Chicago II

Making the record

The album was recorded in less than a month in August 1969 and released on 26 January 1970. Its official title is Chicago, and it is retroactively known as Chicago II. It is the first record under the shortened name and the first with the cursive logo, designed by John Berg and fashioned by Nick Fasciano. Seraphine wrote that where the first record had been raw energy, the band took a more controlled approach to this one. Pankow said in 1970 that the group were scared in the studio and thought of themselves as a live band.

Its centerpiece is the 13-minute "Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon", written by Pankow, which produced the singles Make Me Smile and Colour My World. Kath took part in a four-piece classical-style cycle that was partly co-written by the arranger Peter Matz. Lamm wrote 25 or 6 to 4 and It Better End Soon, and Cetera contributed his first song for the band, Where Do We Go from Here?. The inner sleeve carries the producer's note that the record "should be experienced sequentially" and Lamm's dedication to the people of the revolution.

Reception

The album went to number 4 on the Billboard 200 and number 6 in the UK, with Make Me Smile at number 9, Colour My World at number 7 and 25 or 6 to 4 at number 4. It received Grammy nominations for Album of the Year and Best Album Cover, among others, and Cash Box readers voted it best album of 1970. Reviews at the time were divided: the Chicago Sun-Times thought it confirmed the band as one of the most exciting jazz-rock groups, while Robert Christgau gave it a D+ in the Village Voice. Looking back in American Songwriter, Jim Beviglia said it still stood as one of the band's signature achievements. Steven Wilson remixed it from the multitracks in 2016 for a Rhino release in January 2017.