Chicago: Chicago Transit Authority

More than 40 years after it was recorded, Rhino has released Chicago Transit Authority for the first time ever in true discrete Quadraphonic sound mastered from the original four-track Quad mixes. (The music-only disc will play on any DVD player with surround audio.)

The original release, recorded in eleven days, introduced a whole generation to the horn-powered fusion-rock band and the songwriting talents of Robert Lamm. And it stayed on the pop charts for a three-year run thanks to hit singles “Beginnings,” “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is,” and “Questions 67 and 68.” Rhino’s spectacular surround- staging transports you right back to 1969, immersing the listener in the raw musical, political, and youthful energy of the time. But great as it is to hear the full-length hits in four-track sound, as they were meant to be heard, it’s what you don’t hear on oldies radio that really shines: Terry Kath’s growling and wailing fretwork on “Free Form Guitar,” the horns highlighting the tricky time changes of “Introduction,” Peter Cetera’s booming yet nimble bass lead-in to “I’m A Man,” and finally the culmination—a fifteen-minute live rendition of “Liberation.” That’s what will remind you how musicians with real chops made albums before the invention of Pro Tools.