california transit authority

danny seraphine from chicago. mark bonilla is in the band.

anyone know anythng about them?

renny

Description
This critically acclaimed album will please fans of Chicago's early music as well as a new younger audience. Originally released in August 2007, it features remakes of Chicago's early recordings done in an updated, high energy fashion.

Tracklist
1. Something Different
2. Introduction
3. South California Purples
4. Make Me Smile
5. Several Thousand
6. Dreams
7. West Virginia Fantasies
8. Colour My World
9. Happy Cause I'm Going Home
10. Mississippi Delta Blues
11. Antonio's Love Jungle
12. I'm a Man
[Bonus Track]
13. 25 or 6 to 4 (Live at the 2006 Modern Drummer Festival)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0019SAZZC/?tag=imwan-20

I hope not......let old sleeping dogs lie.

roxanne,

why do you say that?

seraphime was an outstanding drummer with chicago. and bonilla is no slouch either.

renny

Danny Seraphine was an inspiration to MANY drummers, myself included. "Modern Drummer" had an article about him and CTA a few months back. Danny is just now bouncing back (with a vengeance) from the piss-poor way he was ousted from Chicago.

http://www.ctatheband.com/
(In the left frame, there's a link to "Play the montage track." The only "disappointment" among those tracks to me is "Make Me Smile" being performed as an instrumental. The band certainly has the vocal talent to perform that song well.)

I was a major Chicago fan in my high school days, but lost interest after Terry Kath died and their sound went so MOR. A couple of years ago I bought the Rhino CDs from the classic era, some of which I hadn't heard for decades. One thing that impressed me all over again about their music was Danny Seraphine's drumming. Glad to hear he's making a comeback.

Seraphine sure had a streak of bad luck in the 80's. First his club B'ginnings" closed (a great place to see a band, it was located in Schaumburgh, IL outside of Chicago. I saw Eddie Money there) Then he gets uncerimoniously dumped by the band he helped form. Glad to see he's trying again.

Jeff

http://www.ctatheband.com/DSeraphine_2006.pdf

Here's the "Modern Drummer" article I mentioned earlier. Danny seems very open and honest about his dismissal from Chicago (including taking responsibility for his share of the problems that led to his firing) as well as the reasons he disappeared for several years. It sounds like he's been through a lot and really has his head on straight now!

This article led to several "letters to the editor" and Danny expressed genuine surprise in learning how much his playing had meant to so many people. He appeared at some drum festival after that article appeared and was again shocked when he was met with an overwhelmingly positive reception!

As a long-time fan, I wish him the best of luck in his new endeavors.

Honestly, I remained a Chicago fan after Terry Kath's death (largely because I love Bill Champlin's voice); but Danny's departure was the end of Chicago for me.

As a diehard Chicago fan, I'm very glad to see Danny working again-what a frickin' drummer. One of the best I've ever heard. I've been listening to every Chicago remaster in order this summer (I'm currently on Chicago XIV) and it's been fun listening to the underrated later albums. Donny Dacus was a helluva guitar player in a tight spot, but he was great, especially on the Hot Streets album. Then Chris Pinnick who was treated like nothing more than a sideman, ripped off some mean solos on Chicago XIV and I tell you-all those later albums have some real gems and some surprising hard rockers on there!
That being said, Terry Kath is one of my all-time guitar heroes and when he died, things changed dramatically for me with Chicago but I still remained a big fan.
Danny started writing more and more on each album as well. On Chicago XIV he co-wrote the excellent lone hit from that record "Thunder And Lightning" as well as the bizarre "Birthday Boy".
He's a real talent and although, I look at his new band as nothing more than Creedence Clearwater Revisited and Riders On The Storm, and so on, he has every right to play Chicago tunes and drum his ass off!

i picked up the california transit authority CD at borders yesterday.

not bad, mostly insturmental versions of chicago songs. mark bonilla does some very nice guitar work and danny seraphime's drumming is wonderful as always.

worth a listen for chicago fans.

renny

I took a listen to this on Rhapsody last night, after seeing it on the P&P newsletter. Interesting...good playing throughout, but Chicago it ain't. To me, the instrumental versions cook, but I miss the vocals. And the vocals are good, but I miss the Kath/Lamm originals.

Maybe it's me...

I reviewed Danny Seraphine's auto biography for Amazon Vine a couple years ago, & I've been wanting to hear this ever since; especially as Seraphine agreed in the book with my position that after the first few albums Chicago turned into sugar coated pop.

I'm happy to say this album SMOKES, & the guitarist was certainly influenced by Kath. I'm only on song #3, & I already highly recommend it. It's a hard rock/jazz combination; with 5 CTA covers & 8 new songs & so far it's really good. & I mean REALLY GOOD.

Geff, Full Circle has nine Chicago covers and just four non-Chicago songs. It's a good album, but it doesn't hold a candle to the follow-up, Sacred Ground. I can't fully express how wonderful it is to hear this band cut loose on mostly new tunes. Many of the songs are very reminiscent of the first three Chicago albums, but it doesn't feel like an "old" album at all. Larry Braggs from Tower of Power sings several songs, as does Will Champlin (from "The Voice"). His dad, Bill Champlin, sings on the most poignant song, "Full Circle" (yes, the title of the first album). Danny wrote this about what it was like to be thrown out of Chicago. It's ironic that Bill sang it, as he was largely responsible for Danny's ouster (they've reconciled). Also, the irony continues, because the same thing later happened to Bill and you wonder who he's really singing about. My favorite song is "Staring At The Sun", which is a solid rocker. Mark Bonilla sounds a little like Robert Lamm on this tune, while Will C. sounds like Jason Scheff and the horns are screaming. Is Danny sending his old band a message? I highly recommend this album and think you'll love it.

Jim

We never had a thread for CTA's second album, so I'll just link to it here:



http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C4D7KVS/?tag=imwan-20

Wow, 9?? Makes it pretty obvious that I only own the first 3 albums (& despite having owned a copy since it came out, I'm not all that familiar with Chicago 3) & a few live releases! I'll have to look for Sacred Ground. I reallty like the guitarist, & the general "feel" of the band.

Mark Bonilla kicks ass. He did a wonderful job in The Keith Emerson Band. Between Danny Seraphine and Mark Bonilla I'm in.

Rick A.