Chicago X

{{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} {{safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst-infobox||$params=italic_title,name,type,longtype,artist,cover,border,alt,caption,released,recorded,venue,studio,genre,length,language,label,director,producer,compiler,chronology,prev_title,prev_year,year,next_title,next_year,misc|$extra=italic_title,longtype,border,caption,language,director,compiler,chronology,year,misc|$aliases=italic title>italic_title,Italic title>italic_title,Name>name,Type>type,image>cover,Cover>cover,Border>border,Alt>alt,Caption>caption,Longtype>longtype,Artist>artist,Released>released,Recorded>recorded,Venue>venue,Studio>studio,Genre>genre,Length>length,Language>language,Label>label,Director>director,Producer>producer,Compiler>compiler,Chronology>chronology,Misc>misc|$flags=override|$B={{#ifeq:{{#invoke:Is infobox in lead|main|[Ii]nfobox [Aa]lbum}}|true|{{#if:Template:Has short description | |Template:Short description|noreplace}}}}{{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox album with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y|italic_title |type |name |image |cover |border |alt |caption |longtype |artist |released |recorded |venue |studio |genre |length |language |label |director |producer |compiler |prev_title|prev_year|next_title|next_year|chronology|year|misc}}{{#if:{{#invoke:String|match|error_category=Music infoboxes with Module:String errors|A|1=Chicago IX: Chicago's Greatest Hits1975Chicago XI1977AlbumChicago XChicago - Chicago X.jpgChicagoTemplate:Start date<ref name="album at official web site">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>March – April 1976Caribou Ranch, Nederland, Colorado*Jazz fusion

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Chicago X (affectionately called "the Chocolate Album" by fans) is the eighth studio album by the American rock band Chicago. It was recorded at Caribou Ranch<ref name=Amicone2002>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and it was released by Columbia Records on June 14, 1976. The album made it to number three on the Billboard 200,<ref name=BB200>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on June 21, 1976, a week after its release.<ref name="RIAA">Template:Cite news</ref> It was the band's first album to be certified platinum,<ref name="album at official web site"/><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> on September 14, 1976, and has since been certified multi-platinum.<ref name="RIAA" /> In honor of the group's platinum album achievement, Columbia Records awarded the group a 25-pound bar of pure platinum, made by Cartier.<ref name=Young>Template:Cite news Template:Free access</ref> (Billboard magazine reported it as a 30-pound bar.)<ref name="Billboard photo">Template:Cite magazine</ref>Template:Refn

Chicago X was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year,<ref name="Chicago Grammys">Template:Cite news</ref> and won a Grammy Award for Best Album Package.<ref name="19th Grammy Awards">Template:Cite news</ref>

The album produced Chicago's first number one single in the United States, "If You Leave Me Now".<ref name=Hot100>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The single went on to win two Grammy Awards: for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus, the band's first Grammy Award;<ref name="Chicago Grammys"/> and for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists, for arrangers James William Guercio and Jimmie Haskell.<ref name="19th Grammy Awards" /> It was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year.<ref name="Chicago Grammys"/>

The two other songs released from the album as singles also charted on the Billboard Hot 100; "Another Rainy Day in New York City" made it to number 32 and "You Are On My Mind" went to number 49.<ref name=Hot100 />

Record World called "You Are on My Mind" "another Chicago X showstopper."<ref name=rw>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Background

After recording Chicago VIII in a state of exhaustion, Chicago did not return to the studio until the spring of 1976, feeling refreshed after a substantial break away. Chicago X was released on June 14, 1976, to a receptive audience, giving Chicago a number three album on the Billboard 200 in the United States,<ref name=BB200 /> and their first album to chart in the UK in years, at number 21.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This was the group's most pop-oriented effort up to that point given that every song on the album starts with the 3-minute mark, coming in stark contrast to the lengthier and more complex compositions of the albums that had preceded it.

The album featured two top forty singles: Robert Lamm's composition, "Another Rainy Day In New York City", which peaked at number 32 after a brief run in August 1976;<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and Peter Cetera's composition, "If You Leave Me Now", which became the band's first number one single in October of that same year.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Originally written at the same time as Chicago VII's "Wishing You Were Here",<ref>Template:Cite interview</ref> "If You Leave Me Now" was one of the last to be completed and, according to reports, was very nearly left off the final product.<ref name="Ruhlmannp7">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> Band member Walter Parazaider has been quoted as saying he heard the song on the radio while cleaning his pool and initially thought "it sounded like McCartney," not realizing it was his own band's work.<ref name="Ruhlmannp7" /> The song became the band's first number one hit in the US and the UK. Some band members felt the song's success changed the public's perception of the band, leading to more demand from Columbia Records for ballads,<ref name="Ruhlmannp7" /> although Robert Lamm has since acknowledged that the band had started moving away from their politically-oriented music into the mainstream years earlier, beginning with 1972's Chicago V.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Band members who normally were not vocalists received vocal credits on this album. The album is notable for the lead vocal debut of trombonist James Pankow. Different band singers tried "You Are On My Mind," but Pankow felt they were not nailing it the way he heard it in his head as the song's composer, so producer Guercio said, "You sing it," and that effort landed on the final album.<ref name="Ruhlmannp7"/> "You Are On My Mind" was the third single for the album, reaching number 49 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1977.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Cash Box said of it that "[t]he same mellow vocal blend is here, along with a velvety texture on the horns, but the rhythm section has speeded into a quick samba, decorated with colorful percussion."<ref name=cb>Template:Cite news</ref> Lee Loughnane contributed the lead vocal for his song "Together Again". (Both Pankow and Loughnane would contribute lead vocals again on the next album, Chicago XI.) The brief vocal section of "You Get It Up" was sung by the entire band in unison — thus the album's atypical crediting of Danny Seraphine, Walter Parazaider, and Laudir de Oliveira with "vocals".

In 2002, Chicago X was remastered and reissued by Rhino Records with an early rendition of Chicago XIV's "I'd Rather Be Rich" by Lamm, as well as Kath's "Your Love's An Attitude" — both cut in 1975 — as bonus tracks. This album was mixed and released in both stereo and quadraphonic.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Packaging

Designed by Art Director of Columbia/CBS Records, John Berg, the album art depicts a partially unwrapped chocolate bar with the Chicago logo on it, resembling a Hershey's chocolate bar as it was packaged at the time,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and winning for Berg a Grammy Award for Best Album Package.<ref name="19th Grammy Awards" /> The cover design is labeled "chocolate bar" on the band's official web site.<ref name="album at official web site"/> The cover art was included in a 2012-2013 exhibit of Berg's album covers at Guild Hall of East Hampton,<ref name="Album Covers That Are as Evocative as the Music">Template:Cite news</ref> and is now in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art in New York City.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Critical reception

Zachary Houle writing for PopMatters in 2010 said. "It is an album of pop perfectionTemplate:Nbsp..."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2016 Jeff Giles wrote, 'Chicago X may have arrived on June 14, 1976 with a little more spark and overall energy than you might expect from a group that had been on the road for a decade, but it lacked the compositional depth and musical muscle they'd shown earlier in their career. It was essentially a pop album — not a bad one, outside the somewhat lyrically dunderheaded "Skin Tight" and "You Get It Up," but one that couldn't help but feel a little light when held up against the double-LP sets of years past.'<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personnel

Chicago

• Peter Cetera – bass, lead and backing vocals
• Terry Kath – electric guitars and acoustic guitar (except on "If You Leave Me Now" and "Hope For Love "), lead and backing vocals
• Robert Lamm – keyboards, lead and backing vocals
• Lee Loughnane – trumpet, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Together Again"
• James Pankow – trombone, lead vocals on "You Are On My Mind," backing vocals on "You Get It Up"
• Walter Parazaider – woodwinds, backing vocals
• Danny Seraphine – drums, backing vocals on "You Get It Up"
• Laudir de Oliveira – percussion, backing vocals on "You Get It Up"

Additional personnel

• David J. Wolinski – keyboards on "Hope For Love"
• James William Guercio – lead and rhythm acoustic guitars on "If You Leave Me Now", lead acoustic guitars on "Hope For Love"
• Vince DeRosa, David Duke – French horns on "If You Leave Me Now"
• Othello Molineaux – steel drums on "Another Rainy Day in New York City"
• Leroy Williams – steel drums on "Another Rainy Day in New York City"
• Jimmie Haskell – string and brass orchestration on "If You Leave Me Now" and "Mama Mama", conductor on "Gently I'll Wake You"

Production

• Produced by James William Guercio
• Engineered by Wayne Tarnowski
• Assistant Engineer – Tom Likes
• Strings recorded by Armin Steiner at Sound Labs (Hollywood, CA).
• Mastered by Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab (Los Angeles, CA).
• Album Cover Concept – John Berg
• Logo Design – Nick Fasciano
• Candy Bar Photo – Columbia Records Photo Studio
• Inside Photography – Reid Miles

Charts

Weekly Charts

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Chart (1976–1977)	Peak position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	3
Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }} Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Chicago".</ref>	8
Japanese Albums (Oricon)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	54

Year-end charts

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Chart (1976)	Position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	24
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	31
US Billboard 200<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	71

Chart (1977)	Position
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	28
US Billboard 200<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	90