Chicago 18

Chicago 18
Studio album by Chicago
Released	September 29, 1986 (1986-09-29)
Recorded	March–September 1986
Studio	Chartmaker Studios (Malibu, California) Lion Share Recording Studio (Los Angeles) Skyline Recording Company (Malibu, California)
Genre	Rock
Length	45:19
Label	Full Moon/Warner Bros.
Producer	David Foster
Chicago chronology
Take Me Back to Chicago (1985) Chicago 18 (1986) Chicago 19 (1988)
Singles from Chicago 18
"25 or 6 to 4" Released: August 1986 (US) [1] "Will You Still Love Me?" Released: October 24, 1986 (US) [2] "If She Would Have Been Faithful..." Released: March 6, 1987 (US) [3] "Niagara Falls" Released: June 1987

Chicago 18 is the fifteenth studio album, eighteenth overall by the American rock band Chicago, released on September 29, 1986. This album is the first without original vocalist Peter Cetera, and the first to feature Jason Scheff on bass and vocals.

With Cetera having left the band in 1985 for a solo career, Chicago eventually hired Scheff to fill Cetera's position as vocalist and bassist. With Scheff and Bill Champlin, who had joined the band in 1981, the most prominent voices in Chicago now belonged to its two newest recruits.

Chicago again hired producer David Foster to create a followup to Chicago 17.

The band recorded an updated, high-tech remake of their classic "25 or 6 to 4" (#48). Scheff recalled when he asked Foster on the way he should sing the song, the latter responded: "Just like Cetera."^{[ citation needed ]} The following singles, "Will You Still Love Me?" (#3) and "If She Would Have Been Faithful..." (#17) became hits. Scheff was lead vocalist on all three releases. The album also features a brief instrumental horn riff, Pankow's "Free Flight."

Despite the success of its predecessor, Chicago 18 ultimately only went gold, peaking at #35 on the Billboard Top 200 charts.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]

Chicago 18 (Full Moon/Warner Bros. 25509) reached gold status and #35 in the US during a chart stay of 45 weeks. It did not chart in the UK.

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Niagara Falls"	Steve Kipner/Bobby Caldwell	Scheff with Bill Champlin	3:43
2.	"Forever"	Robert Lamm/Bill Gable	Lamm	5:17
3.	"If She Would Have Been Faithful..."	Kipner/Randy Goodrum	Scheff with Champlin	3:51
4.	"25 or 6 to 4"	Robert Lamm	Scheff	4:20
5.	"Will You Still Love Me?"	David Foster/Tom Keane/Richard Baskin	Scheff with Champlin	5:44

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Lead vocals	Length
6.	"Over and Over"	Lamm/James Newton Howard/Steve Lukather	Lamm	4:20
7.	"It's Alright"	Bill Champlin/Foster	Champlin	4:29
8.	"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now"	Scheff/Buzz Feiten	Scheff	4:45
9.	"I Believe"	Champlin	Champlin, with Scheff	4:20
10.	"One More Day"	Pankow/Carmen Grillo	Lamm, Champlin, Scheff	4:13

Notes:

• A re-recorded version of "When Will the World Be Like Lovers?" (Robert Lamm/Tom Keane/David Foster) appears on Robert Lamm's 1995 solo album Life Is Good In My Neighborhood. The original recorded version from the Chicago 18 sessions also appears online.
• "Free Flight", a 25-second unlisted instrumental composed by James Pankow, appears at the beginning of "Nothin's Gonna Stop Us Now".
• David Boruff plays the saxophone solo on "Forever" instead of Walter Parazaider.

Personnel

^[5]

Chicago

• Bill Champlin – keyboards, vocals
• Robert Lamm – keyboards, vocals
• Lee Loughnane – trumpet
• James Pankow – trombone, brass arrangements
• Walter Parazaider – woodwinds
• Jason Scheff – bass, vocals
• Danny Seraphine – drums, drum programming
• Vocal arrangements by Chicago, Bill Champlin, and David Foster

Additional musicians

• David Foster – keyboards, additional arrangements, brass contributions
• Tom Keane – keyboards, backing vocals
• Michael Boddicker – synthesizer programming
• David Boruff – synthesizer programming, tenor saxophone on "Forever"
• Rhett Lawrence – synthesizer programming
• Bo Tomlyn – synthesizer programming
• Michael Landau – guitars
• Howard "Buzz" Feiten – guitars
• Steve Lukather – guitars
• Jeremy Lubbock – string arrangements on "If She Would Have Been Faithful...", "Will You Still Love Me?", and "I Believe"
• Jules Chaikin – string contractor
• Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
• Betty Joyce – kids choir contractor on "One More Day"
• Jon Joyce – kids choir conductor on "One More Day"
• Rebecca Clinger, Christopher Leach, Julie Leach, Myhanh Tran, Peter Wade, Jason Pasol, Brandon Roberts, Alitzah Wiener, Betty Joyce, Laurie Parazaider, Felicia Parazaider, Melody Wright and Bettina Bush – kids choir on "One More Day"

Production

• Produced by David Foster ^[5]
• Engineered and Mixed by Humberto Gatica
• Recorded at Chartmaker Studios (Malibu, CA) and Lion Share Recording Studio (Los Angeles, CA), assisted by Claudio Ordenes and Ray Pyle.
• Horn Sessions recorded at Skyline Recording Company (Malibu, CA), assisted by Britt Bacon and David Garfield.
• Mixed at Lion Share Recording Studio, assisted by Laura Livingston.
• Originally mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound (New York, NY).
• CDD Pre-mastering by WCI Record Group
• Art Direction – Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff
• Design – Hugh Brown and Jeri McManus
• Album Cover (Mosaic) – Maria Sarno
• Photography – Hugh Brown
• Stylist/Wardrobe – Kali Korn
• Group Photography – Guy Webster

Charts

Chart performance for Chicago 18

Chart (1986–1987)	Peak position
Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [6]	53
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts) [7]	31
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [8]	49
Japanese Albums (Oricon) [9]	23
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [10]	12
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [11]	15
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [12]	18
US Billboard 200 [13]	35

Certifications

Certifications for Chicago 18

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA) [14]	Gold	500,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. "Chicago singles".
2. "Chicago singles".
3. "Chicago singles".
4. Chicago 18 at AllMusic
5. All credits from CD booklet.
6. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 0750". RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
7. Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 166. ISBN   978-951-1-21053-5.
8. "Offiziellecharts.de – Chicago – 18" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
9. Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN   4-87131-077-9.
10. "Norwegiancharts.com – Chicago – 18". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
11. "Swedishcharts.com – Chicago – 18". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
12. "Swisscharts.com – Chicago – 18". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
13. "Chicago Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
14. "American album certifications – Chicago – Chicago 18". Recording Industry Association of America . Retrieved June 21, 2023.

Further reading

• Deriso, Nick (September 29, 2014). "Danny Seraphine, Bill Champlin on the complicated legacy of Chicago 18". Something Else!. Retrieved September 1, 2017.