Chicago
Baby, What a Big Surprise
Dialogue, Pt. 2 - Chicago, Lamm, Robert
No Tell Lover
Old Days - Chicago, Pankow, James
If You Leave Me Now
Questions 67 & 68 - Chicago, Lamm, Robert
Happy Man
Re-Release Date: 2/28/1995
Album Type: Original recording reissued
(2 out of 5 stars)
"The year of this CD's original release (1981) was Chicago's floundering year. CBS dropped them after signing a seven-year deal in 1980, while their future label, Full Moon, had only released the first Peter Cetera solo album. "Greatest Hits Vol. II" represents how much the group meant to Columbia then. It is cut, pasted, and badly tossed together to reflect the band's falling fortune.Don't be fooled by the top-selling ballads (the 1976 #1 "If You Leave Me Now" and its 1977 follow-up, "Baby What A Big Suprise.") The rest of the disc flounders with one song too many from "Hot Streets," and half of the epic "Dialogue" (that couldn't have been extended considering the potential length of CDs?) We get neither early chart hits like "Free" and "Lowdown" (both from 1971's criminally disregarded Chicago III) or even should-have-beens like "You Are On My Mind" or "Little One." Instead, we get VII's fluffy "Happy Man." Chicago's fortunes would change the next year thanks to the new label, new producer (David Foster) and Chicago 16's top-selling single, "Hard To Say I'm Sorry." But "Greatest Hits II" works neither to continue their career timeline nor fill in their original one. Thus, while not the worst selection is their catalogue, "GHII" is certainly the least relevant."