Chicago faced a major lineup change on Chicago 18, replacing Peter Cetera with Jason Scheff while turning to some of Los Angeles’ most sought-after session guitarists for the album.
by Paul Cashmere
When Chicago released Chicago 18 on September 29, 1986, the band was entering one of the most significant transition periods in its history. Peter Cetera had departed for a solo career, Jason Scheff had taken over bass and vocals, and the group made the unusual decision to record its first studio album without an official guitarist.
The changes came only a year after Chicago 17, the band’s commercially successful 1984 album produced by David Foster. Foster returned for Chicago 18, bringing the same polished production approach to a Chicago lineup that now sounded markedly different at its centre.
Scheff had joined Chicago in late 1985, filling the position vacated by Cetera. Alongside Bill Champlin, who had become a member in 1981, Scheff became one of the band’s principal voices. Robert Lamm remained a key songwriting and vocal presence, while the horn section of Lee Loughnane, James Pankow and Walter Parazaider continued to provide the sound that had defined Chicago since the late 1960s.
The guitar position was a different story.
Rather than replacing guitarist Terry Kath’s long-vacant role with a permanent member for the album, Chicago used a roster of session musicians. Steve Lukather of Toto, Michael Landau and Howard “Buzz” Feiten all contributed guitar parts, giving Chicago 18 a distinctly mid-1980s studio character.
The album’s first single made the transition particularly obvious. Chicago recorded a new version of Robert Lamm’s “25 or 6 to 4”, originally released in 1970 on Chicago II. The 1986 remake used the production technology and studio polish of its era while handing the lead vocal to Scheff.
The remake reached number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it was the new material that delivered Chicago’s biggest chart success from the record. “Will You Still Love Me?” reached number three in the United States, followed by “If She Would Have Been Faithful…” at number 17. A fourth single, “Niagara Falls”, reached number 91.
Scheff’s arrival also placed him in the unusual position of stepping into a role strongly associated with one of Chicago’s most recognisable voices. One of the album’s defining tracks, “If She Would Have Been Faithful…”, was written by Steve Kipner and Randy Goodrum, while “Will You Still Love Me?” came from David Foster, Tom Keane and Richard Baskin.
Robert Lamm supplied “Forever” and “25 or 6 to 4”, while Bill Champlin wrote and sang “I Believe”. Champlin also took the lead on “It’s Alright”, co-written with Foster.
There was another small piece of Chicago history hidden inside the record. Before “Nothin’s Gonna Stop Us Now” is a 25-second instrumental called “Free Flight”, composed by James Pankow. The brief brass-led passage is effectively an unlisted introduction to the song.
The album’s production also reflected the increasingly sophisticated studio environment of the period. David Foster handled production, with Humberto Gatica engineering and mixing. Synthesizer programmers, string players and additional keyboard musicians were brought into the sessions, while Jeremy Lubbock provided string arrangements on three tracks.
For a band built around a large ensemble and an instantly recognisable horn section, Chicago 18 therefore represents an unusual snapshot. The core Chicago identity remained intact, but the personnel and recording approach reflected the band’s adjustment to the post-Cetera era.
Commercially, however, Chicago 18 did not match the scale of Chicago 17. It peaked at number 35 on the Billboard 200 and spent 45 weeks on the chart. The album was certified gold in the United States for shipments of 500,000 copies.
Chicago then took the new lineup on an extensive tour, playing more than 100 shows across North America and Japan between October 1986 and November 1987. Before that tour, Dawayne Bailey, previously a guitarist with Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, was brought into the live lineup to fill the guitar position.
Chicago 18 would ultimately become David Foster’s final studio album with Chicago. More importantly, it documented the moment the band had to prove that Chicago could continue after the departure of the voice and bass player so closely associated with its early 1980s resurgence.
The answer was a new voice, a new generation of studio technology and a collection of musicians brought in to fill one conspicuous gap. Chicago continued, but Chicago 18 captured the band in the middle of rebuilding itself.
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