Scholastic Magazine, 1970

This article comes from the Nov. 16,1970 issue of Scholastic magazine. It is written by Bud Scoppa.

When ex-Dylan sideman Al Kooper formed Blood, Sweat and Tears a couple of years back,the repercussions were felt throughout the rock world.

The difference between Kooper's band and other rock groups: Blood, Sweat, & Tears used horns as well as guitar, bass, drums and keyboards. Their premier album, "The Child Is Father to the Man", sold poorly at first, but it became a milestone.

Within months, there were dozens of rock groups featuring horns, but few could stand up to Blood, Sweat, & Tears' full-bodied hard rock. Then Kooper left the group and it began to move toward jazz and other"serious" musical forms, pulling the other brass-rock bands along with it.

Result: Blood, Sweat & Tears got very popular, but less exciting, and the other bands tried, without success, to make"important" music.

One brass-rock band ignored the jazz-rock trend completely. Instead, it played lusty, precise, and altogether honest rock undiluted by second-hand jazz or classical embellishments. This band called itself Chicago Transit Authority at first, then tightened its name to Chicago.

In an uncommon move, chicago opened with a hard-hitting "double" album, and the band's second release was double, too. In less than a year, Chicago produced four albums, all first-rate.

Led by Jim Pankow, who energetically cheers his mates on when he isn't playing his trombone, and Robert Lamm, who plays organ and piano and does most of the singing, Chicago unfailingly delivers a high-powered live performance that's polished to a high gloss. Chicago's sound is driving, smooth, and simple.

While Blood, Sweat, & Tears and its imitators continue to move away from rock, Chicago goes in the opposite direction, and keeps getting better. At this point, Chicago is indisputably the best brass-rock band in existence.

Evidently, none of its "competitors" dares to launch a serious challenge. Perhaps those two music-packed double albums are just too imposing to meet head-on. More likely, it's that overwhelming honesty of Chicago that forces the other bands to stand clear as Chicago rolls through.