The number one British album today in 1969 was the Rolling Stones’ “Let It Bleed”:
The number one British single today in 1980 came 12 days after its singer’s death:
The number one song today in 1986:
The number one album today in 1975 for the second consecutive week was “Chicago IX,” which was actually “Chicago’s Greatest Hits”:
Today in 1961, this was the first country song to sell more than $1 million:
The number one single today in 1962:
The number one single today in 1970 (which sounded like it had been recorded using 1770 technology):
The number one album today in 1975 was “Chicago IX,” which was actually “Chicago’s Greatest Hits”:
Suburban Chicago newspapers report:
Chicago founding member Robert Lamm knows it’s soon going to come to an end.
But before you hit the panic button, the band isn’t going away, but 2017 is. In a year that’s seen the band sell out shows around the world, including a summer run with The Doobie Brothers, there’s still work to be done before Chicago takes a much-needed end-of-the-year break.
But before the band goes home for the holidays, there’s the matter at hand of “Chicago II.”
On Nov. 7 and 8, Chicago will perform the album in its entirety at WTTW’s Grainger Studio in Chicago. The show will later be aired on the PBS show “Soundstage.”
Chicago II includes …
In a phone interview with the Sun Herald, from South Bend, Indiana, where Chicago was making preparations to perform with the legendary Notre Dame Marching Band, Lamm talks about revisiting “Chicago II,” his love for The Beatles and the impression a young Elvis Presley made on his life.
Tell me about the upcoming revisiting of “Chicago II” — was it difficult to relearn those songs?
As you probably already know, the album “Chicago II” was remixed at the request of Rhino Records, which owns the master. It was done by Steven Wilson, who is a British producer. It’s not really a remix, because he was just really working with a stereo master. He was able to bring out certain aspects of what was really an 8-track recording. And, by the way, that remix has been very favorably reviewed by some of the most demanding music journalists around.
Because of those good reviews and because of Rhino’s satisfaction with that work and because the album once again has been nominated for a the Grammy Hall of Fame, a couple of projects have arisen. One of them is performing the whole album top to bottom live, which is also going to be filmed. We are actually in rehearsals for that as we speak.
Is it tough revisiting some of those songs? I know you’ve been playing “Wake Up Sunshine” from the album on this tour. But is it challenging playing songs you haven’t played in 47 years?
Yes. For me, personally, yes and probably because of my hesitation to go back and re-examine even some of my own songs I wrote and I have not performed or even listened to for decades.
But I’m pretty excited about performing it in front of an audience. I would say all of it has been interesting, especially from a songwriting and arranging point of view. Some of the songs were written by Terry Kath, but I arranged them. Looking at the charts we used when we actually arranged them reveals certain qualities that I left long ago. I like to think that over the years that I’ve improved as a musician and as an arranger and songwriter. We were all a little bit dubious when we agreed to embark on this, and now that we have, everyone is pleasantly surprised. …
Last time we spoke, you discussed the possibility of the band doing some recording in 2018 with the current lineup, which includes new singer Jeff Coffey. Is that still a possibility?
Our problem in 2016 and 2017 has been an intense scheduling of concerts. But we have several months in 2018 that we may use to record an EP. I think it’s definitely a possibility. We recorded our last album “Now” on the road. Although that was a good result, it was pretty taxing. I’ve been pretty adamant about not recording that way for what we do next. We’ll probably record at Lee Loughnane’s studio in Arizona.
The other big Chicago news is …
The number one song today in 1961:
A horrible irony today in 1964: A plane carrying all four members of the group Buddy and the Kings crashed, killing everyone on board. Buddy and the Kings was led by Harold Box, who replaced Buddy Holly with the Crickets after Holly died in a plane crash in 1959:
Today in 1976, Chicago had its first number one single, which some would consider the start of its downward slope to sappy ballads:
The number one song today in 1957 …
… came from a just-opened movie:
The number one song today in 1967:
The number one British album today in 1973 was the Rolling Stones’ “Goats Head Soup,” despite (or perhaps because of) the BBC’s ban of one of its songs, “Star Star”:
Who shares a birthday with my brother (who celebrated his sixth birthday, on a Friday the 13th, by getting chicken pox from me)? Start with Paul Simon:
Robert Lamm plays keyboards — or more accurately, the keytar — for Chicago:
Sammy Hagar:
Craig McGregor of Foghat:
John Ford Coley, formerly a duet with England Dan Seals:
Rob Marche played guitar for the Jo Boxers, who …
One death of note: Ed Sullivan, whose Sunday night CBS-TV show showed off rock and roll (plus Topo Gigio and Senor Wences) to millions, died today in 1974:
Today in Great Britain in the first half of the 1960s was a day for oddities.
Today in 1960, a campaign began to ban the Ray Peterson song “Tell Laura I Love Her” (previously mentioned here) on the grounds that it was likely to inspire a “glorious death cult” among teens. (The song was about a love-smitten boy who decides to enter a car race to earn money to buy a wedding ring for her girlfriend. To sum up, that was his first and last race.)
The anti-“Tell Laura” campaign apparently was not based on improving traffic safety. We conclude this from the fact that three years later, Graham Nash of the Hollies leaned against a van door at 40 mph after a performance in Scotland to determine if the door was locked. Nash determined it wasn’t locked on the way to the pavement.
Today in 1959, Bertolt Brecht‘s “Threepenny Opera” reached the U.S. charts in a way Brecht could not have fathomed:
T0day in 1968, Apple Records released its first single by — surprise! — the Beatles:
Today in 1969, this spent three weeks on top of the British charts, on top of six weeks on top of the U.S. charts, making them perhaps the ultimate one-number-one-hit-wonder:
Today in 1967, Jimi Hendrix released “Purple Haze”:
Three years later, Hendrix made his last concert appearance in Great Britain at the Isle of Wight Festival, which also featured, for your £3 ticket …
Today in 1965, the Rolling Stones released the song that would become their first number one hit, and yet Mick Jagger still claimed …
Today in 1967, the New York Times reported on a method of reducing the noise recording devices make during recording. The inventor, Ray Dolby, had pioneered the process for studio recordings, but the Times story mentioned its potential for home use.
Ray Dolby, by the way, is no known relation to the other Dolby …
Today in 1987, Lindsey Buckingham refused to go out on tour with Fleetwood Mac for its “Tango in the Night” album, perhaps thinking that the road would make him …
The band probably told him …
… but look who came back a few years later:
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