Track Listing

1. Alive Again
2. The Greatest Love ON Earth
3. Little Miss Lovin'
4. Hot Streets
5. Take A Chance
6. Gone Long Gone
7. Ain't It Time
8. Love Was New
9. No Tell Lover
10. Show Me The Way
11. Bonus Selections: Love Was New (Alternate Vocal)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16236 in Music
• Released on: 2003-04-22
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered

Album Description
Remastered reissue of 1978 album features a rare, never-before-available alternate vocal version of 'Love Was New' as a bonus track. Rhino. 2003.

Customer Reviews

A step down...
Given the circumstances surrounding HOT STREETS, it may be unfair to criticize it too harshly. Nonetheless, I found it a big step down from XI, which was one of my favorite Chicago albums.

It does have its good points. "Alive Again" is a good opener (why wasn't THIS the title track?). The title track, while a little corny on the vocal/lyrical front, has great atmosphere. (I first heard it, as a teenage Chicago fan, while in the back seat of a car going down a deserted road in a rainstorm at 6:30 AM. This was a great way to get introduced to it!) Dacus, while not like Kath in any way, does fine in his guitar & vocal roles; his writing contribution, the rockin' "Ain't It Time," is my favorite track on the album. (In fact I'm surprised not to find other reviewers saying the same thing.)

On the downside, I totally dislike "Greatest Love On Earth" and "Little Miss Lovin'"; these have the rare distinction of being songs I own on CD but never listen to. "No Tell Lover" is schmaltz with really dumb lyrics.

Neither good nor bad, but just weird, is the album's ending. A nice instrumental hook on "Show Me The Way" turns into a chorus sung by... German soldiers?? Kind of funny, kind of haunting, but mostly just weird. What was it supposed to mean?

The bonus track, a version of "Love Was New" with Dacus on vocals instead of Lamm, shows that they were wise to use the Lamm version. It's not that Dacus' vocal is bad; it's more that the melody seems not to have been finalized on the Dacus version. Compare the lines "basic survival" and "taken for granted" between the versions and you'll see what I mean.

BTW, the band did appear in a small picture on the cover of CHICAGO VI, but this was the first (only?) time they were depicted on a cover prominently. Funny thing is, if you fold out the cover so you can see the full picture, Pankow appears at both ends of it!

Vastly Underrated - Truly The Last "Great" Chicago Album
True aficianados and/or longtime fans of Chicago can certainly cite the turbulent year of 1978 for the band: founding member Terry Kath's tragic passing; a shifting of musical trends and tastes; a new producer (Phil Ramone, who was simultaneously finishing Billy Joel's classic 52nd Street album) and the introduction of Donnie Dacus as Terry's replacement. And yet despite all of this chaos, the band produces what is still an underrated gem. I liken it to the 1980 "Drama" album by Yes - a key member is absent, but the band rallies and produces a winner. The remastered sound comes through loud and clear on "Alive Again," one of Chicago's best uptemp rockers since "Dialogue" from Chicago V. Pete Cetera's "Greatest Love on Earth" is the only marginally questionable track on the album, a bit cheesy and contrived (but nowhere as NEAR as bad as the 80s tripe looming on the horizon). "Little Miss Lovin" and the title track are solid, R&B-inflected cruisers. "Take A Chance" features one of Donnie Dacus' better vocal performances. "Gone Long Gone" is a countryish rocker from Cetera. The remaining tracks are also solid, but the album's standout piece is "No Tell Lover," which boasts a gorgeous melody and one of James Pankow's best brass arrangements in years. The song really does sound like a warm summer afternoon in the park.
I saw Chicago for the first time on the tour to support this album (almost 30 years ago!!), and they were absolutely spectacular. Dan Seraphine and Robert Lamm were really the glue of the band in this period. The band would begin to falter and lose focus with the next album (Chicago 13), and ultimately become a robotic manufacturer of cheesy, syrupy adult pop songs. Hot Streets represents Chicago's last great, cohesive and diverse album.

Kick back and listen
Musical historians condemn this album as something worse than the plague. I think part of the reason for that, beyond their dislike of the music on this album, comes from all the upheavals Chicago went through during the recording of this album. The tragic accidental suicide of their singer guitarist, the dropping of the roman numerals for a straightforward album title, showing the band members on the cover, breaking away from their long time producer and so on.

I personally think this is a pretty groovy album. I like the time period (I'm a fan of the 1970's in popular culture), I enjoy the mood of the album, which is slick, but also quite sombre. It's an adult album, like Chicago albums usually are. It might not be as inovative as earlier stuff, but it's a solid piece by real professionals.

Like I said in my title, this is a good album to just kick back and listen to. Close your eyes and relax after a long day at work, have a cold or warm beverage and just let the music wash over you.