LIVE IN CONCERT
by CHICAGO

Remastered sound, a bonus track, and Terry Kath's guitar genius: highly recommended

By Rick Hines, May 12, 2018

I was a huge Chicago fan as a teenager in the early 70s. Saw them several times in concert, had all their LPs, etc. I have additional musical interests now, but the guitar playing of Terry Kath always brings me back to this group. I've also come to appreciate Danny Seraphine's jazz-influenced drumming and Peter Cetera's nimble, melodic bass playing. I had this on vinyl LP as a more-or-less bootleg back then, and it sounded so bad I sold it off decades ago.

Having recently purchased the "VI Decades Live" box set, I'm again on a Terry Kath jag. Seeking more of Kath's genius, I found this album remastered with a bonus track. The sound samples didn't sound any worse than any other live recordings of the era, and certainly not as bad as my memory had of the original LP. Had they in fact improved on that old muddy LP? Had my ears simply become more accustomed to listening to bootlegs over the years? I had to find out.

I wish I still had that bootleg LP so I could compare, because I'm floored by how good this concert set is. It was recorded in 1969, so it's not the best fidelity, but it is quite listenable. With the remastering, the instruments are all clear, the horns are snappy, the vocals out front, and Terry Kath runs guitar roughshod over the whole proceeding. They are a young, hungry band with one moderately successful album out playing in front of a festival crowd, and they play with the fire one associates with those conditions. You can hear slightly better sound quality on "Carnegie Hall" and "Japan," but every time Kath launches into a solo, he finds a different place to go, and that was true throughout his career. The rhythm section nimbly follows his every twist and turn, with Seraphine and Cetera providing fluid support. The sound does not detract from any of this, and actually gives it a raw, emotional edge, the sound of a band pushing to get noticed.

I highly recommend this recording to anyone interested in the band or Kath in particular. Don't let the reviews about sound quality scare you off--they were probably written for other releases of this material. This version kicks ass and is well worth the purchase.