Columbia 33100
Producer: James William Guercio
Track listing: Anyway You Want / Brand New Love Affair — Pt. I / Brand New Love Affair” — Pt. II / Never Been in Love Before / Hideaway / Till We Meet Again / Harry Truman / Oh, Thank You Great Spirit / Long Time No See / Ain’t It Blue? / Old Days
May 3, 1975
2 weeks
With its eighth album, Chicago became an eight-piece band as percussionist Laudir de Oliveira, who was featured as a sideman on Chicago VI and Chicago VII, became a full-fledged member of the band. In September 1974, the band once again returned to Jim Guercio’s Caribou Ranch to cut the album, which ended up as single disc.
Success was beginning to take its toll on Chicago. “We were kind of tired and burned out,” says drummer Danny Seraphine. “That’s one of my least favorite albums.” Nonetheless, the album featured two hit singles. “Harry Truman” was released in February, well advance of the album. The song, written and sung by keyboardist Robert Lamm, peaked at number 13 on April 5, 1975, but didn’t go over well in Japan, a country in which the band had been enjoying considerable success. While Truman may have been one of America’s most trusted leaders, in Japan, there was no love for the man who had ordered the atomic bombing of Hiroshima during World War II. “I could never figure out to this day why the record company released ‘Harry Truman’ in Japan,” Seraphine says. “I think it ruined our career for a long time there.”
Still, there was no stopping Chicago in America. Chicago VIII hit Number One in its fourth week on the chart, knocking Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti from the top spot. It was Chicago’s fourth consecutive chart-topper. To celebrate the triumph, Chicago hit the road with the Beach Boys on a 12-city American tour during which the bands played to more than 700,000 people, who paid more than $7.5 million.
“Old Days,” the second single from the album, was substantially less controversial than “Harry Truman,” but it did raise tempers within the band. The song, written by trombonist/percussionist James Pankow, reached number five on June 7, 1975. Yet bassist/vocalist Peter Cetera, who sang lead on the track, wasn’t a particularly big fan of the song filled with Pankow’s childhood remembrances. “Peter hated the line ‘Howdy Doody,”‘ says Seraphine. “We used to have arguments about that song. While it was a hit, we performed it live, but later we dropped it from the set. Musically, it’s a neat song, but Peter thought the words were wimpy.”
A third single from the album, “Brand New Love Affair (Pt. 1 & 2),” stalled at number 61, on September 20, 1975. But that’s not to suggest that Chicago’s popularity was beginning to wane — witness the success of their next album, Chicago IX — Chicago’s Greatest Hits.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of May 3, 1975
1. Chicago VIII, Chicago
2. Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin
3. That’s the Way of the World, Earth, Wind & Fire
4. Have You Never Been Mellow, Olivia Newton-John
5. Autobahn, Kraftwerk