Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #71395 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-05-13
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Best of, MVI DVD + Bonus CD, NTSC
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 75 minutes

Amazon.com

Formed in its namesake city in 1967, Chicago is the first American band ever to propel albums into Billboard’s pop Top 40 for five consecutive decades and is among the most successful American acts of all time. Now, Rhino adds to Chicago’s legacy with the first MVI (Music Video Interactive) upgrade of one of their titles. Originally released in 1997 as a single-disc, The Heart Of Chicago is a hits-packed album that collects smash singles and signature songs spanning three decades.

MVI CONTENT:
• The entire The Heart of Chicago album on both the MVI DVD and the bonus CD
• MP3 audio files of every song
• Music videos for "Hard Habit To Break" and "Will You Still Love Me?"
• Performance videos for "Make Me Smile" and "Beginnings" from A&E Live By Request
• A three-part video interview with Chicago’s Robert Lamm and Lee Loughnane
• Nu-Myx® computer application – create your own remix of "Free"
• Ur-Tone® computer application – create custom Chicago ringtones from The Heart Of Chicago
• Retrospective Photo Gallery
• Instant Messenger Icons
• Computer Wallpapers
• Web links to artist site and ringtone store
• Complete liner notes featuring commentary from band members
• Digital Album Booklet (PDF)
• The Heart Of Chicago MVI Updates – register your MVI to gain access to bonus content


AUDIO SELECTIONS:
1. You’re The Inspiration
2. If You Leave Me Now
3. Make Me Smile
4. Hard Habit To Break
5. Saturday In The Park
6. Wishin’ You Were Here
7. The Only One
8. Colour My World
9. Look Away
10. Here In My Heart
11. Just You ‘N’ Me
12. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?
13. Will You Still Love Me?
14. Beginnings
15. Hard To Say I’m Sorry/Get Away


VIDEO SELECTIONS:
1. Hard Habit To Break (music video)
2. Will You Still Love Me? (music video)
3. Make Me Smile (from A& E Live By Request)
4. Beginnings (from A& E Live By Request)
5. Three-part video interview with Chicago’s Robert Lamm and Lee Loughlane

Customer Reviews

Waste of Money
There have been many Chicago Greatest Hits albums over the years now. Back in the early 90s there were only 3 official greatest hits of chicago. None of which repeated any tracks from the previous compilations. "Heart of Chicago" in 1997 was the first of many compilations that repeated ground covered on past compilations. This one was very unique at the time though. Chicago had just recently acquired the rights to their albums that were under the "Columbia Records" label and moved them to their own label where they could use the music as they pleased. Because of this they were able to for the first time combine a sample of their 70s hits with their 80s hits on one cd. The songs are not arranged chronologically, which creates a problem since their 70s sound sounds nothing like their 80s sound. Two big pluses for the fans back in 1997 when this collection was originally released were the 2 new tracks recorded in the 90s where "Here in My Heart" which went number 1 on the Adult Contemporary charts and "The Only One" produced by Lenny Kravitz and features his vocals as a background singer.

All the songs featured on this collection (with the exception of "The Only One") are timeless Chicago classics but with so many huge hits missing like "25 or 6 to 4" this collection fails to be the great one disk compilation of Chicago hits it could have been. Back in 1998 they tried to correct that with a volume 2 that covered the songs missing from the first volume. Since then in 2002 they released "Only the Beginning: the Very Best of Chicago" which did the best job at covering all eras of Chicago and with the exception of the bonus tracks all the hits are accounted for.

Now for this 2008 rerelease of the Heart of Chicago. This fails in many ways and is a complete waste of money unless you didn't own the bonus tracks.

Here is the list of problems:

1) The DVD Audio is not in surround sound. I don't have fancy equipment but I heard no difference between the DVD and the CD audio.

2) The CD is not remastered. It is the same Audio used for the original release in 1997. Actually to me this isn't really a bad thing because they did a great job in 1997 and to me it sound better than the remastering they did in 2002. The problem is I thought they were going to mix it to 2008 standards.

3) There are no booklet but there is digital liner notes.

4) The liner notes and interviews are taken directly from the "40th Anniversary" Best Of Chicago. So there is nothing new here.

5) For those buying this collection for the video interview it is less than 9 minutes long and it covers little to no new ground for the fans. There isn't enough "Music Video's" to make it worth while. There are 2 actual Music Videos and there are 2 live songs lifted form the Chicago A&E By Request DVD.

6) The "nu-myx" application is fun for some songs. For those who don't know what "nu-myx" or "u-myx" is it is an application where you can take a song and remix it. You can remove instruments or vocals or completely rearrange a song. I think in the future this could be a great way to enjoy some of your favorite songs by making your own mix. A big issue with this collection is that only one song is made available and that is "Free". Though I enjoy the song, as a Chicago hit really isn't considered to be one of the "Classics" and it is very obscure. Also there really isn't any way to mix this song that would make it any more interesting. Even if you could get a great mix this application has blocked out the ability to export the song so to me it is a waste of time.

Buy this only if you don't have any other Chicago collection and you want I one disk for some of Chicago's hits and you don't miss the songs that are missing. Buy this if you don't have the 2 songs recorded in 1997 for this collection. If you already own the original release of this or any Chicago Best of collection 2002 on avoid this release. The bonus content is not worth the price.

(((As a side note I would not have bought this collection if it wasn't for the fact that artwork I created for a Chicago fan contest was used as a graphic to represent "The Only One" on the DVD audio portion of the DVD.)))

Takes me back
Chicago Transit Authority was huge back in the day. I remember the first time I heard "Colour my World" and thinking 'what is that?' I had to run to our local record store and grab a copy.

Back in the day, you better like Chicago's music because it was pervasive. If we didn't hear it on the radio, I and my fellow 'band geeks' were playing it in class. Their music was what made being in Band cool.

This collection is Romantic Chicago, which is not my favorite theme, but still a lot of their best. Plus, they do have "Make me Smile" and "Does Anybody Really know what Time it is?" which are two of their stronger horn section songs.

BTW: This is an EXCELLENT price for this CD. On impulse, I paid a lot more and now wish I hadn't.

Why not Surround??????
This would have been so much better if it included a surround sound option. It's a waste of DVD's storage capabilities. Wow, we get some videos - big whoop! This will kill MVI in the same way as SACD and DVD-Audio. Too bad...