PET PEEVE #624
Current Music: Inching Toward...? by The Howland Imboden Project
The blurb of this song reads:
This song from the upcoming release from The Howland Imboden Project features Robert Lamm and James Pankow from the band Chicago as well as drummer Tris Imboden and guitarist Keith Howland. The tune weaves latin, jazz, and rock together in a melodic vehicle for the soloists to improvise over.
This song completely kicks @$$, mostly because of the kick-@$$ musicians on the track. Now, this song features 1/2 of the band Chicago. It should follow that the band as a whole should be able to produce music of equal or greater quality.
But they don't. And, I don't buy any of that "Boo-hoo, we were pigeon-holed in the 80s as a ballad band" crap. Listen to a live show. They can make that "ballad band" stuff rock when they can be bothered to do so. So, why have they released strings of rehashed greatest hits and cover CDs for the past 10 years? The frequency of new songs they'd produce (often as the "bonus tracks" to these CDs) is as sporadic as the quality of the music.
Check out the (hard to find) solo efforts from different band members -- from the originals like Robert Lamm, the vets like Bill Champlin and Jason Scheff, and the newer members like Keith Howland and Tris Imboden -- everything just sounds SO much better. The writing, the vocals, and the instrumentals are of a caliber that, I say, hasn't been heard on a Chicago album for a good 20 years!
Inching Toward...? is a prime example. In it, there's a lengthy trombone solo by James Pankow. Pankow hasn't had a 'bone solo on this good on a Chicago album since
Chicago VII. How long ago was that? A long time, since they're supposedly recording
Chicago XXVII now.
Just ticks me off. I don't buy Chicago's reasons for why their music just isn't as good as it was in the 70s (You can find them if you do enough web-searching on the subject). I personally chalk it up to what they must be thinking which IMO has to be, "Hey, Chicago has paid our dues for nigh on 40 years now, so why put in the effort of making new music when we can play
Saturday in the Park for the 5 billionth time at a show you still paid $30 to see, plus another $20 on a t-shirt?"
It wouldn't tick me off as much if they'd at least have the stones to come out and say that. At least that'd be honest, and I can enjoy their solo efforts without my metaphorical stomach churning.
