Like I mentioned in my last Chicago record, I’m a newbie to Chicago’s immense discography. It is my basic understanding that Chicago started out as an ambitious prog/fusion rock group and moved more towards the middle of the road as time went on, making millions on record sales at the expense of critical credibility. However, the more time I spend with the group, the more I realize that that dichotomy is not so neatly divided.

The earlier albums had some of the softer pop ballads of their career, and some of the later releases were just as proggy as the early stuff. Instead, it seems that Chicago was two bands happily coexisting within one, pleased to release disparate tracks side by side on the same album. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself, because it’s really hard for me to believe that one band that does all of this so well.

Chicago VI is a little bit easier to digest, clocking in at just under forty minutes instead of over seventy like the other Chicago records I have. Only their second single album, VI is more pointed and focused than III. It seems more content to get to its point quickly, not wasting its time in extended funk solos or multi-part suites. The poppier stuff benefits the most from this, providing stand outs like the breezy Just You ‘n’ Me, the harmony laden Something About This City Changes People (the album’s forgotten gem), and the closing-rocker Feelin’ Stronger Everyday. If this is what the middle of Chicago’s road sounds like, maybe they made the right choice in spending more time there.