Time Chill: A Retrospective

Personnel: Robert Lamm (vocals, keyboards, drums, percussion, programming); Hank Linderman (vocals, guitar); Trent Gardner (vocals, trombone, keyboards); John Van Eps (vocals, keyboards, drums, percussion, programming); Gerard McMahon, Gerry Beckley, Jason Scheff, Zosia Karbowiak, Carl Wilson (vocals); Keith Howland, John McCurry, Ross Traut (guitar); Larry Klimas (saxophone); Lee Loughnane (trumpet); Tris Imboden (drums, percussion, programming).
Liner Note Author: Robert Lamm.
Robert Lamm became the first member of Chicago to release a solo record back in 1974 but he put his extracurricular activities on ice until 1993, when he released Life Is Good in My Neighborhood. Another album, In My Head, followed in 1999, but it was Like a Brother -- a 2000 collaboration with America's Gerry Beckley and Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys -- that opened up a streak of laid-back albums stretching into the 2010s. Time Chill: A Retrospective focuses on these albums, selecting highlights from 2003's Subtlety & Passion, 2004's Too Many Voices, 2008's The Bossa Project, and 2012's Living Proof, adding a bonus track from a reissue of Like a Brother and a mix from Robert Lamm Songs: The JVE Remixes. All of this holds together because Lamm specializes in smooth grooves in his solo work, grooves that are surprisingly informed by electronic dance and hip-hop: witness "Sleeping in the Middle of the Bed," which actually includes raps from Lamm. Hints of Chicago can be heard in places that aren't JVE's remix of "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" -- they are there in the soaring melodies, Latin rhythms, and jazzy inclinations, but Lamm's work is distinguished by its electronic gleam. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine