RhinoA newly remixed version of Chicago‘s classic second album, Chicago II, will be reissued on January 27. The record, which peaked at #4 on the Billboard 200 in 1970, was remixed by British prog-rock musician and acclaimed producer Steven Wilson using the original multi-track tapes.
Chicago II, which originally was released as a two-LP set, caught the band at the height of its creative powers, featuring explorations into jazz-fusion and symphonic rock, along with inspired hard-rock tunes and melodic ballads. The album yielded three of the group’s most enduring hits “25 or 6 to 4,” “Make Me Smile” and “Colour My World,” all of which reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. The record’s centerpiece was “Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon,” a seven-part song cycle that included “Make Me Smile” and “Colour My World.”
Wilson says he considers Chicago II to be the band’s “pre-eminent masterpiece,” while noting, “It’s got everything: moments of tender beauty to power riffs and scorched-earth jazz-rock, catchy melodies and gorgeous vocal harmonies.”
A new two-LP vinyl edition of the album is due out later in 2017.
Here’s the full track list of Chicago II:
“Movin’ In”
“The Road”
“Poem for the People”
“In the Country”
“Wake Up Sunshine”
“Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon”
–“Make Me Smile”
–“So Much to Say, So Much to Give”
–“Anxiety’s Moment”
–“West Virginia Fantasies”
–“Colour My World”
–“To Be Free”
–“Now More Than Ever”
“Fancy Colours”
“25 or 6 to 4”
“Memories of Love”
–“Prelude”
–“A.M. Mourning”
–“P.M. Mourning”
–“Memories of Love”
“It Better End Soon”
–“1st Movement”
–“2nd Movement”
–“3rd Movement”
–“4th Movement”
“Where Do We Go from Here”
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