Length 157:44 | Release date 2 July 2002 | |
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Released July 2, 2002 (2002-07-02) Recorded January 1969 – January 1995 Producer James William Guercio, Phil Ramone, Chicago, David Foster, Chas Sandford, Ron Nevison, Bruce Fairbairn, David McLees Similar Chicago albums, Rock music albums |
The Very Best of Chicago: Only the Beginning is a double greatest hits album by the American band Chicago, their twenty-seventh album overall. Released in 2002, this collection marked the beginning of a long-term partnership with Rhino Entertainment which, between 2002 and 2005, would remaster and re-release Chicago's 1969–1980 Columbia Records catalog.
Contents
In Europe, a greatest hits compilation was released as The Chicago Story: Complete Greatest Hits with a different track listing.
The Very Best of Chicago: Only the Beginning combines almost all of Chicago's greatest successes from their entire recording career up to that point, excerpting material from all of their regular studio albums with the exception of 1979's Chicago 13 and 1980's Chicago XIV. Several songs appear in an edited form, including "I'm a Man", which is missing the Danny Seraphine drum solo, and "Dialogue (Part I & II)", which is presented in its shortened single version.
Disc one
- "Make Me Smile" (James Pankow) – 4:26
- New edit
- "25 or 6 to 4" (Robert Lamm) – 4:50
- Tracks 1–2 originally issued on 1970's Chicago II
- "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" (Lamm) – 3:20
- Single version
- "Beginnings" (Lamm) – 6:26
- Edited version from 1975's Chicago IX: Chicago's Greatest Hits
- "Questions 67 and 68" (Lamm) – 4:52
- New edit
- "I'm a Man" (Jimmy Miller, Steve Winwood) – 5:44
- New edit
- Tracks 3–6 originally issued on 1969's The Chicago Transit Authority
- "Colour My World" (Pankow) – 3:00
- Originally issued on Chicago II
- "Free" (Lamm) – 2:17
- "Lowdown" (Peter Cetera, Danny Seraphine) – 3:34
- Tracks 8–9 originally issued on 1971's Chicago III
- "Saturday in the Park" (Lamm) – 3:56
- "Dialogue (Part I & II)" (Lamm) – 5:00
- Single version
- Tracks 10–11 originally issued on 1972's Chicago V
- "Just You 'n' Me" (Pankow) – 3:42
- "Feelin' Stronger Every Day" (Cetera, Pankow) – 4:14
- Tracks 12–13 originally issued on 1973's Chicago VI
- "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long" (Pankow) – 4:29
- "Wishing You Were Here" (Cetera) – 4:36
- "Call on Me" (Lee Loughnane) – 4:02
- "Happy Man" (Cetera) – 3:15
- Edited version from 1981's Greatest Hits, Volume II
- Tracks 14–17 originally issued on 1974's Chicago VII
- "Another Rainy Day in New York City" (Lamm) – 3:00
- "If You Leave Me Now" (Cetera) – 3:57
- Tracks 18–19 originally issued on 1976's Chicago X
Disc two
- "Old Days" (Pankow) – 3:31
- Originally issued on 1975's Chicago VIII
- "Baby, What a Big Surprise" (Cetera) – 3:06
- "Take Me Back to Chicago" (Seraphine, David Wolinski) – 2:57
- Single version
- Tracks 2–3 originally issued on 1977's Chicago XI
- "Alive Again" (Pankow) – 4:04
- "No Tell Lover" (Cetera, Loughnane, Seraphine) – 4:13
- Tracks 4–5 originally issued on 1978's Hot Streets
- "Love Me Tomorrow" (Cetera, David Foster) – 3:58
- Single version
- "Hard to Say I'm Sorry/Get Away" (Cetera, Foster, Lamm) – 5:05
- Tracks 6–7 originally issued on 1982's Chicago 16
- "Stay the Night" (Cetera, Foster) – 3:50
- "Hard Habit to Break" (Steve Kipner, John Parker) – 4:45
- "You're the Inspiration" (Cetera, Foster) – 3:49
- "Along Comes a Woman" (Cetera, Mark Goldenberg) – 3:47
- Single version
- Tracks 8–11 originally issued on 1984's Chicago 17
- "Will You Still Love Me?" (David Foster, Tom Keane, Richard Baskin) – 4:12
- Single version
- "If She Would Have Been Faithful..." (Randy Goodrum, Kipner) – 3:51
- Tracks 12–13 originally issued on 1986's Chicago 18
- "Look Away" (Diane Warren) – 4:00
- Single version
- "What Kind of Man Would I Be?" (Jason Scheff, Bobby Caldwell, Chas Sandford) – 4:14
- Single version
- "I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love" (Warren, Albert Hammond) – 3:57
- "We Can Last Forever" (Scheff, John Dexter) – 3:44
- Single version
- "You're Not Alone" (Jim Scott) – 4:00
- Single version
- Tracks 14–18 originally issued on 1988's Chicago 19
- "Chasin' the Wind" (Warren) – 4:18
- Originally issued on 1991's Twenty 1
- "Sing, Sing, Sing" – with the Gipsy Kings (Louis Prima) – 3:20
- Originally issued on 1995's Night and Day: Big Band
Disc one
- "If You Leave Me Now" (Cetera) – 3:57
- "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" (Cetera, Foster, Lamm) – 3:51
- Single version
- "You're the Inspiration" (Cetera, Foster) – 3:49
- "Hard Habit to Break" (Kipner, Parker) – 4:45
- "Will You Still Love Me?" (Foster, Keane, Baskin) – 4:12
- Single version
- "Baby, What a Big Surprise" (Cetera) – 3:06
- "Look Away" (Warren) – 4:00
- Single version
- "What Kind of Man Would I Be?" (Scheff, Caldwell, Sandford) – 4:14
- Single version
- "I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love" (Warren, Hammond) – 3:57
- "Love Me Tomorrow" (Cetera, Foster) – 3:58
- Single version
- "Just You 'n' Me" (Pankow) – 3:42
- "Happy Man" (Cetera) – 3:15
- Same edit as American issue
- "You're Not Alone" (Scott) – 4:00
- Single version
- "Chasin' the Wind" (Warren) – 4:18
- "Wishing You Were Here" (Cetera) – 4:36
- "No Tell Lover" (Cetera, Loughnane, Seraphine) – 4:13
- "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long" (Pankow) – 4:29
- "Colour My World" (Pankow) – 3:00
- "You Come to My Senses" (Tom Kelly, Billy Steinberg) – 3:48
- Originally issued on Twenty 1
- "We Can Last Forever" (Scheff, Dexter) – 3:44
- Single version
Disc two
- "25 or 6 to 4" (Lamm) – 4:50
- "Saturday in the Park" (Lamm) – 3:56
- "Questions 67 and 68" (Lamm) – 4:52
- Same edit as American issue
- "I'm a Man" (Miller, Winwood) – 5:44
- Same edit as American issue
- "Stay the Night" (Cetera, Foster) – 3:50
- "Only You" (Foster, Pankow) – 3:54
- Originally issued on Chicago 17
- "Dialogue (Part I & II)" (Lamm) – 5:00
- Single version
- "Old Days" (Pankow) – 3:31
- "Beginnings" (Lamm) – 6:26
- Same edit as American issue
- "Lowdown" (Cetera, Seraphine) – 3:34
- "Another Rainy Day in New York City" (Lamm) – 3:00
- "Call on Me" (Loughnane) – 4:02
- "Feelin' Stronger Every Day" (Cetera, Pankow) – 4:14
- "Take Me Back to Chicago" (Seraphine, Wolinski) – 2:57
- Single version
- "Sing, Sing, Sing" – with the Gipsy Kings (Prima) – 3:20
- "Along Comes a Woman" (Cetera, Goldenberg) – 3:47
- Single version
- "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" (Lamm) – 3:20
- Single version
- "Make Me Smile" (Pankow) – 4:26
- Same edit as American issue
- "Street Player" (Seraphine, Wolinski) – 4:22
- Single version
- Originally issued on 1979's Chicago 13
Songs
1Make Me Smile (new edit)4:28
225 or 6 to 44:53
3Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? (new edit)3:21