Live At Carnegie Hall
Chicago
Columbia Records, 1971
REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 09/17/1997
Talk about chutzpah.
In 1971, Chicago was only three albums old - all double albums,mind you - and had definitely not yet hit its commercial stride.Nevertheless, they were able to sell out a week's worth of shows atthe revered Carnegie Hall.
So how did they celebrate their achievement? They released thismonstrosity, Live At Carnegie Hall (unofficially known as "Chicago 4").This four-record set is concrete proof that Chicago is a bandthat is best taken in small doses; listening to this one all theway through is like drinking the entire bottle of Nyquil in oneshot.
Terry Kath and crew do manage to keep a little interestavailable for the listener in the form of their early hits. "DoesAnybody Really Know What Time It Is?" has always been a track I'vekind of liked, and the live version stays pretty close to thestudio track, though I could have easily lived without thefree-form noodling on the keyboards. And I will admit to being ahypocrite here; Jethro Tull did the exact same thing as heard on Living In The Past - but at least that's bearable. Likewise,"Beginnings" is a track that you just can't help but like; itsrhythm section and vocal harmonies sound as fresh today as they didwhen the song was written.
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