One Clear Voice

Recording

Following his departure from Warner Brothers in 1993, Cetera met Steve Devick while on vacation in Maui with his daughter. Devick had created the Chicago-based label in 1985 and was looking to expand from its Gospel roots into popular music. Cetera, who was looking for a new label at the time, signed a multi-album deal in October 1993.

Teaming up again with Andy Hill, who had produced his previous album, World Falling Down, Cetera took a more active role songwriting, this time, writing six new songs for the album. At Devick's request, Cetera re-recorded his old Chicago song, "Happy Man". Actress Crystal Bernard was recruited to sing the duet "(I Wanna Take) Forever Tonight" after hearing her demo tape. Country singer and label mate, Ronna Reeves was recruited for a remake of the ABBA classic, "SOS". Hill and Cetera produced six of the album's eleven songs together, while Cetera produced the remaining five on his own.

One Clear Voice was released in the summer of 1995, distributed by Mercury Records.

Commercial Reception

One Clear Voice failed to enter the charts, a fact that some attributed to the small relative size of River North Records. Four singles were released to modest success on the Adult Contemporary charts, including "(Wanna Take) Forever Tonight" (#22 AC, #86 pop), "Faithfully" (#13 AC), "One Clear Voice" (#13 AC) and "SOS". In promoting the album, Cetera did several live chats on internet forums as well as television interviews and performances.

Unlike his previous albums, Cetera also planned a live tour for One Clear Voice. With five albums of solo material recorded, Cetera felt that he had a broad mix of material to draw from so that he wouldn't be limited to his old songs with Chicago. The tour was delayed when Cetera was in a motorcycle accident over a long weekend in July 1995. A short tour played several dates in the fall of 1995, with a second leg in the summer of 1996 including a few more American and international dates. The One Clear Voice tour marked Cetera's first live concerts since the conclusion of the Chicago 17 tour more than 10 years earlier. It would also be his last live concerts for another seven years. The tour included material from his solo albums as well as several Chicago hits including "25 or 6 to 4", "If You Leave Me Now", "Hard To Say I'm Sorry", "You're The Inspiration" and "Feeling Stronger Everyday". Towards the end of the concerts, Cetera himself would play the bass on three songs.

Despite the chilly commercial reception, One Clear Voice was one of Platinum Entertainment's top selling albums, selling approximately 250,000 copies.

In 2005, the Compendia label re-issued the whole package under a new design, title and sequencing, retitled Faithfully.

Songs

1. "The End of Camelot" (Peter Cetera, Andy Hill) – 4:19
2. "Faithfully" (Chuck Jones, Pam Rose) – 3:21
3. "(I Wanna Take) Forever Tonight" (with Crystal Bernard) (Eric Carmen, Andy Goldmark) – 4:36
4. "Apple of Your Daddy's Eye" (Cetera, Jack Conrad) – 4:05
5. "One Clear Voice" (Marc Beeson, Gerald Martin) – 3:47
6. "Wanna Be There" (Cetera, Hill) – 3:28
7. "The Lucky Ones" (Cetera, Bruce Gaitsch, James Newton Howard) – 3:27
8. "Still Getting Over You" (Cetera, Hill) – 4:15
9. "S.O.S." (with Ronna Reeves) (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Stig Anderson) – 4:13
10. "And I Think of You" (Cetera, Hill) – 3:36
11. "Happy Man" (Cetera) – 4:36

Personnel

Production