61. Ain't It Time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TBWi7ZUvWI
Album: Hot Streets (1978)
Writers: Donnie Dacus, Danny Seraphine and Warner Schwebke
Lead vocals: Donnie Dacus with Peter Cetera
Released as a single? No
Tight rocker with nice riffage from Hot Streets, in keeping with late-70s production trends but not overwhelmed by them. Donnie Dacus' only writing credit on his first album with them. Not to be confused with Ain't It Blue? from Chicago VIII.
Live version from 1979:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPRhs3DY52Q
62. Your Love's an Attitude
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJFPYB5o8uk
Album: Chicago X (1976) (bonus track)
Writer: Terry Kath
Lead vocals: Terry Kath
Released as a single? No
This graceful acoustic piece from Terry Kath was recorded during the sessions for Chicago X but left off until it surfaced as a bonus track on a reissue.
No documented live performances.
63. Doin' Business
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-fdPkSqYSY
Album: Chicago XIV (1980) (bonus track)
Writer: Robert Lamm
Lead vocals: Robert Lamm
Released as a single? No
Another rocker from the XIV sessions, this one is the closest to the New Wave that they were sort of inspired by when making this album. Perhaps for that reason it didn't make the cut initially, but surfaced in 1991 on the Group Portrait box set and later as a bonus track on a reissue of XIV.
Played live only a handful of times, none of which are on Youtube.
64. Mah-Jong
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcEhf9Ov9J8
Album: Chicago XXXII: Stone of Sisyphus (2008)
Writers: Jason Scheff, Brock Walsh and Aaron Zigman
Lead vocals: Bill Champlin
Released as a single? No
The best song on Stone of Sisyphus, this has a pretty infectious beat, some nice wah-wah guitar and interesting rhythms throughout. If the rest of the album (recorded in 1993 but not released until 2008) sounded like this, it might deserve its "lost classic" status. When the album finally came out, a demo version of this track was also included:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMtfLcUBRK0.
Jason Scheff, Peter Cetera's replacement, wrote much of the song but did not sing Chicago's version; he released a version on a 1997 solo album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAauqnWGLOo.
No documented live performances.
65. You Get It Up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPwdsA2b3Ss
Album: Chicago X (1976)
Writer: Robert Lamm
Lead vocals: Peter Cetera, Terry Kath, Robert Lamm, Lee Loughnane, Laudir de Oliveira, James Pankow, Walter Parazaider and Danny Seraphine
Released as a single? No
This funky, mostly instrumental track is notable for crediting the entire band as lead vocalists (the only occurrence of that for Laudir de Oliveira, Walter Parazaider and Danny Seraphine), as they chant the limited lyrics in unison.
Played live only a handful of times, none of which are on Youtube.
66. If You Leave Me Now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuBRgCcL8Js
Album: Chicago X (1976)
Writer: Peter Cetera
Lead vocals: Peter Cetera
Released as a single? Yes (US #1)
This was the first of the band's three #1 singles -- despite the band having sat on it for two years before recording it, and then only as a last-minute effort at the Chicago X sessions -- and set the template for the next 10 years of their career, where they would be most identified with ballads sung by Peter Cetera. It may be the song of theirs that casual listeners are most familiar with, as it was ubiquitous in the late '70s. I find it pleasant but don't care for the string arrangement, which oddly won a Grammy (the song also won for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus). Cetera played acoustic guitar and Kath played bass, as they had done on Wishing You Were Here, which was written at the same time.
How much of a last-minute effort was this song? Walter Parazaider forgot it existed until it was played on the radio. In the Group Portrait liner notes, he said:
"The rhythm section was really struggling over some song. Lee, Jimmy [Pankow], and myself were done with our part of the recording. The foreman was taking us down to Denver to get us out of town. I remember Guercio and Peter talking, 'cause it was Peter's song, saying, 'If this doesn't work within the next couple of takes, we're gonna shine this. We've got enough tunes for the album.' I'm sitting around my pool three months later, and the local station goes, 'We've got the debut single by Chicago coming up.' A song comes on. I'm cleaning my pool, and I'm going, 'That's a catchy tune. Sorta sounds like McCartney. Where have I heard this before?' The next thing, they go. 'That's Chicago's latest release, "If You Leave Me Now.'" The main point of the story, outside of me being a dummy*, is that usually, things that just made the album end up being some of the biggest hits."
Live version from 1977:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxeuQKflPpQ
Leonid and Friends version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ_j4Ytecgg&list=PL_lu88CYCO49t9aYp4N_40615W5h6TtLK&index=2
* - One of us! One of us!
67. While The City Sleeps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCrgrGsBlr0
Album: Chicago V (1972)
Writer: Robert Lamm
Lead vocals: Robert Lamm
Released as a single? No
The first half definitely has a "'70s TV show" vibe about it, with the cadence of the vocals and the way the horns interject. I think it's groovy. The second half, with a great guitar workout from Terry Kath, is really where it's at, though.
Live version from 1972:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uogkemklIpU
68. Soldier of Fortune
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_DcV_vQKLs
Album: Chicago XIV (1980) (bonus track)
Writer: Robert Lamm
Lead vocals: Robert Lamm
Released as a single? No
This outtake from Chicago XIV ended up appended as a bonus track on a reissue. It's got a forthright melody and a propulsive rhythm, and could pass for one of the better songs on Billy Joel's Glass Houses. It also boasts some fine acoustic/electric guitar interplay by the session guitarists they were employing at the time.
No live performances have been documented.
69. Till the End of Time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxFjL5BwBGs
Album: Chicago XI (1977)
Writer: James Pankow
Lead vocals: James Pankow
Released as a single? No
One album after James Pankow made his lead vocal debut, he provided another. I've not seen anything regarding whether he auditioned the regular singers and didn't like what he heard or always intended to sing this one. This has a nice slinky melody and bears a slight resemblance to the '50s revival sound that was popular at the time.
No live performances have been documented.
70. Aire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YsbNa97tow
Album: Chicago VII (1974)
Writers: Danny Seraphine, Walter Parazaider and James Pankow
Lead vocals: Instrumental
Released as a single? No
Side 1 of Chicago VII is jazz fusion -- not exactly what their fans were expecting. The whole album was supposed to be like that until Jim Guercio and Peter Cetera vetoed it. This is the most successful of those tracks, with a memorable theme driven by the horns and Terry Kath showing off his jazz-guitar chops at 2:25.
Live version from 1973 (earlier and shorter than the studio version):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrm7l8LXRys