Release and Aftermath
With Peter Cetera taking an even greater role in the band, his compositions included a mix of ballads, pop and rock songs, giving Chicago XIV a somewhat adult contemporary sound. Robert Lamm turned in the rockers "Manipulation" and "I'd Rather Be Rich" (a song from 1975) and James Pankow also delivered the uptempo - if downbeat - "The American Dream". Like Chicago 13 before it, Chicago XIV did not improve Chicago's fortunes. In fact, XIV did worse than 13, despite being an "improved" album. To the record-buying public, Chicago's image was out of touch in 1980 and once the new album was released, it became clear that any attempt to win back their fans would be in vain.
Poorly promoted by Columbia Records, a label that was increasingly disappointing Chicago, Chicago XIV went unnoticed upon release and bombed, only reaching #71 in the US, and disappeared quickly. There were no singles hits again, with "Thunder and Lightning" stalling below the top 50 and "Song For You" failing to chart. Chicago also saw a poor attendance in many venues during the supporting tour. Realizing that the relationship had soured considerably, Columbia Records terminated their relationship with Chicago. In 1982, Robert Lamm recalled,
""The thrill was gone as far as they were concerned, I think. Especially after Jeff Wald, who managed us in 1978 and 1979, kind of bullied them into signing a ridiculous multimillion dollar contract where every time we delivered an album, they had to cough up a million bucks. CBS didn't get close to recouping their money, and they wanted to get out of the deal. In fact they ended up paying us to leave the label."
As a settlement to ending the arrangement early, Columbia released the band's second Greatest Hits album and jettisoned them from the label. The money from the settlement was used to record Chicago 16 independently, while the band shopped for a new label. Percussionist Laudir de Oliveira, with Chicago since 1973, decided to explore other options and would leave the band in 1981, realizing that the Latin percussion evident in the latter half of the previous decade no longer fit the band's style.
In 2003, Chicago XIV was remastered and reissued by Rhino Records with three outtakes from the sessions, "Doin' Business" (which first appeared on the 1991 4-Disc anthology Group Portrait), "Live It Up" and "Soldier of Fortune" as bonus tracks.
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Famous quotes containing the words release and, release and/or aftermath:
“We read poetry because the poets, like ourselves, have been haunted by the inescapable tyranny of time and death; have suffered the pain of loss, and the more wearing, continuous pain of frustration and failure; and have had moods of unlooked-for release and peace. They have known and watched in themselves and others.”
—Elizabeth Drew (1887–1965)
“As nature requires whirlwinds and cyclones to release its excessive force in a violent revolt against its own existence, so the spirit requires a demonic human being from time to time whose excessive strength rebels against the community of thought and the monotony of morality ... only by looking at those beyond its limits does humanity come to know its own utmost limits.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)
“The aftermath of joy is not usually more joy.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)