I've always liked Peter Cetera's voice, but I haven't always liked Chicago. Their later, eighties stuff produced some notable power ballads, but their earlier work would've had me throw myself out the window. And it's their more prominent eighties material that forms the basis of this album review. The last album with Peter Cetera on it, Chicago 17 is, to my surprise, a very good album. Sounding more like Toto than the Chicago who sang "If You Leave Me Now", it seems the eighties, unlike some other established artists and bands, was remarkably kind to the band. "You're the Inspiration" and "Hard Habit to Break", the songs everybody knows, are the best songs the band has ever recorded, but that's not all. There's more than a few Toto-esque numbers here that'll have you head-bobbing out of enjoyment in no time. My picks are "Prima Donna", "We Can Stop the Hurtin' and "Along Comes a Woman." That last one is admittedly a tad cheesy, particularly in its chorus, but I can overlook it in light of its more polished verses. "Remember the Feeling" returns to the radio power ballad formula of "You're the Inspiration" and is nearly as good. The Totoesque feel to the album is perhaps bolstered further by the fact that Jeff Porcaro plays on the album. My final verdict - I'll never slag Chicago again. And of course, you'd be a fool to slag off a vocalist with a voice like Peter Cetera's. Hell, his solo album, Solitude/Solitare, was pretty damn good. If you like your eighties power ballads, that is. A
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