The year is 1969. The Vietnam War continues despite campaign promises from President Nixon to end the war. NASA is on target for the first lunar landing in July. And a band named after the public transit system in America’s second largest city debuts with a double album – unheard of in the recording industry, but then this is no ordinary group.

All the years later the first Chicago album is still one of those in my collection that I listen to often.

The band’s original lineup included saxophonist Walter Parazaider, guitarist Terry Kath, drummer Danny Seraphine, trombonist Jame Pankow, trumpeter Lee Laughnane, and keyboardist/singer Robert Lamm. The band’s nucleus met in 1967 at Indiana’s DePaul University. Lamm attended  Roosevelt University. Called “The Big Thing”, playing top 40 hits, they realized they needed a tenor to complement baritone Lamm and Kath and bassist Peter Cetera. After moving to LA the…