and records that do not get a lot of love like CHICAGO XIV (1980) are good with me as well, if only for songs like "Manipulation".

as for their David Foster era (16, 17, 18) ... I kind of hold it in a different esteem; it was a move necessary for their survival and IMO, for singers like Cetera, it was a move right in line with artists that were aging as they were. Because I had heard some of Bill Champlin's music before he joined the band, I was actually shocked he was there. He never really got over as a solo artist on major labels... but him being with the band kind of felt like hearing Michael McDonald on the Doobies. The whole complexion of the band changed; he was also the one who brought Foster aboard. The funny thing was that he was with Chicago over 20 years and it still felt that way. Their power ballads were just hard to imagine having come from more or less the same core band that recorded the likes of "25 to 6 or 4".

However, Foster realized that Cetera was born for that "Lionel Richie Music" (see: "Bad Advice" and "What Can I Say" from Chicago 16) and Bill Champlin was already there ("Sonny Think Twice", same album) so it seemed natural in that regard. Chicago 16 was more or less dominated by Champlin and Cetera vocally, and what I liked about 17, you got Robert Lamm singing songs again, in particular: "We Can Stop The Hurtin" (which is '80s as hell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LT6OvBc5zQ). Craziest shit is that they still had their signature horn section -- only thing now is that they sounded a lot like what you'd hear with the slick LA scene.



Funny, considering, as I've noted here, Cetera's 1981 solo album (first time he broke from the band) was almost all rock. It wasn't until that year following that you started to hear his voice attached to "soft rock" songs.

I've also heard some of the oddest songs ripping off Chicago songs, 2 of them from the AREA 88 soundtrack.