Music of the Day, 21 October 2023

touch the sky

Even though I’m long removed from my high-school days, one seasonal pattern from them endures. Late summer through autumn is marching band season, and my mind wanders through many and varied memories. Marching band songs blend with pep band songs¹ because there was a lot of overlap between them. Our director would often create marching band shows by using pieces of songs; and in pep band, we’d play the full song.

We played a lot of Chicago. My small hometown’s high school was stuffed with talented musicians, including several trombonists and trumpeters, so we could do their music justice. I remember that several pieces were fun for us flautists too, although that instrument wasn’t featured often in Chicago’s jazzy-proggy² rock sound.

I liked nearly all of their music, but had a distinct preference³ for one of the band’s lead vocalists: guitarist Terry Kath. It wasn’t until fairly recently that I discovered that songs that I’d thought had Kath on lead vocals featured Chicago cofounder and keyboardist Robert Lamm’s deeper voice. (Compared to their deeper and richer voices, bassist Peter Cetera’s has always seemed rather insipid to me; I still like a lot of those songs though.)

Today’s MotD is one of my favorite Chicago tunes that features Kath as lead vocalist. It’s from their confusingly titled 1970 album Chicago⁴ and is the first piece in the multi-song composition written by James Pankow, titled “Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon.”

There are lots of versions of “Make Me Smile,” including some that include another piece from the “Ballet”: “Now More Than Ever.” I’ve chosen the one I know best. I’m pretty sure I bought Chicago IX: Chicago’s Greatest Hits with my own money not long after it came out in late 1975 and probably came close to wearing it out.

The entire song is fire, but whew! Terry Kath’s vocals are sublime… especially that falsetto/head voice “Wooo-oooo” in the second verse and its reprise. The only negative thing about this version is it’s the radio cut, so the extended intro and other tasty morsels have been cut, including Kath’s smoking solo.

The cover art for this album is especially apt, as the band was far from finished musically when it came out. Chicago rebounded after Terry Kath’s tragic, untimely death in 1978 and went on to become one of the US’s most successful bands to date by both RIAA and Billboard metrics.

And their legacy remains a work in progress. I was surprised to discover that Chicago is still active, with several original members still in the band on their 2022 album, Chicago XXXVIII: Born for This Moment.⁵

The only Chicago I have in my library now is their 1991 four-disc box set, Group Portrait, which has the glorious, full version of “Make Me Smile.” You can be certain that I’ll be listening to some of their more recent music online, to see if I need to add any albums from this enduring, remarkable band.

1. Pep band consisted of a subset of our marching band; we played for indoor winter sports, primarily basketball games. I don’t remember how people were chosen for pep band; I just remember being part of it all four years and enjoying it immensely. Being in the band was cool in my school.

2. I think of them as prog-like in their early days because of the frequent stylistic shifts in a song, and their long songs, often with extended solos that were cut down for radio airplay. Blasphemy!

3. or so I thought

4. Confusing because it’s the band’s second album (which is why these days it’s often styled as Chicago II), but their first after changing their name from Chicago Transit Authority to just Chicago

5. For those of you who didn’t learn Latin numerals, that’s 38