| One Clear Voice | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | July 25, 1995 | |||
| Recorded | Unknown | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 43:48 | |||
| Label | River North | |||
| Producer | Peter Cetera, Andy Hill | |||
| Peter Cetera chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
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| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   link |
One Clear Voice is the fifth solo album for music artist Peter Cetera and his fourth album since leaving the group Chicago. The album was recorded and released in 1995 by River North Records.
Following his departure from Warner Brothers in 1993, Cetera met Steve Devick while on vacation in Maui with his daughter.[1] Devick had created the Chicago-based label in 1985 and was looking to expand from its Gospel roots into popular music.[2][1] Cetera, who was looking for a new label at the time, signed a multi-album deal in October 1993.[1][3]
Teaming up again with Andy Hill, who had produced his previous album, World Falling Down, Cetera took a more active role songwriting, this time, writing six new songs for the album. At Devick's request, Cetera re-recorded his old Chicago song, "Happy Man". The song "(I Wanna Take) Forever Tonight" had been given to Cetera by its composer Eric Carmen who had himself recorded it some five years previously for an abandoned album: (Eric Carmen quote:)"Peter...toned down the lyric, made it a little less sexual. I understand why he did it, but I wasn't too [happy] about it."[4] Cetera cut Carmen's song as a duet with Crystal Bernard who - besides being a sitcom actress (Wings) - was also a part-time songwriter who had sent Cetera a demo of her compositions: Cetera declined to record any of Bernard's songs but on the basis of her vocals on the demo invited her to partner him on "(I Wanna Take) Forever Tonight".[5] Country singer and label mate, Ronna Reeves was recruited for a remake of the ABBA classic, "SOS".[6] Hill and Cetera produced six of the album's eleven songs together, while Cetera produced the remaining five on his own.
One Clear Voice was released July 25, 1995,[7] distributed by Mercury Records.
One Clear Voice failed to enter the charts, a fact that some attributed to the small relative size of River North Records. Three singles were released to modest success on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart (AC): "(I Wanna Take) Forever Tonight" (No. 22 AC, No. 86 Billboard Hot 100), "Faithfully" (No. 13 AC), and "One Clear Voice" (No. 12 AC) with "SOS" serving as a fourth single which failed to chart.[8] In promoting the album, Cetera did several live chats on internet forums as well as television interviews and performances.[9]
Unlike his previous albums, Cetera also planned a live tour for One Clear Voice. With five albums of solo material recorded, Cetera felt that he had a broad mix of material to draw from so that he wouldn't be limited to his old songs with Chicago.[6] The tour was delayed when Cetera was in a motorcycle accident over a long weekend in July 1995.[10] A short tour played several dates in the fall of 1995, with a second leg in the summer of 1996 including a few more American and international dates. The One Clear Voice tour marked Cetera's first live concerts since the conclusion of the Chicago 17 tour more than 10 years earlier.[10] It would also be his last live concerts for another seven years. The tour included material from his solo albums as well as several Chicago hits including "25 or 6 to 4", "If You Leave Me Now", "Hard To Say I'm Sorry", "You're The Inspiration" and "Feeling Stronger Every Day".[11][12] Towards the end of the concerts, Cetera himself would play the bass on three songs.[12]
Despite a commercial reception that was chilly by mainstream standards, One Clear Voice was one of Platinum Entertainment's top selling albums, selling approximately 250,000 copies.[13]
In 2005, the Compendia label re-issued the whole package under a new design, title and sequencing, retitled Faithfully.
