It's fair to say that most of
Chicago
's hit singles were love songs, which makes compiling an album like
Rhino
's 2005 collection
Love Songs
a bit of an easy task. There's not much risk that the collection will contain a bunch of little-known album tracks, since there are so many romantic hits in their catalog, and
proves that theory right, since most of the 18 songs here are among
's best-known songs. This set leans heavily on the group's '80s recordings, both with and without
Peter Cetera
, but that's not a problem, since it gives the set a coherence. While this isn't a perfect collection -- it would have been nice if the original version of
"If You Leave Me Now"
was here instead of a live version from 2004 featuring
Philip Bailey
, and it's also strange that
Bailey
's group,
Earth, Wind & Fire
, is featured here with
"After the Love Has Gone"
in a live 2004 recording simply because
's
Bill Champlin
is on the track -- it nevertheless contains nearly all of the band's biggest love songs, including
"You're the Inspiration,"
"Hard to Say I'm Sorry,"
"Colour My World,"
"Look Away,"
"Will You Still Love Me?,"
"No Tell Lover,"
"What Kind of Man Would I Be?,"
and
"Wishing You Were Here."
That makes this disc an excellent choice for anybody seeking a
album containing nothing but romantic music. Plus, the back cover art of candy hearts bearing
song titles is kinda cute, too. [
re-released the CD in 2016.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine