Chicago 16 was the first album in a decade-long association with their new label Warner Bros. Records;[7] the band's first project to be produced by David Foster, who has been called the "key" to their comeback;[7] their first album to include some songs exclusively by composers outside of the group;[8] and is also the first album since Chicago VII (1974) not to feature Laudir de Oliveira as a band member.[4]: 132, 200 It is also the first studio album to be released two years after the previous, as previous studio albums were released annually.
Background
The band brought in Sons of Champlin founder Bill Champlin as keyboardist and singer.[8] The group also retained Chris Pinnick from the Chicago XIV sessions. Through the band's manager, Jeff Wald, and on suggestion of Danny Seraphine, producer David Foster would make contact with the band.[9] Jeff Wald was dismissed as manager and the band enlisted Irving Azoff and Howard Kaufman as their new managers shortly thereafter.
Once they agreed to Foster producing the album (the band had considered him for 1980's Chicago XIV[10]), Foster radically redefined Chicago's sound for the 1980s, with all of the latest technologies and techniques, and also brought in outside songwriters and studio players to the sessions. Three members of Toto lent their expertise to the sessions. In 2015 former Chicago drummer Danny Seraphine defended this choice to change their sound:
David Foster really tried to maintain the integrity of the band. He wasn't looking to diminish the musicality and the integrity of the band at all. Some people might say that he did. But he was going with what the times dictated. I'm telling you, there was word through our manager from radio stations saying they didn't want anything with horns on it. How do you deal with that?[11]
The soft rock leanings of Peter Cetera and Foster permeate much of Chicago 16. The band was moving to a new label after an entire career at Columbia. Robert Lamm was also unavailable for the majority of the album's production because of personal issues,[8] and the once-prolific writer only shared a sole partial writing credit on the release, with no lead vocal contributions. Lamm said of this change:
I wasn't happy with the way things were going. The loss of Terry Kath was still massive. Suddenly, we have a new label who wants us to use outside musicians and songwriters, plus cut down the horns. We were a faceless band who now had a face. It wasn't what I signed up for. Also, my personal life was in turmoil at the time. I was very unhappy and came very close to leaving the band.[citation needed]
In an interview in 2019, Cetera described the initial songwriting efforts from band members that were presented to Foster as "pure shit," blaming alcohol and drug abuse in the band for the decline in the quality of songwriting. Eventually, Foster and Cetera collaborated to write the album's two hit singles.[12]
Percussionist Laudir de Oliveira was dismissed from the band after the Chicago XIV tour, as his Latin-American style would not fit with the "more pop-oriented sound" of the band.[4]: 200
Upon its June 1982 release, Chicago 16 was a hit album, especially as "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" became the band's second number one US single,[4]: 202 going to number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart[13] and the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.[14] The album ultimately went platinum[5] and reached number nine on the Billboard 200 chart.[15] The single would also be included in its lengthier form "Hard to Say I'm Sorry/Get Away" on the Summer Lovers movie soundtrack.[16][17] "Love Me Tomorrow", the second single lifted off the album, features a lengthy orchestration at the end. It went to number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart[18] and number eight on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.[19] A third single, "What You're Missing", was released and peaked at number 81 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[20]
The Rhino remaster does not include the full-length versions of "What You're Missing" and "Love Me Tomorrow." The former was replaced with its single edit, and the latter had two bars of the sequence (prominently featuring strings) that begins the instrumental bridge removed. However, this remastered version does include a Bill Champlin demo, called "Daddy's Favorite Fool", as a bonus track. A subsequent international release in 2010 (included in the Studio Albums 1979-2008 box set from 2015) has the original album restored, with additional bonus tracks of the single versions of "Hard To Say I'm Sorry", "What You're Missing", and Love Me Tomorrow" as well as "Daddy's Favorite Fool."[21]
The original UK LP release contains "Rescue You" before "What Can I Say," unlike subsequent releases of this album.
"Remember There's Someone Who Loves You" (Champlin, Lamm)[22] and "Come On Back" (Bill Gable, Lamm)[23] were recorded during the sessions and remain unreleased.[citation needed]
Personnel
Chicago
Peter Cetera – bass, acoustic guitar on "Hard To Say I'm Sorry", lead and backing vocals, BGV arrangements, rhythm arrangements
Bill Champlin – keyboards, guitars, lead and backing vocals, BGV arrangements
^Grein, Paul (January 15, 1983). "'Firsts' Spark Platinum Albums". Billboard. Vol. 95, no. 2. USA: Billboard Publications, Inc. p. 4. Retrieved July 28, 2017 – via Google Books.
^Grein, Paul (January 5, 1985). "Chart Beat". Billboard. Vol. 97, no. 1. USA: Billboard Publications, Inc. p. 6. Retrieved July 28, 2017 – via Google Books.
^ abcdSeraphine, Danny (2011). Street Player: My Chicago Story. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN978-0-470-41683-9.
^Ruhlmann, William James (1991). Chicago Group Portrait (Box Set) (Media notes). New York City, NY: Columbia Records. p. 8. Archived from the original(CD booklet archived online) on March 28, 2019. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
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