The Best of Chicago (40th Anniversary Edition) [Remastered]

I never realized how many great songs Chicago has had over such a long period of time. This album brings back so many memories and is worth every penny.

Don't do it.. Very disappointing. Great selection but mostly short play versions. "Make me smile" didn't .

About 5 years ago I ran into the members of Chicago in the Cincinnati airport getting off the tram. Being a horn player and having fronted many of their better compositions, i.e., "Ballet For a Girl in Buchannon" and many cuts from "CTA," it was amazing to sit down a bit later and chat with them in the food court area. Sadly though, I asked Jim Pankow why their later releases were so sporadic and laden with "schmaltz," and he looked back at me kind of morbidly and said something about it paying the bills. Yes, this collection is really cheesy, and most of the cuts are what we used to call the "45 version." Their earlier original albums always unfolded in a story, sometimes dealing with political issues, sometimes love, but always laced with Pankow's tight horn riffs, wide guitar interludes from Terry Kath, and mellow vocal melodies of Peter Cetera and Bobby Lamm. They were trained musicians loving what their youth provided them in music bravado and creativity. Like most of us, they have lives to live, families to feed and bills to pay, The music companies are managing to allow them to do that with this exposure for a new generation...sad but true that this edition is much cheaper to reproduce than the original extended cuts, many of which are still hung up in the legal fallout from past record deals gone bad, as well as, the traumatic split with Cetera. I admit almost giving up on them recently when I saw them playing on TV for a Brian Boitano ice skating special. But leaving the airport I found myself a bit envious of them as I hauled my suitbag into the trunk and loosened my tie. They were on their way to a gig in Merrillville, Indiana, and I was going home after a long week on the road in sales. So, who's the better? If you enjoy music and don't know Chicago buy their earlier albums, and you'll be amazed at what you hear...

Very disappointing. Many of the songs on this album are clipped single versions. For example, the song "Beginnings" is more half missing. Not happy at all with this purchase.

Feelin Stronger Every Day- It's one of the greatest popular music songs of all time and never fails to raise my spirits. An amazingly well crafted song as well.

Let the music speak for it self, this is one of the greatest bands.

5 star songs with 0 star editing. They killed Chicago! YOU BASTARDS! Teach me for buying before reading reviews.

After years of harping about Rhino and their LOVE of single edits the word is finally spreading. I'm not taking credit for the spread, I'm glad other people are seeing the light. Rhino WAS great back in the day for audio restoration when music was being digitized from original analog sources but as the technology improved Rhino stayed behind, their audio restoration technique is left sounding uneven as the label re-issues and reconfigure their holdings. Some of the songs on this collection do sound better than the previous "The Very Best Of Chicago" and vice-versa. What I did is load up all the Chicago remasters and compare and contrast, deleting the tracks that sounded dim. This collection in and of itself is a set of single edits for the most part and the focus is toward radio and Chicago's casual fans. This set is brief for a two-disc and like a previous reviewer stated, not only is there room for the album tracks as opposed to the edits, there is a lot of room for added material, what a way to ring in 40 years. Maybe for the 50th celebration the gaps will be filled.

This CD is not worth the money spent. Not here and not in the stores. I expected the album cuts of these songs but only ended up with the short air play cuts. For example 25 or 6 to 4 is actually 4:58 in length and NOT 2:51. Another example, Beginnings is actually 7:58 in length and not 2:47. There are other examples throughout the CD. I grew up in the time period when album cuts were the only way to hear a song. It was the radio stations who believed listeners would not hang around to hear the entire cut. If the producers wanted to put a 40 year CD together, then make it a 3 CD set and provide the FULL length versions of the songs. Do yourself a favor, spend the extra money and buy the individual CDs with the FULL length songs.

This colection of Chicago songs is fabulous! If you buy this you will not regret it! You will have a great colection of intriging songs that everyone will enjoy listening to.