Peter Cetera is performing live tonight at the Barbican, his first UK show in over three decades. Woefully under-rated as both a songwriter and a vocalist (his voice still being one of the most distinctive of his time), he’s still filed under “guilty pleasure” but always had an ear for a melody. And that includes this song which he wrote for the Chicago VI album from 1973 which spent five weeks at number one in the US that year. It’s the most country-leaning track on the album, featuring as it does Gerry Rafferty on pedal steel, but you could honestly pick out any of the 10 tracks on the record as evidence of what the band collectively represented at a key point in US history. Chances are Cetera won’t be playing it tonight, but he should.
Chicago “In Terms of Two” – Listen
‘woefully under-rated’ as a songwriter? Most of the great Chicago songs came from the pre-drug pen of Lamm, Kath & Pankow. Cetera only supplied fillers.
He was a bit more than filler to me Andy! As much as I loved James Pankow’s songwriting in particular, Cetera was probably the bit of Chicago that woke me up to country music – songs like What Else Can I Say or Where Do We Go From Here still sound amazing today
Hi Mark, good to hear from you hope you are well. Not sure I’d go along with your comments, There’s a great facebook page on Chicago & Terry Kath which has unearthed the real story of early Chicago. Much of the conflict involved Cetera being the front man.
Always lovely to hear from you too Andy. Yeah the CNN Chicago film Now More Than Ever covers the story well, I know there’s not much love lost between the two sides now.