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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Chicago-Chicago II (DVD-Audio) (1970)

Chicago-Chicago II (DVD-Audio) (1970) (NTSC)

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Released 22-Sep-2003

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Music Gallery-Photo
DVD Credits
Rating Rated E
Year Of Production 1970
Running Time 67:09 (Case: 64)
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 1,2,3,4,5,6 Directed By James William Guercio
Studio
Distributor

Warner Vision
Starring Peter Cetera
Terry Kath
Robert Lamm
Lee Loughnane
James Pankow
Walter Parazaider
Daniel Seraphine
Case DVD-Audio Jewel
RPI $32.95 Music Chicago


Video (NTSC) Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
English MLP 96/24 5.1
English MLP 96/24 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Anyone who spent their teenage years growing up in the 1970s will remember the band Chicago, a band that has released more than 20 albums over three decades and in terms of total album sales is only eclipsed by one other American rock band - The Beach Boys.

    Started by a group of Chicago musicians, they initially called themselves The Big Thing, then renamed themselves the Chicago Transit Authority based on a suggestion from their manager and producer at the time, James William Guercio. They released their self titled debut double album in 1969.

    After the real Chicago Transit Authority complained about the appropriation of their name and threatened litigation, they shortened the band name to simply Chicago and have been known by that name ever since.

    This album represents their second album and is simply titled Chicago, although these days it is referred to as Chicago II.

    Chicago as a band certainly had an unusual line-up. Boasting no less than three lead vocalists (Robert Lamm, Terry Kath and Peter Cetera) who doubled up on keyboards, guitar and bass respectively, some of the other members eventually also had their singing turns as well. The band also boasted a fairly strong brass section consisting of Lee Loughane on trumpet, James Pankow on trombone and founder Walter Parazaider played woodwinds as well as sang. Completing the band was drummer Daniel Seraphine.

    Originally released as a double LP, this album has been gloriously remastered from the original analogue multi-track tapes into both stereo and surround tracks on a single DVD-Audio disc.

    Many fans regard this as the best Chicago album. Ambitious in scope and execution, the album was not only a conceptual album (in parts), it was a multi-themed album, consisting of a mixture of standalone songs and at least three extended pieces broken into multiple parts or movements: the six part Ballet For A Girl In Buchanon, the four part neo-classical set beginning with Prelude and ending with Memories of Love, and the five movement politically themed piece entitled It Better End Soon.

    The album also resulted in multiple hit singles, notably Make Me Smile, Colour My World, 25 or 6 to 4 plus Where Do We Go From Here (the "5th" movement from It Better End Soon).

    If you have grown up listening to this band, take a trip down memory lane by putting this disc into your multi-channel system. It is guaranteed to bring a smile (plus a tear or two). Alternatively, give it a spin anyway - you might just discover a treasure!

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Track Listing

1. Movin' In
2. The Road
3. Poem For The People
4. In The Country
5. Wake Up Sunshine
6. Make Me Smile
7. So Much To Say, So Much To Give
8. Anxiety's Moment
9. West Virginia Fantasies
10. Colour My World
11. To Be Free
12. Now More Than Ever
13. Fancy Colors
14. 25 Or 6 To 4
15. Prelude
16. A.M. Mourning
17. P.M. Mourning
18. Memories Of Love
19. It Better End Soon: 1st Movement
20. It Better End Soon: 2nd Movement
21. It Better End Soon: 3rd Movement
22. It Better End Soon: 4th Movement
23. Where Do We Go From Here

Transfer Quality

Video

    Like most of the Warner DVD-Audio discs released to date, the video content on this disc is in full frame NTSC. Each song is accompanied by a photo gallery.

    This is a single sided dual layered disc. All the DVD-Video content is contained on Layer 1, so I was unable to determine where the layer transition is.

Audio

    The DVD-Audio section is divided into two groups. Group 1 contains two audio tracks: English MLP 96/24 5.1 and English MLP 96/24 2.0. Group 2 is used for the animated menu transitions.

    There are two audio tracks on the DVD-Video section of the disc: English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) and English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s).

    The MLP 2.0 audio track is predictably excellent, capturing every single nuance on the original analogue recording and preserving the original stereo mix. The high resolution remastering recaptures all the brilliance of the brass section, the blistering guitar riffs and the shimmer of the cymbals. Incidentally, the MLP 2.0 track is mastered at 96/24 resolution as opposed to 192/24 as (incorrectly) stated on the back cover.

    The MLP 5.1 starts off a bit conservatively, with the centre channel used as filler and the rear speakers being used to extend the soundstage. Vocals are mixed to all three front channels, and the subwoofer is used to lightly support the low frequencies.

    By Ballet For A Girl In Buchanon however, the surround mix has become somewhat more adventurous, with some instances of instruments directed towards the rear channels. Prelude has a rather enveloping mix, and It Better End Soon include instances of vocals being directed towards the rear channels.

    The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is quite presentable, and the additional edginess highlighted the claps in Movin' In quite well. It is encoded with dialog normalization set to +4dB, so sounds quite loud. However, the slightly glassy nature of this track makes it a distant second to the MLP 5.1 audio track. Likewise, the Dolby Digital 2.0 is a shadow of the MLP 2.0 track.

    Incidentally, the tracks in the multi-part pieces (such as Ballet For A Girl In Buchanon) are authored to have gapless transitions across tracks. This is quite difficult to achieve using today's authoring tools, but I'm glad they took the effort since gaps of silence would have spoiled the music.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    Extras are minimal on this disc. I would have liked to have seen song lyrics at the very least.

Menu

    Menus are full frame and static. There are some animated menu transitions on the DVD-Audio section of the disc.

Gallery-Photo

    This is a set of ten colour photographs of the band, presented in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.67:1 letterboxed. Some of the pictures are quite grainy.

DVD Credits

    This is a set of five stills providing original album and DVD-Audio production credits.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    This disc appears to be identically featured across all regions.

Summary

    Chicago II is the second album from the band Chicago, originally released as a double LP and considered by some as their best.

    The MLP 5.1 and 2.0 audio tracks are excellent. The Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 tracks are acceptable.

    Extras are limited to a photo gallery.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Christine Tham (read my biography)
Friday, January 16, 2004
Review Equipment
DVDPanasonic DVD-RP82, using Component output
DisplaySony VPL-VW11HT LCD Projector, ScreenTechnics 16x9 matte white screen (254cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials/Ultimate DVD Platinum/AVIA. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to DVD player. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationDenon AVC-A1SE (upgraded)
SpeakersFront and surrounds: B&W CDM7NT, front centre: B&W CDMCNT, surround backs: B&W DM601S2, subwoofer: B&W ASW2500

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