Listen
Composer: Lamm
Key: G
Meter: 4/4
Lead Vocal: Robert Lamm
Form: intro, verse, verse 1, verse 2, guitar solo, horn interlude, verse 3, outro
Instrumentation: trumpet, alto sax, trombone, electric guitar, organ, bass, drums, cowbell, handclaps, one voice
Overall form and style: “Listen” begins the darker portion of Chicago Transit Authority. This tune is grows out of a minor riff which wouldn’t be out of place in the blues, and never strays from the key of G. Despite that harmonic simplicity, this is the most dissonantly voiced horn chart yet, with unusual, nearly atonal harmonies. The song is, for this album at least, straightforward in form, featuring three verses, not really a chorus, and a guitar solo plus instrumental interlude between the second and third verses.
Melody: Some songs have melodies that work wonderfully when you take the words away, while others are more recitative-style, in that the words are more important than the notes of the melody. This tune is one of the latter, which was not all that common in Chicago’s early music. The melody is simple patterns in G pentatonic minor, with plenty of repeated notes and plenty of opportunity for the vocalist (Lamm) to take some liberties. The words move more quickly in this tune than in the few previous, one of the many reasons this song is much more intense and less serene than the last few.
Harmony: The big-picture harmony on “Listen” is not complicated. Most of the tune is based around the riff and harmonized G - Bb - C - F (I - bIII - IV - bVII) and repeat. Because of the borrowed chords, the key center tends to sound more like G minor even though the G chord is always major. Most often the I chord is approached from bVII, but a few times a more solid cadence is achieved through a tritone sub, such as the line “If only you would listen” and at the end of the horn interlude.
However, the big picture harmony is only part of the story. The horn section in particular gets pretty crazy on this one, with some fancy, dissonant writing, both right after the guitar solo and at the end. This is the first time Chicago has whipped out the nasty horn writing, and it’s quite effective, especially after several straight pieces with more cheerful major key harmonies. The sparseness of the accompaniment gives arranger Pankow room to work, and he delivers some really memorable sounds. Some areas are voiced close, with impenetrable tight dissonance, and others spread out into stacks of open fifths (for example, the final chord), which have an unsettling, not-quite-tonal quality to them. In my mind’s eye, stacks of fifths sound like unstable, wobbly scaffolding looks.
Arrangement: The beginning features a sustained G on electric guitar that lasts for nearly 40 seconds, above various horn figures and the main riff. Once the verse starts, the riff stops, but returns between the vocal parts. The rhythm section features guitar with wah-wah and electric organ. Notice during the guitar solo the horn players with a unison part backing him up. This is another spot where the horns are almost playing a rhythm section role, a concept nearly unique to Chicago.
This tune features a little extra percussion in the form of cowbell and handclaps, locking the groove down in the verses. Oddly enough, though the horn section is plenty prominent here, the first half or so of the tune has no trombone. He joins the other two only when it's time for the nasty horn interlude after the guitar solo. Maybe James Pankow was busy playing the cowbell.
Other notes: It’s nice to hear Bobby Lamm sing lead on a song where he has some freedom and can shout out the words. It seems that he was most often relegated to singing smooth, calm pieces (“At the Sunrise”, "Saturday in the Park”) or singing in an obviously affected voice (“I Don’t Want Your Money”, “Skinny Boy”), and it’s nice to hear him take over with his normal voice. Lamm is easily my favorite of Chicago’s three main lead singers, and one of the reasons I enjoy CTA is that he sings most of it!
Part of the reason the dark, dissonant horn voicings work so well is that the section plays the figures quite straight, with no individual embellishment, like an orchestral section might. It doesn't sound like Kenton writing, but is performed in a similar way, as solid bricks of unified sound. It sounds more like one person playing than three.
I am 95% sure that Walt is playing the alto sax on this one. Usually I can easily tell, but here I'm not 100% sure. It might be the tenor.
This album, like most debut albums by unknown groups, was recorded hastily. I don't have a great ear for audio engineering issues, but I think the mix in the guitar solo is a mistake. The horn backgrounds are mixed extremely loud, nearly drowning out the soloist!
"Listen" is the beginning of what I call the "dark" portion of the album. From this tune through "I'm a Man", the tunes are mostly minor key, riff-based affairs. It's a noticeable shift after three cheerful major key tunes in a row.
PM
Key: G
Meter: 4/4
Lead Vocal: Robert Lamm
Form: intro, verse, verse 1, verse 2, guitar solo, horn interlude, verse 3, outro
Instrumentation: trumpet, alto sax, trombone, electric guitar, organ, bass, drums, cowbell, handclaps, one voice
Overall form and style: “Listen” begins the darker portion of Chicago Transit Authority. This tune is grows out of a minor riff which wouldn’t be out of place in the blues, and never strays from the key of G. Despite that harmonic simplicity, this is the most dissonantly voiced horn chart yet, with unusual, nearly atonal harmonies. The song is, for this album at least, straightforward in form, featuring three verses, not really a chorus, and a guitar solo plus instrumental interlude between the second and third verses.
Melody: Some songs have melodies that work wonderfully when you take the words away, while others are more recitative-style, in that the words are more important than the notes of the melody. This tune is one of the latter, which was not all that common in Chicago’s early music. The melody is simple patterns in G pentatonic minor, with plenty of repeated notes and plenty of opportunity for the vocalist (Lamm) to take some liberties. The words move more quickly in this tune than in the few previous, one of the many reasons this song is much more intense and less serene than the last few.
Harmony: The big-picture harmony on “Listen” is not complicated. Most of the tune is based around the riff and harmonized G - Bb - C - F (I - bIII - IV - bVII) and repeat. Because of the borrowed chords, the key center tends to sound more like G minor even though the G chord is always major. Most often the I chord is approached from bVII, but a few times a more solid cadence is achieved through a tritone sub, such as the line “If only you would listen” and at the end of the horn interlude.
However, the big picture harmony is only part of the story. The horn section in particular gets pretty crazy on this one, with some fancy, dissonant writing, both right after the guitar solo and at the end. This is the first time Chicago has whipped out the nasty horn writing, and it’s quite effective, especially after several straight pieces with more cheerful major key harmonies. The sparseness of the accompaniment gives arranger Pankow room to work, and he delivers some really memorable sounds. Some areas are voiced close, with impenetrable tight dissonance, and others spread out into stacks of open fifths (for example, the final chord), which have an unsettling, not-quite-tonal quality to them. In my mind’s eye, stacks of fifths sound like unstable, wobbly scaffolding looks.
Arrangement: The beginning features a sustained G on electric guitar that lasts for nearly 40 seconds, above various horn figures and the main riff. Once the verse starts, the riff stops, but returns between the vocal parts. The rhythm section features guitar with wah-wah and electric organ. Notice during the guitar solo the horn players with a unison part backing him up. This is another spot where the horns are almost playing a rhythm section role, a concept nearly unique to Chicago.
This tune features a little extra percussion in the form of cowbell and handclaps, locking the groove down in the verses. Oddly enough, though the horn section is plenty prominent here, the first half or so of the tune has no trombone. He joins the other two only when it's time for the nasty horn interlude after the guitar solo. Maybe James Pankow was busy playing the cowbell.
Other notes: It’s nice to hear Bobby Lamm sing lead on a song where he has some freedom and can shout out the words. It seems that he was most often relegated to singing smooth, calm pieces (“At the Sunrise”, "Saturday in the Park”) or singing in an obviously affected voice (“I Don’t Want Your Money”, “Skinny Boy”), and it’s nice to hear him take over with his normal voice. Lamm is easily my favorite of Chicago’s three main lead singers, and one of the reasons I enjoy CTA is that he sings most of it!
Part of the reason the dark, dissonant horn voicings work so well is that the section plays the figures quite straight, with no individual embellishment, like an orchestral section might. It doesn't sound like Kenton writing, but is performed in a similar way, as solid bricks of unified sound. It sounds more like one person playing than three.
I am 95% sure that Walt is playing the alto sax on this one. Usually I can easily tell, but here I'm not 100% sure. It might be the tenor.
This album, like most debut albums by unknown groups, was recorded hastily. I don't have a great ear for audio engineering issues, but I think the mix in the guitar solo is a mistake. The horn backgrounds are mixed extremely loud, nearly drowning out the soloist!
"Listen" is the beginning of what I call the "dark" portion of the album. From this tune through "I'm a Man", the tunes are mostly minor key, riff-based affairs. It's a noticeable shift after three cheerful major key tunes in a row.
PM
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