This November will mark the 50th anniversary of the release of Chicago’s 1975 best-of compilation, Chicago IX: Chicago’s Greatest Hits. To celebrate the milestone, the band will issue an expanded version of the album on August 8.
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Titled Chicago IX: Greatest Hits Expanded, the updated retrospective adds 10 additional tunes to the original album’s 11-song track list.
[RELATED: Remember When Producer David Foster Helped Rejuvenate Chicago in 1982?]
The compilation, which can be pre-ordered now, will be available on CD, as a two-LP set, and digitally.
Chicago IX was the group’s first hits compilation. It included songs spanning from the group’s 1969 debut album Chicago Transit Authority through Chicago VII, which was released in 1974. The expanded collection features tunes from every Chicago studio album through 1980’s Chicago XIV. It also boasts a reworked running order.
Among the newly added tracks are early singles “Questions 67 and 68” and “Free,” the 1976 chart-topper “If You Leave Me Now,” and late-’70s hits and gems “If You Leave Me Now,” “Baby, What a Big Surprise,” “Alive Again,” “No Tell Lover,” “Street Player,” and “Thunder and Lightning.”
In addition, the expanded compilation features Steven Wilson’s 2017 remix versions of three classic songs from Chicago’s self-titled 1970 sophomore album that also appeared on the original Chicago IX. Those tracks are “Make Me Smile,” “25 or 6 to 4,” and “Colour My World.”
Chicago IX: Greatest Hits Expanded also features updated cover art, substituting a gold background for the original white.
More About Chicago IX
Chicago IX spent five consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in December 1975 and January 1976. The album was Chicago’s fifth album in a row to top the chart.
The compilation became one of Chicago’s best-selling albums. IIn 1991, it was certified five-times platinum by the RIAA for sales of more than 5 million copies in the U.S.
Chicago’s Upcoming 2025 Tour Plans
Chicago has about 50 upcoming concerts on its 2025 tour schedule. The band kicked off a lengthy U.S. summer tour on June 13 in Waite Park, Minnesota. The outing is mapped out through a three-show engagement, September 12-14, at the famous Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers also have a series of five fall U.S. concerts. Those dates run from a November 5 performance in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, through a November 16 concert in Brookings, South Dakota.
Check out the group’s full schedule at ChicagotheBand.com.
Chicago IX: Greatest Hits Expanded CD Track List:
- “Questions 67 and 68”*
- “Beginnings”
- “Make Me Smile” (2017 Steven Wilson Remix/Edit)
- “25 or 6 to 4” (2017 Steven Wilson Remix/Edit)
- “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”
- “Free”*
- “Colour My World” (2017 Steven Wilson Remix)
- “Saturday in the Park”
- “Dialogue (Part I & II)”
- “Feelin’ Stronger Every Day”
- “Just You ‘n’ Me”
- “(I’ve Been) Searchin’ So Long”
- “Call On Me”
- “Wishing You Were Here”
- “Old Days”*
- “If You Leave Me Now”*
- “Baby, What a Big Surprise”*
- “Alive Again”*
- “No Tell Lover”*
- “Street Player”*
- “Thunder and Lightning”*
* = song did not appear on original version of Chicago IX.
(Courtesy of Rhino)
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