Description
After releasing its eighth consecutive gold album in just six years, Chicago embarked upon a massive stadium tour in 1975 that s considered to be one of its finest. The shows found the group at the pinnacle of its prowess, combining the jaw-dropping musicality and contagious onstage energy that made Chicago one of the most successful acts in American pop history. This two-disc set contains two hours of previously unreleased performances recorded June 24-26 at the Capital Centre in Largo, Maryland. The collection is presented in a hardbound slipcase accompanied by a foldout poster that features rare photos from the tour.

Tracklist
CD1:
1. Introduction
2. Anyway You Want
3. Beginnings
4. Does Anybody Really Know what Time It Is?
5. Call On Me
6. Make Me Smile
7. So Much To Say, So Much To Give
8. Anxiety's Moment
9. West Virginia Fantasies
10. Colour My World
11. To Be Free
12. Now More Than Ever
13. Ain't It Blue?
14. Just You 'N' Me
15. (I've Been) Searchin' So Long
16. Mongonucleosis
17. Old Days
18. 25 Or 6 To 4

CD2:
1. Got To Get You Into My Life
2. Free
3. I'm A Man
4. Dialogue
5. Wishing You Were Here
6. Feelin' Stronger Every Day

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RWKNBQQ/?tag=imwan-20

A mostly good performance and very cool to hear tunes from one of my favorite albums Chicago VIII. (There are sloppy moments and the show is incomplete however).

But...this overpriced, disgraceful release was very expensive. I received it as a gift when it came out, heard it thought it sounded funny but not bad after half a listen, quickly realized it was a soundboard/audie mix with massive echo and boom problems, and poor separation of instruments.

I sold it for $50 and burned it and never played it again.

Now, for those curious who held off or sold theirs for a good $ like I did here it is again to piss off those who spent a lot on it.

I still won't get it, but I think it's funny how Rhino are basically saying take these please!

Many fans were pissed at this release as they should be.

A terrible sham.

Call it a boot and that's fine, but don't charge $45 and not tell anyone.

This "handmade" reissue campaign is starting to piss me off for similar reasons. I bought several of there titles in the day at ridiculous prices, because I was told they were extremely limited.

It would be nice if they would do the R&L Thompson set for $15; it's the only hand made I need.

Boy, I haven't even thought about "Rhino Handmade" in a LONG time. I'd forgotten about them until I read this thread. They had some very good releases and it's a shame that for the most part anyway, they seem to have ceased to exist.

Won't buy them for that very reason, nothing remains exclusive when it comes to record companies. If they are rare and there is a demand sell them now before they are reissued.

enough live chicago form the early 70's, enough.

I was really excited to get this, being a big Chicago fan. It's awful. I can't imagine ever wanting to listen to it again.

This is exactly why I have always referred to them as Rhino Handjob.

A friend of mine who works at Warner Music Group got me a copy of this for $1 from one of their employee sales a couple of years ago. I would have been upset had I paid the original Rhino Handmade price but for $1 I thought it sounded fine...no worse than the other official '70s live albums, and it's a very good performance. I have a great bootleg CD recorded in '74 called "Searching So Long" which sounds better than any other live Chicago albums I've heard.

This is from the mid-70's 8 albums in, the other 2 are from the Chicago III and Chicago V tours, so I was thrilled with what year this was from, but the quality blew ass.

Ugh-this is a bootleg masquerading as an official release. Your $1 was worth it, but anyone's $50 was not.

Terry Kath's guitar is barely audible at times and Lee sounds like he's drunk and/or high (probably was) with his on-stage babbling.

I thought this was very shoddy, and I received the Live In Japan 2014 issue for Christmas and that is leagues better than this.

Live in Japan is good, but like the remastered Carnegie Hall set even better. The original release sounded pretty crappy, but now it's much better, and the energy and performances are excellent.

I agree that the expanded Carnegie kicks ass over the original; but I've always wondered if Carnegie had some sort of weird rule that Kath couldn't turn on his distortion box. He uses a very uncharacteristic clean guitar tone through the entire concert.

Bump: Updated the description and tracklist in the first post.

Bump: This has been pushed back to February 24th.

I wonder if this is an exact replica of the Rhino Handmade edition complete with poster and deluxe booklet, or is this a stripped down version? As I said on the original thread, it's an interesting document of the band's live show at that time (oddly similar to the current one). The sound leaves a lot to be desired, but the music's the thing for me. I'm glad it's being released in a cheaper format.

Jim

I listened to a bit of it today( had a 20 percent off coupon at Barnes and Noble so I couldn't resist)and imho it's pretty good sq wise.

Despite being a Chicago completist, the cost of this set kept me away, but I found a new copy on eBay for $10 so I went ahead and took the plunge. After a couple listens, I have pretty mixed feelings about it.

My shocking and controversial but long-held opinion regarding Chicago is that while the horns may have given the band their identity, and deservedly so, the band's true strength was its rhythm section, especially Kath, Cetera, and Seraphine (Robert Lamm, my favorite overall member of the band, could obviously hold his own, too). They're at peak strength here, even if Kath's guitar seems to be buried in the sound at times, and the addition of Laudir de Oliveira on extra percussion was a masterstroke. Seriously, these guys could play with ANYBODY.

The horns, though, just sound like a disaster here, Loughnane's trumpet in particular. Missed notes, frequently out of tune, the horns not playing together...it's so disappointing. Each of the horns, particularly Parazaider, sounds fine, even great at times, when he's playing alone, but together they just sound really sloppy to me. Not to mention the overall kazoo sound rearing its ugly head again. Was it just impossible for anyone to get a good recording of the horns for live albums back then? The Japan set is probably the best, but even there I don't find the horn sound to be too great.

I did find the liner notes to be an entertaining read, and the setlist was good...maybe a little too oriented towards the Chicago VII and VIII era, but that was understandable given the time it was recorded. For $10 I'm not sorry I bought it, but for full price I almost certainly would have been. Probably not something I will listen to more than every couple years, though.

Also have to say that, despite my mixed feelings, listening to it (especially the rhythm section) once again makes me so, so bummed that I was too young to ever get to see this incarnation of the band play live, with Kath, Cetera, and Seraphine. I didn't start listening to the band until they were all gone.The only 2 times I've seen the band were in the late 90s, during the Champlin/Scheff era (love Champlin, never been a Scheff guy).

I was old enough, but never saw them. I THINK the only horn bands I ever saw was Tower Of Power & a later day incarnation of Cold Blood.

The performance and the sound quality are both shaky.

Very disappointing release but I absolutely love this band.

I will be seeing them in August and haven't seen them since 1988 so it should be interesting for me.

Agree, played in the car, found this live album almost unlistenable, Japan 1972 is so much better in sound and show

Yep.