3.9 - Considering where Chicago ended up in the 80s, it was a surprise to hear where they began. 1968 finds Chicago fusing funk, jazz, rock and R&B, in a similar vein as Sly and the Family Stone and Funkadelic. It's a big and bold sound buttressed by horns and an expanded rhythm section. The studio mastery and high value production that characterizes Chicago's output is on full display. What distinguishes this record for me are the artistic risks, some successful, others not. The protest recordings on "Someday" are poignant and ground the album in its time and place. Conversely, there are some boring extended jams ("Liberation"). My biggest knock is with "Free Form Guitar" which sounds like it's trying to be the "Maggot Brain" of guitar feedback - just a silly, cacophonous jerkoff.