“Chicago Transit Authority” by Chicago Transit Authority - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1969Album Chart of the Decade: 1960s1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die external-link.png

TJR says

Debut album from the Chicagoan septet, released in April, 1969. They lined up: Terry Kath (guitar, backing and lead vocals), Robert Lamm (keyboards, lead and backing vocals), Peter Cetera (bass, backing and lead vocals), Walter Parazaider (saxophone, tambourine), Lee Loughnane (trumpet, claves), James Pankow (trombone, cowbell) and Danny Seraphine (drums, percussion). They self-described as a “rock and roll band with horns”, I would lose the roll; they veer between intelligent pop and jazz rock as I hear it. It's a demanding listen, 76 minutes spread over 4 sides, with only the C-side doing the business for me, via the dirty-scuzz-experimentalization of “Free Form Guitar” and the raunchy half-rock-half-samba cover of “I’m A Man” (The Spencer Davis Group, 1967). There was much love for the work - they were nominated for a Grammy Award for 1969's Best New Artist of the Year. In the mid-70s, the album would stay on the Billboard 200 for 171 weeks, setting a new record at that time.

The Jukebox Rebel
20–Feb–2010

Tracklist
A1 [06:35] 2.2.png Chicago Transit Authority - Introduction (Terry Kath) Prog
A2 [04:35] 3.5.png Chicago Transit Authority - Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? (Robert Lamm) Jazz
A3 [07:54] 4.3.png Chicago Transit Authority - Beginnings (Robert Lamm) Cerebral Pop
B1 [05:03] 3.7.png Chicago Transit Authority - Questions 67 And 68 (Robert Lamm) Soft Rock / A.O.R.
B2 [03:22] 5.2.png Chicago Transit Authority - Listen (Robert Lamm) Cerebral Pop
B3 [08:35] 3.8.png Chicago Transit Authority - Poem 58 (Robert Lamm) Rock
C1 [06:47] 6.3.png Chicago Transit Authority - Free Form Guitar (Terry Kath) Avant-Garde
C2 [06:11] 4.6.png Chicago Transit Authority - South California Purples (Robert Lamm) Rock
C3 [07:43] 6.5.png Chicago Transit Authority - I’m A Man (Steve Winwood, James Miller) Blues Rock / Soul Rock
D1 [00:58] 4.0.png Chicago Transit Authority - Prologue (James William Guercio) Speech / Chat
D2 [04:11] 5.0.png Chicago Transit Authority - Someday (James Pankow, Robert Lamm) Cerebral Pop
D3 [14:38] 3.0.png Chicago Transit Authority - Liberation (James Pankow) Prog

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