Chicago- Liberation REACTION & REVIEW

[@manhattenman6075]

A long drawn out jam to end this fantastic debut album. It’s been a journey for you listening to this album. Chicago II is amazing, in fact their first 7 albums are great.

[@renatols1995]

Terry Kath's guitar at its freaking best and wildest! Love this song from start to finish, huge free ride and jazz rock in the whole sense of the words.

[@andymccracken4046]

I checked the album sleeve notes and it says - LIBERATION This track was recorded entirely live. The performance embodied in this recording is complete and uncut.

[@jeffschielka7845]

Hey Justin! How are you my friend? This is such a great album. The first 7 albums are just incredible. CHICAGO ROCKS❗️❗️❗️🔈🔉🔊😎

[@andymccracken4046]

"Eleven" was a typical microphone test. I bought this in 1971, and now have it on CD, this track is a good ending to the album and I really like it.

[@jpirard]

This was recorded with no overdubs live in the studio.

[@submandave1125]

"This is Danny's song" It was Danny's drumming, especially in the free jazz section, that held everyone together and actually made it a cohesive song.

[@-R.Gray-]

I was lucky enough to see them play at my high school just after this album was released. Another album by a horn band released the same month was "Loosen Up Naturally" by the San Francisco band The Sons of Champlin. Hear the song "Things Are Gettin' Better".

[@AJ-wg1xv]

Chicago "Blues Brothers" at the beginning for sure.

[@jamespaivapaiva4460]

So apropos, first full day home, Liberation at last! Some will not care for the extended noodling, but this is the same as Chicago was live! The band used to jam until the promoters threatened to turn off the power! Back in our youth electrification and experimentation with sound were new to us, so boundaries were stretched to limits of the envelope.&.

[@pilesovinyl]

So happy you are getting into early Chicago, they were just an amazing band which really suffered when Terry Kath died. Oh, they were talented enough and had the numbers to carry on and be successful but that edge and creative spark was gone.

[@andreasberten764]

... ty JP, always like your reactions. And as I said before: If you like early Chicago, try The Flock! :-) ...

[@-R.Gray-]

With Jerry Goodman's wah wah violin before Mahavishnu.

[@jamesgabbert9375]

Terry Kath does all the things with his guitar. This was a great final track on this album. I always looked forward to it. I always saw it as a metaphor for a life - the beginning is all fun joyful with the horns, then an interlude of work as Kath puts his guitar through the paces. Then comes the grind...work becomes a chore, discordant and sometimes painful. But then retirement and joy comes back and we are thankful.

[@-davidolivares]

Amen, I am at the grind, painful discordant chore describes it perfectly. Not at the oasis yet but I can see it from here. Everyday one step closer. Liberation. Maybe I’ll quicken my pace. Why not?

[@yes_head]

Well that went on for... a bit too long. But it was 1969 and they had an album side to fill, so that's how people rolled back then.

[@RobertERensch]

This always reminded me of a game show. ✌️

[@jfergs.3302]

'Tell him what he's won Bob' 🙂

[@jacksonbrawn6638]

Great jam! Wish there was a longer guitar solo.... LOL!

[@izzonj]

I'd love a drummer to opine on whether Danny is double tracked in this. It's wild percussion but doesn't sound like it could be just four limbs doing all that

[@NotData]

I'm surprised you didn't save this for Long Song Saturday.

[@gaiaeternal5131]

Hi JP. DP from UK, with Friday On My Mind. A terrific way to finish off the album, although I think Terry's solo is just a tad too long. I also much prefer his solo on Poem 58. The bread in the Terry sandwich is just great, and you're right about Danny's sensational drumming - a shame he got fired many years later; but he then started his own band California Transit Authority!

[@bjhellstream]

An obvious album filler but today i can appreciate it more than at 14-15 years pld. The whole side 4 has been largely ignored by me since those early days. As a jam it's great but as a song not so much. I wish it had showcased more of the bands instrumentalists. But I'm glad I listened to it again 50+ years later. I appreciate it much more now. Apart for maybe the cacophony in the middle.

[@-davidolivares]

Hendrix may have said Terry was better than him but I think he was being humble. More of an acknowledgement of a peer. Both suffered from self editing sometimes as many did in the days of long soloing, drums, guitars being the main culprits. Small to medium edits would have made this better. It was just the time of not necessarily self indulgence but could be uncaring exploration, strange portions and wrong notes be damned.

[@sicko_the_ew]

I enjoyed this. You have to take it for what it is (or maybe what it simulates - probably just what it simulates, but that's fine). Which is? Something like the raw creative process? "Finding a song". That's what justifies doing naughty things with keys and sound effects, and so on. You're going to come up with a pretty boring song if you just do everything right. I guarantee you thousands of people before you have already done that. All those songs are written and have been worn out by radio DJs long, long ago. So you're left with things like the interesting filth you can make with electrical misbehaviour, and things like that. Not for your eventual song (which has to be right, otherwise everyone's going to complain that it's naughty). Just for finding it. But as an album track I'd guess what they do is splice a bunch of exploratory things together. Maybe with loose directions like, "switch to song B when Terry waves" - so properly jammy nose to the ground and sniffing it like a vacuum cleaner stuff organized around jams that have already been and gone. Or maybe not. It just sounds like that, so I make that guess. And I know nothing, so what I think something sounds like doesn't count for much. (Except when I know I'm right. When I'm right about things I generally just am right, so you'd be wise to just listen. ) ;P

[@roberttee9790]

I happen to think all music is good. Might not all be my taste, might not understand it, doesn't make it bad, just don't currently care for it. When this first came out I didn't like it. I liked the drums near the end, I was about 10. Now I think this is wonderful music. I understand it, I feel it. The music didn't change, I did. Thx jp. Another good show.

[@JustJP]

I like your perspective Robert :)

[@erolbulut2584]

I miss Terry, very much

[@michaelfrank2266]

I'll probably be speaking blasphemies this morning. I thought the first third and the last third was great. I wasn't in the mood for all the damned guitar shredding. Honestly, I skipped over the middle to the ending transitions. I think I would have enjoyed the piece better if it was a live performance where I could hear and watch the guitar.

[@AriadneJC]

Aimless, directionless noise. Not good.

[@pentagrammaton6793]

It is not good.

[@BradenMcClure-q6k]

​@@pentagrammaton6793like your taste

[@pentagrammaton6793]

I never could stand Chicago.

[@TRANZEURO]

Why not ? It's a beautiful city 😉

[@frugalseverin2282]

While I do appreciate expert musicianship this is the sort of jazz noodling that does not appeal to me. I'd rather listen to The Beatles' 'Revolution 9'. This just reeks of self-indulgence and a need to fill the space on a 2 record set.

[@jfergs.3302]

Self indulgent indeed, my thoughts entirely. Not sure about R9 though :)

[@AJ-wg1xv]

Actually they had plenty of material. That's why their first albums were all doubles.

[@DavidImiri]

Rippin' jam, but most of this is too crowded and noisy for my taste. Lacking in the melody, horns, vocals, and most of Chicago's other greatest strengths, until the wonderful end section that almost but doesn't really redeem it, due to the reprise of the scraggy jam out and gratuitous drum solo. Terry just had too much wannabe Clapton/Hendrix he had to get out of his system at this early stage. Just compare to his exquisite solo on 25 or 6 to 4 - this is juvenile in comparison. Ho hum. Great album though overall, especially for a debut. And no, nothing like King Crimson - they are deeply structured, and Terry sounds nothing like the unique and disciplined Fripp to me. Stand-out tracks: Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?, Questions 67 and 68, I'm a Man, and Beginnings - all amazing.