Chicago-Chicago II (DVD-Audio) (1970) (NTSC) |
BUY IT |
General | Extras | ||
Category | Music |
Gallery-Photo DVD Credits |
|
Rating | |||
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 |
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!
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 |
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.
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.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
Extras are minimal on this disc. I would have liked to have seen song lyrics at the very least.
Menus are full frame and static. There are some animated menu transitions on the DVD-Audio section of the disc.
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.
This is a set of five stills providing original album and DVD-Audio production credits.
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.
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.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Panasonic DVD-RP82, using Component output |
Display | Sony 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 Decoder | Built in to DVD player. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Denon AVC-A1SE (upgraded) |
Speakers | Front and surrounds: B&W CDM7NT, front centre: B&W CDMCNT, surround backs: B&W DM601S2, subwoofer: B&W ASW2500 |