Chicago Transit Authority album cover
Chicago Transit Authority

Chicago

1969
Columbia

The initial subway map from these future MOR superstars was way weirder than you’d expect from the band that gave us “If You Leave Me Now.” Proggy jazz rock jams (“Introduction”), skronky Hendrix/Sharrock free guitar noise (“Free Form Guitar”), funk blasts (“I’m A Man”) — it’s a wild two-LP ride. Even one of the more traditional singles, “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?,” kicks off with discordant piano banging before kicking into some sweet light rock swing. “Questions 67 and 68” and “Someday (August 29, 1968)” use their horns to pull the listener into their train cars.

Jeff Treppel

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