some of Chicago's most well-known songs, such as "Make Me Smile" and "Colour My World." This 12 minute "Chicago theme" was probably the best way to start the cd. "The Ballet" has a great mixture of strong vocals and powerful horns. The backside of this strong start, is that it seems like the rest of the live-tracks can't hold the same quality as the beginning.