Chicago
Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2015 1:02 am
Born just before the end of World War II, I was raised on the opposite side of the River Mersey to the city of Liverpool and was brought up on live music and entertainment. So much so, during the 1960s I saw all the great - and not so great - British groups play live on stage at one time or other. Believe me, Britain is not a very big island when it comes to travelling from one city to another.
However, North American groups were always something of a youthful mystery to me. Yes; I could listen to them on the radio and on vinyl and yes; I could occasionally catch a selected few of them when they were over here touring. But seeing them perform live before they became the finished and polished article was always denied to me. There was nothing I enjoyed more than seeing a group performing that I knew had something that set them apart but still had rough edges and an unpolished feel about them.
When I first heard the album “The Chicago Transit Authority” I thought this is different and not your usual self-indulgent psychedelic-influenced detritus that was sloshing around in 1969. Obviously, I since learned that Chicago is not San Francisco in very much the same way that London is not Liverpool.
This I like – thanks for posting. This is the fourth time I’ve the watched the concert in its entirety since it was put up - and, it won't be the last time either.