Chicago 'Stone of Sisyphus' album

In his book, The Greatest Music Never Sold, author Dan Leroy writes about the Stone Of Sisyphus, the great lost Chicago album. Recorded in 1993 and produced by Peter Wolf, Sisyphus became a cult record immediately after Warner Bros. refused to release it because it wasn't the Chicago record that was expected. Knowing what they had created and not willing to compromise, the band left Warner Bros. and took the album with them. Now, 15 years later, on June 17, this 11-song album with four bonus tracks will finally be available.

Powered by Chicago's celebrated horn section, the tracks on SISYPHUS have bite, power and swing, and the "fire in the belly" that one associates usually with debut albums. The songs touch on a wide range of styles and moods, including the energetic horn-driven title track, "Stone Of Sisyphus," the cool funk groove of "Mah-Jong," the anti-corporate rock broadside "Plaid," the touching emotional lyrics of "The Pull" and Robert Lamm's rap on "Sleeping In The Middle Of The Bed." "Bigger Than Elvis" features contributions from musicians who worked with "The King" himself, including The Jordinaires and Jerry Scheff (father of Chicago bassist Jason Scheff).

"We wrote songs that were more experimental, songs that were more daring in terms of musical direction and chord construction, more than anything," remembers James Pankow, whose innovative horn charts had been an integral part of Chicago's distinctive sound from the start. "We got into really feeling our oats in terms of being the voice of Chicago again. It had been a long time since we had made a record like that."

Looking back, the band members wish they had found a way to release SISYPHUS sooner, but there is intense pride in having stood up for their creative integrity -- a Chicago trademark. While Sisyphus became an underground classic, widely bootlegged by fans, Chicago continued to defy music business conventions by forming their own record company, and recording hugely successful big band and holiday records before it was the fashion.

To date, Chicago's remarkable achievements include a Grammy" Award, record sales that exceed 100,000,000, including 21 Top 10 singles, five consecutive #1 albums, five #1 singles, 13 platinum albums and five gold singles. An incredible 25 of their 30 albums have been certified platinum, and Chicago is the first American band to chart Top 40 albums in five decades.

THE SONGS OF SISYPHUS

By Bill DeYoung

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was cursed to roll a huge stone up a hill, only to have it roll back down just before the pinnacle was reached. In many ways, the story parallels Chicago’s career trajectory in the early 1990s. Chicago 22: Stone of Sisyphus was going to be a triumphant return to the top; instead of ascending, it rolled back down and knocked them flat.

“You try to be as objective as you can about music,” Walt Parazaider says, “but it’s a pretty personal thing when you’ve just finished something that you’ve loved doing and get that kind of reaction. I don’t think anybody that’s creative digs that kind of rejection, unless you’re a musical masochist.”

As it turned out, the defeat was only temporary. The band forged ahead with Night and Day, an album of Big Band songs. Chicago entered its third decade wise, willing and eager to scale new creative peaks. And over the years, the legend of Sisyphus grew.

STONE OF SISYPHUS
Dawayne brought in a couple of ideas. What is the chorus now was his verse. I listened to it a few times, we sat together, and I said ‘I think this is your chorus. We should change this around.’ I was responsible for helping him put the song together, and arranged the song.
It was the next step forward, creatively. Maybe we should never have un-invited the suits to the sessions. I think if we’d used our business sense a little better, we would’ve had a successful project.
There’s less synthesizer on the other version. I think it breathes a little better. I always thought maybe Peter had put a few too many keyboards on the track.
Lee Loughnane

BIGGER THAN ELVIS
I’d told Peter and Ina Wolf about seeing “Aloha From Hawaii” on TV when I was a kid; Everybody was watching Elvis Presley, but I didn’t even notice him. I was just looking for my dad, who was the bass player. We brought him in to play on the song, but didn’t tell him what it was about. We muted the vocals. And that Christmas, he was over at my house and I played him the finished song. He had headphones on, and I’ll never forget it. He sobbed when he heard it.
Jason Scheff

ALL THE YEARS
It started out being about the band, and my frustration about being stuck in a corner. Then it kind of morphed into a bigger subject, the political landscape of the early ‘90s. That in spite of all the revolution of the late ‘60s, early ‘70s, there didn’t really seem to be much progress in terms of humanity in the politics of this country, much less the world.
Robert Lamm

MAH-JONG
Me and my buddy Aaron Zigmund, and his friend Brock Walsh, we got together and said “Let’s come up with something funky.” We came up with this real cool funk groove, nothing like what ended up on Stone of Sisyphus. We brought Champlin in to sing on the demo, and that shows where it came from. Brock came up with the phrase mah-jong and painted that real pretty, smoky picture – the story of a guy who’s falling for this girl who works in a mah-jong parlor.
Jason Scheff

SLEEPING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BED
When John McCurry and I were cutting the demo, I had the lyrics written, we had the track, and I never really sang a melody. I was just kind of riffing. The rhythm of the words was there, but the melody wasn’t. I went out into the studio to do a rough vocal, and McCurry pushed the talkback button and said ‘Why don’t you rap it?’ And we both started laughing: OK, let’s try that.
Robert Lamm

I think the record company heard that and went “Wait a minute – white guys don’t do this.” Simple as that. I told Robert I thought it was an awesome piece, but you’re running up against racial lines here. I think that’s the first time Robert’s crossed any of those lines in a good long while.
Bill Champlin

Robert was just exploring another genre, which we’d been doing since Day One. I think the only things we haven’t covered are Dixieland and polkas, and give us long enough, we’ll probably do that too.
Walter Parazaider

LET’S TAKE A LIFETIME
Peter spent a lot of time with Lamm, Champlin and Pankow. I remember thinking towards the end of the album that we didn’t really spend too much time working on stuff that I brought in. I always felt a little strange about saying ‘What about me?’ I hate that squeaky wheel thing. But Peter said “Oh, that’s a great song – let’s get to work.”
Jason Scheff

THE PULL
A highly personal song about what I was going through in my private life at the time, just trying to be in two places at the same time. As much as we might desire it and need it, it’s not possible. Peter Wolf asked me to write extraordinary lyrics for that song, and I feel like I delivered. I’m really proud of that song.
Robert Lamm

There was such a great vibe. We were all supporting each other during each other’s tracks. A lot of laughs, a lot of fun.
Jason Scheff

HERE WITH ME (A CANDLE FOR THE DARK)
A guy by the name of Greg O’Connor and myself wrote the song initially. We were trying to get to the hook, which is “Here With Me.” And Robert jumped on board and fashioned the verse lyric, which kind of brings you to the hook, which is about a relationship that had ended but is still carried in the hearts of the people involved. Robert treated it very romantically, more so than I could have. And I think that song is a smash.
James Pankow

Jimmy wrote the music, and we argued about the title of the song. I thought “Here With Me” was just banal and pedestrian, so I pushed to have it called “A Candle For the Dark.”
Robert Lamm

PLAID
Peter said “Let’s go after corporate rock.” And I thought whoa, that’s an easy target. That’s pretty much a big, giant bulls-eye waiting there to get hit. It’s not really about Chicago, more about the whole corporate posture. I think it was right on the money.
Bill Champlin

CRY FOR THE LOST
At the same time we had this anti-corporate thing, we had this thought of “Let’s make the commercial songs even more commercial.” So they had me do a re-write on “Proud of Our Blindness,” that turned into “Cry for the Lost.”’ I personally like the songwriting on “Proud of Our Blindness” better. But hey, this is what the producer wanted. I didn’t become an MVP singer/songwriter over the years by telling producers “Nah, I don’t want to do that.” I’ve learned how to work in an assignment situation.
Bill Champlin

GET ON THIS
I had the music pretty much laid out, kind of a nasty, pop-funk groove. Dawayne had moments of brilliance – he was quite an excellent guitar player – and together we slammed out this butt-kicking track. He came up with the hook – as were recording the track he said ‘Hey, let’s get on this!’ And a lightbulb went off in my head.
James Pankow

THE SHOW MUST GO ON
Bruce Gaitsch and I wrote it. That’s pretty much pointing the finger at management types. Do you think the suits at the label are going to get behind a record that calls them assholes? I think what Peter wanted was a record that talks about what’s going on now, rather than love song, love song, love song, love song, love song.
Bill Champlin

Do you also would like to share your opinion? If so, please register or login here.

Details

Popular Songs

New Songs

Tracklisting

Chicago - Stone of Sisyphus