Chicago XIV

{{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 other Template:Category handler Template: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 131979Greatest Hits, Volume II1981Studio albumChicago XIVChicago - Chicago XIV.jpgChicagoJuly 21, 1980March–May 1980*Record Plant, Los Angeles, California<ref name=Ruhlmannp8>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>

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Template:Music ratings Chicago XIV is the twelfth studio album by American rock band Chicago, released on July 21, 1980. Recorded at a time of waning interest in the band, Chicago XIV remains one of Chicago's poorest-selling albums, failing to reach Gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA),<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and was deemed a commercial flop. It is also notable for being their last studio album with Columbia Records, and the last one to feature percussionist Laudir de Oliveira.

BackgroundEdit

After the commercial and critical disappointment of Chicago 13,<ref name="Amicone July2002">Template:Cite magazine</ref> and the departure of guitarist Donnie Dacus, Chicago decided that a new strategy was in order. Chris Pinnick played guitar on the sessions and would later become an official member.<ref name=Ruhlmannp8/> The band also tried a new producer, this time Tom Dowd,<ref name=Ruhlmannp8/> who had worked with Aretha Franklin, Cream, and Eric Clapton. With Dowd taking the reins, and with Chicago abandoning the dance club sound that permeated their previous album, the band recorded a lean, more streamlined record which would, predictably, be called Chicago XIV. Possibly designed as a response to the under-produced, new wave efforts on the radio at the time, the album was the band's least orchestrated effort to date.

Artwork, packagingEdit

Designed by John Berg, art director of Columbia/CBS Records, the album cover front features an album-cover-size black thumbprint on a white background, with the Chicago logo embedded in the whorls. The album cover back also features an album-cover-size black fingerprint or thumbprint on white background, but without the embedded Chicago logo. The inside dust cover is white with black printing that lists album credits, and also has at the edge four life-size black fingerprints from a right hand on the credits side of the liner, and a corresponding life-size black thumbprint at the edge of the back of the liner. This small thumbprint also has the Chicago logo embedded in the whorls.<ref name="LP liner"/><ref name="Album Covers That Are as Evocative as the Music">Template:Cite news</ref> Berg was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Album Package for this album.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The cover 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"/> The cover artwork is in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art in New York City.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Release and aftermathEdit

With four solo writing credits and one cowriting credit among the ten songs on the album,<ref name="LP liner">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> Peter Cetera took on a greater songwriting role in the band than in the past. His compositions included a mix of ballads, pop and rock songs. Robert Lamm turned in the rockers "Manipulation" and "I'd Rather Be Rich" (a song from 1975Template:Refn); James Pankow delivered the uptempo – if downbeat – "The American Dream"; and Lamm and Danny Seraphine co-wrote "Thunder and Lightning".<ref name="LP liner"/> "Birthday Boy" marked the final collaboration between Seraphine and his songwriting partner Hawk Wolinski. Like Chicago 13 before it, Chicago XIV failed to improve Chicago's fortunes.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> To the record-buying public, Chicago's image was out of touch in 1980, and once the new album was released, it became clear that any attempt to win new fans would be in vain.

Columbia Records was increasingly disappointed with the poor sales performance of the band.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Chicago XIV went unnoticed upon release and bombed, reaching only number seventy-one on the Billboard 200 chart in the US,<ref name=BB200>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and disappeared quickly. Again, there were no singles hits, with "Thunder and Lightning" stalling below the top fifty<ref name=BBHot100>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and "Song For You" failing to chart. Chicago also saw a poor attendance in many venues during the supporting tour.Template:Citation needed Realizing that the relationship had soured considerably, Columbia Records terminated their contract with Chicago with a buyout of approximately $2 million.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1982, Robert Lamm recalled, Template:Cquote

As a settlement to ending the arrangement early, Columbia released the band's second greatest-hits album and jettisoned them from the label. The money from the settlement was used to record Chicago 16 independently,<ref name=Ruhlmannp8/> while the band shopped for a new label (eventually they signed with Warner). Realizing that the Latin/Jazz percussion style evident in the latter half of the previous decade no longer fit with their "more pop-oriented sound", while beginning work on Chicago 16, the album Chicago XIV signaled the end of percussionist Laudir de Oliveira's tenure with the band after nine years.<ref name="Seraphine">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Peter Cetera, meanwhile, concentrated on his first self-titled solo album during the hiatus.<ref name=Giles>Template:Cite interview</ref>

In 2003, Chicago XIV was remastered and reissued by Rhino Records, with three outtakes from the sessions, "Doin' Business" (which first appeared on the 1991 4-Disc anthology Group Portrait), "Live It Up", and "Soldier of Fortune" as bonus tracks.