Chicago 26 - Live In Concert Arkansas

Chicago 26 - Live In Concert

Chicago

Chicago Records, 1999

REVIEW BY: Jeff Clutterbuck

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 05/02/2005

I have spent years in the pursuit of great live albums.Unfortunately, they are few and far between. Now, admittedly, Chicago 26 already has a few things against it. First, theyare one of my favorite groups, so expectations are higher.Secondly, having seen them live performing a wide variety ofmaterial makes the omissions on this album seem even more glaring.While my status as a Chicago fan certainly affects how I view thisalbum, that doesn't change the fact that this is a very poor effortfrom one of the longest-touring acts in rock.

Up at the top of this review, where the name of the album lies,pick out the number please. Got it? That would be 26, indicatingthis is the 26th Chicago album. At roughly ten songs an album (aconservative estimate), that would imply Chicago has recorded 260songs. We get 13 here, and the final three are new recordings. Thatleaves ten songs (for Chicago fans, I always count "The Ballet" asone work). Classics such as "Saturday In The Park," "Does AnybodyReally Know What Time It Is," and "If You Leave Me Now" - not tomention album tracks like "Dialogue," "I'm A Man," or "SouthCalifornia Purples" -- are nowhere to be found. Ten tracks that runroughly an hour are nowhere near enough for a band of Chicago'scaliber.

The actual performances fall between energetic and sterile.Throughout this disc, it sounds as if audience applause andcheering was added in as an afterthought. This is a concert; I wantto hear clapping, singing along, any indication the crowd is aliveand feeling the music. After all, live albums are supposed tocapture that experience, or at least they used to. It's nice tohave a clean-sounding live album, but Chicago 26 overdoes it.

Fortunately, Chicago has been touring too long for the membersto turn in bad performances. As always, the horn section is theheart and soul of the band, bringing life to the tracks. "Feelin'Stronger Everyday" moves along faster than original, and itactually sounds like the boys care. "Hard To Say I'm Sorry"improves in terms of sound tremendously with the inclusion of thehorn section, something that was lacking on Chicago 16. Robert Lamm and Bill Champlin perform with thepanache and style that comes with the year spent in theindustry.