Chicago - The Very Best Of Chicago: Only The Beginning (2002)

From the perspective of 15 subsequent platinum albums and 20 top-10 hits, it's hard to imagine that Chicago began their career as a bona fide prog-fusion act, an early FM radio favorite whose jazz-tinged, album-length suites found them a hip cult following even as they confounded label execs. Ironically, when the pioneering horn band (a contemporary of Blood, Sweat & Tears and inspiration for one-hit wonders like Lighthouse, Ides of March, and Ten Wheel Drive) relented and allowed their music to be edited down to single length, their success was explosive. Most of the "single edits" on disc 1 of this 39-track anthology provide ample evidence of that de facto formula: a catchy riff ("25 or 6 to 4," "Saturday in the Park," "Color My World") develops into a hook-filled, pop-savvy production rife with the band's trademark horn perfection. One could argue that that sensibility--and a midcareer tilt toward producer David Foster, songwriter Diane Warren, and the MOR ballads that became some of their biggest successes--degenerated into formula. Indeed, there's much on the second disc to support that notion. This set spans it all, showcasing newly refocused edits of some their biggest early hits and lesser-known tracks like their lively '95 cross-cultural collaboration with the Gipsy Kings on a cover of Louis Prima's swing classic "Sing, Sing, Sing." --Jerry McCulley

Tracklist:

Disc 1
1. Make Me Smile/ Now More Than Ever (Remastered NEW EDIT Version) 4:27
2. 25 Or 6 To 4 (Remastered LP Version) 4:49
3. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? (NEW EDIT Remastered Version) 3:19
4. Beginnings (GH Edit Remastered Version) 6:26
5. Question 67 And 68 (Remastered LP Version) 5:01
6. I'm A Man (New Edit Remastered Version) 5:41
7. Colour My World (Remastered LP Version #2/GH) 3:00
8. Free (Remastered LP Version) 2:15
9. Lowdown (Remastered LP Version) 3:36
10. Saturday In The Park (Remastered Version) 3:55
11. Dialogue (Part I & III) (Remastered SINGLE Version) 5:02
12. Just You 'N' Me (Remastered LP Version) 3:42
13. Feelin' Stronger Every Day (Remastered LP Version) 4:14
14. (I've Been) Searchin' So Long (Remastered LP Version) 4:28
15. Wishing You Were Here (Remastered LP Version) 4:35
16. Call On Me (Remastered LP Version) 4:02
17. Happy Man (GH2 Edit Remastered Version) 3:15
18. Another Rainy Day In New York City (Remastered LP Version) 3:01
19. If You Leave Me Now (Remastered LP Version) 3:56

Disc 2
1. Old Days (Remastered LP Version) 3:29
2. Baby, What A Big Surprise (Remastered LP Version) 3:02
3. Take Me Back To Chicago (Remastered SINGLE Version) 2:57
4. Alive Again (Remastered LP Version) 4:08
5. No Tell Lover (Remastered LP Version) 3:49
6. Love Me Tomorrow (Single Remastered Version) 3:58
7. Hard To Say I'm Sorry/Get Away (Album Version) 5:07
8. Stay The Night (LP Version) 3:47
9. Hard Habit To Break (LP Version) 4:44
10. You're The Inspiration (LP Version) 3:52
11. Along Comes A Woman (Single Version) 3:48
12. Will You Still Love Me? (Single Version) 4:13
13. If She Would Have Been Faithful (Album Version) 3:50
14. Look Away (Album Version) 4:02
15. What Kind Of Man Would I Be? (Album / Single Version) 4:21
16. I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love (Album Version) 3:54
17. We Can Last Forever (Album / Single Version) 3:44
18. You're Not Alone (Album / Single Version) 3:57
19. Chasin' The Wind (Album Version) 4:19
20. Sing, Sing, Sing, (Remastered LP Version) (with The Gipsy Kings) 3:22