California Transit Authority - Sacred Ground (2013)

Danny Seraphine's California Transit Authority (CTA) is back with their second album, Sacred Ground, and this time the band took the field with a real live horn section that sounds like it was cloned straight from his old band, Chicago.

Seraphine's current group is loaded with top notch session players who shared the spotlight with him on CTA’s 2007 debut, Full Circle. Ed Roth is on keys, Mick Mahan plays bass, and Peter Fish adds his keyboards to three tracks. The most important member is guitarist Mark Bonilla who also serves as CTA's unofficial music director. He co-produced the set with Seraphine, shared composing credits on eight of the fourteen tracks, and wrote most of the horn arrangements.

While Bonilla's horn charts frequently remind you of Jim Pankow's work with Chicago Sacred Ground's overall vibe is a hybrid of that band's two most productive periods: the James William Guercio years and the tougher sounding moments from the David Foster era. No overbearing power ballads are to be found.

Currently, CTA's lineup does not have a permanent vocalist. Instead, a bunch of all-stars, and singers who should be stars, share the wealth throughout the album.

Larry Braggs, who took most of the leads on Full Circle, shines here on a cover version of Blood, Sweat and Tears' "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know." While I can't say the new take is superior to the original Braggs adds a deep soul groove to the song that Al Kooper could never come close to delivering.

The only other cover is a reworking of Seraphine's outstanding "Take Me Back To Chicago" (from Chicago XI). While the new production misses Chaka Khan's exciting chant from that 1977 album track, CTA more than makes up for it with a new brass arrangement that feels less rehearsed (in a good way) than the original. Regardless, Seraphine wrote a very powerful and personal song that is outstanding in either version.

Bill Champlin, the drummer's former bandmate, takes a guest shot with one of his typically excellent vocals on "Full Circle," an unpretentious ballad about Seraphine’s return to music after his very long and emotional absence.

Other lead singers include Champlin's son Will, Eric Redd, and Wes Quave who stars on the only hornless song, the pretty ballad, "Daydream Lover."

Seraphine's solo to open "The Real World" is quite reminiscent of "Motorboat to Mars" from Chicago III and there are two party tunes, both instrumentals, "Primetime" and "In the Kitichen."

Overall, Sacred Ground is a joyous, high energy, jazz-rock affair with searing rock guitar courtesy of Bonilla, blasting horns, and soaring Peter Cetera-like vocals all expertly played with more joy than Chicago has shown us since way before Seraphine's departure.

If you want to read more on Danny Seraphine see these posts: a discussion about his autobiography, Street Player, a review of CTA's first CD, Full Circle, and last but not least, an analysis of every Chicago album from the Terry Kath era.

Comments

  1. William Kates7:44 PM, August 16, 2013

    Can't wait to hear this. Loved the first one, was hoping that Larry Braggs would continue as lead vocalist. I'm excited by the participation of the multi-talented Mark Bonilla who most recently worked with Keith Emerson. He adds so much to ELP favorites like "Lucky Man" that they are almost like new songs - see the excellent DVD, the Keith Emerson Band Live in Moscow.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

WHAT'S HOT TODAY!

Slower Than Slow: 16 RPM Records

Image
Have you ever heard of a long forgotten vinyl format, the 16 2/3 RPM record? They were half the speed of the 33 1/3 RPM albums that were the traditional standard for recorded music. Most record players in the 1950s and 1960s came with a speed setting to play these long forgotten discs that were considered novelties even during the years they were available. Because most, but not all, 16s had big holes and were 7" in diameter many of them were mistaken for 45 RPMs and at that size the speed allowed for up to 20 minutes of playing time per side. However, there was no true standard size and they were also manufactured to be 9, 10, or 12 inches in diameter, and these larger records played even longer. Just like the other speeds and formats 16s could be played one record at a time or stacked on a changer for continuous play. Radio stations often used the discs for pre-recorded radio shows containing interviews, dramas, and documentaries. More frequen...
Read more

The Band - Christmas Must Be Tonight (1977)

Image
In 2006 Hall and Oates released Home For Christmas , their one and only holiday album, an extremely good set of music that immediately became one of my favorite seasonal listens. I wrote then that I was stunned at how many overtly religious songs the famous duo put on the the disc considering the very politically correct climate of the new millennium. One of them was a cover version of a song that alluded me for almost thirty years, "Christmas Must Be Tonight." I liked the new, upbeat track sung by Daryl Hall and it made me go out and search for Robbie Robertson's never-to-be classic. Sung by Rick Danko, it appears on the great American band's last album, Islands (1977). It's a surprise that a group whose members were not known to have any specific or powerfully strong religious beliefs would release a song that tackled the subject of Jesus's birth as blatantly as our most loved Christmas carols. It's not about a reckless reinde...
Read more

The Chieftains With Jackson Browne - The Rebel Jesus (1991)

Image
"The Rebel Jesus" is a Christmas song composed by Jackson Browne and performed with The Chieftains, the eclectic, veteran Irish folk band on  The Bells of Dublin,  their 1991 holiday album. Browne wrote the song specifically for his guest appearance on this record. The singer-songwriter, who is deservedly in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, can be a bit preachy when he wants to be, and he is again here, but no one can dispute what the man is saying.  The last two verses are the key to the song. Browne points out that people often feel more generous at Christmas so they'll give to those who were less fortunate than themselves during the holidays. But, if anyone tries to dig deeper and root out the poverty that envelops the downtrodden they are often scorned like Jesus was. This message is coming from a man who is admittedly a "heathen and a pagan," but on this occasion he is "on the side of the rebel Jesus." At the same time Browne doesn't want to sp...
Read more

The Beatles - Christmas Messages (1963 - 1969)

Image
For seven straight years beginning in 1963 - even before they were famous in America - The Beatles recorded annual Christmas messages exclusively for their fan club members as a holiday thank you. They were issued on seven-inch, vinyl records that were very thin, very bendable, and easily damaged. These flexi-discs, as they were called, could not be stacked on record changers. Over the years the tracks have been bootlegged in countless ways, and until a few years ago the only legal release was sent to fan club members in 1970 on 33 RPM vinyl records after the boys from Liverpool went their separate ways. The LP cover shown here is from that album. Finally, in 2017, a limited edition box set  on colored vinyl was released and is now an expensive collector's item. Many Beatles fans managed to hear these records over the years, and with the Internet being what it is, there are several websites where anyone can easily listen to all of them.  Archive.org ...
Read more

Chicago: An Album By Album Analysis Of The Terry Kath Era (1969 - 1977)

Image
The original lineup of Chicago has always been one of my all time favorite bands. My affection for this great horn band is such that I want to discuss all of the albums they recorded before Terry Kath's unfortunate and accidental passing. Their debut album is now forty years old, and it's followup is not far behind, yet their music endures to this day. * * * * * Everyone Must Own * * * * Excellent * * * Good * * Fair * Poor * * * * * Chicago Transit Authority (1969) - Whether they were playing screaming psychedelic hard rock, jazz, blues, or love songs, everyone in the band proved they were worthy of the huge mass success that followed CTA 's release. The band's ability to play anything and play it well is the hallmark of their debut album. The stars are Robert Lamm, Terry Kath, and the horns, and even Peter Cetera demonstrates he can be a rock and roll animal when he wants to be. The standout tracks are Lamm's "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It...
Read more