A lot has happened with Chicago this past year. The band has been busy playing anywhere and everywhere it can, a documentary aired on PBS last month and Rhino Records has been remastering and rereleasing the entire Chicago album library.
"Rhino was interested in buying our catalog and releasing the albums, and we were interested in having those albums released," trumpeter Lee Loughnane said during a telephone interview from a hotel room in Philadelphia, Pa.. "It was a match made in heaven."
Rhino, which is currently overseeing the re-release of all the Yes and Elvis Costello albums, is a good archive company to work with, said Loughnane. It was a company respected by the band, which consists of Loughnane, trombonist James Pankow, woodwinder Walt Parazaider, keyboardist/vocalist Robert Lamm, keyboardist/vocalist Bill Champlin, bassist/vocalist Jason Scheff, guitarist Keith Howland and drummer Tris Imboden.
"They have a reputation of being extremely meticulous when it comes of packaging and redistribution," Loughnane said. "So far, every album up to 'Chicago 14' has been redistributed through Rhino. Each one of those albums has bonus tracks that we had stashed somewhere in our archives."
Loughnane also said the band's Christmas album, "Chicago 25," will be re-released in November. "We recorded some new holiday songs for this album as well. So it's like a 20-song Christmas album. We went into the studio and recorded the new songs just for this release."
He added, however, that the bonus tracks on the other albums were taken strictly from the band's archives.
"We have this way of recording all the songs we write. And that usually means all the songs that are on the albums are all the songs we have. So when we thought about adding bonus tracks to the reissues, we didn't think we had anything to add."
Enter music archivist/historian Jeff Magid. "Jeff, being the type of guy he is, knew exactly where to look for our outtakes," said Loughnane. "He found all these tidbits of our past sessions and brought them to us."
As for new Chicago compilations, the band kicked off its reissue campaign with a double-CD hits package, "Only the Beginning: the Very Best of Chicago," last year. "That release just went platinum (selling more than 1 million copies). And we just released a new box set."
"The Chicago Box Set" is five CDs, with an additional DVD that features a 1972 concert. "We did a TV show back then and filmed a live performance at the Aerie Crown Theatre.
Still, with all the repackaging and reissuing rotating the Chicago world, the band has continued to do what it loves to do — play music. "We have been playing whereever we can," Loughnane said with a laugh. "We've been on 'The Late Show,' 'The Tonight Show,' 'The Today Show' and if there were a 'Tomorrow Show' we'd probably play there, too.
Loughnane said it's been a challenge being in a band that has been around for 36 years. "We have fans that expect a lot from us. And, in turn, we expect a lot from ourselves. We want to make sure when we do play live, we only play to the audience in front of us."
If you go
What: Chicago
Where: USANA Amphitheater
When: Monday, 8 p.m.
How much: $20-$38.25
Phone: 467-8499 or
1-800-888-8499
Web: www.smithstix.com
Also: Carpooling is encouraged
E-MAIL: scott@desnews.com