Chicago XI
| Chicago XI | ||||
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| Studio album by Chicago | ||||
| Released | September 12, 1977 | |||
| Recorded | April – June 1977, Caribou Ranch, Nederland, Colorado | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 44:33 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | James William Guercio | |||
| Chicago chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Chicago XI | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
Chicago XI is the ninth studio album (eleventh overall) by the American band Chicago, released in 1977. As the successor to Chicago X, the album marked the end of an era for Chicago in more ways than one. This would be the last Chicago album to feature guitarist and founding member Terry Kath prior to his death in an accident with a gun just over four months later, and the last Chicago album to be produced by James William Guercio.
Chicago XI is notable for feeling like a collection of solo songs rather than the work of the ensemble whole Chicago had been earlier in the 1970s. Peter Cetera aimed to replicate the success of the Grammy-winning "If You Leave Me Now" with "Baby, What A Big Surprise", which proved to be the album's biggest hit, going to #4. This was his only writing contribution to the album and, quite atypically, the only song with him on lead vocals. Terry Kath revived his old live favorite "Mississippi Delta City Blues" for the album, while turning in a touching vocal on Danny Seraphine's "Little One." Seraphine also co-wrote "Take Me Back to Chicago", which charted at #63. (Kath's "Takin' It On Uptown"—which, besides some uncredited backup singers, possibly features only Kath himself—may have been intended as a solo album "preview" along the lines of Lamm's "Skinny Boy" on Chicago VII.) James Pankow sang lead on his own "Till The End Of Time," as did Lee Loughnane on his original, "This Time." The once-prolific Robert Lamm only managed two songs, the sympathetic "Policeman" and "Vote For Me."
While recording Chicago XI, longtime producer James William Guercio's smothering artistic control had reached its breaking point, with the band deciding to take their career into their own hands and strike out on their own after finishing the album with him. However, as big a change in their career as Guercio's dismissal would be for Chicago, it would be minor in comparison to the tragedy that awaited them.
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