If you own a Lamborghini, do you take the neighbor’s Ferrari out for a spin? Generally, not. But Chicago apparently never got that memo. Just because they’d decided against putting their Lamborghini through its paces to see what it could do — to really unleash its full potential – didn’t mean it was time to borrow a Ferrari.
Unfortunately, neither the Lamborghini in their garage (Bill Champlin) nor the Ferrari they borrowed (Michael McDonald) were ever driven over the speed limit. Their talents were left wasted on a band that, at that point, was far more about keeping it safe and keeping the money rolling in than on taking risks.
Jackie Wilson’s “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher” is a classic. It’s fun, it’s catchy; it’s practically begging for a James Pankow horn chart. On paper, making it the final studio bonus track on 1999’s Chicago XXVI: Live in Concert made sense. As often has been the case since the original shelving of their mythic Stone of Sisyphus, however, the execution was completely punted.
Instead, the life, the energy, and fun was completely stripped out of “Higher and Higher” – much like “Feliz Navidad” from 1998’s Chicago XXV: The Christmas Album. The arrangement was bland and lifeless, and it brought absolutely nothing new to the song.
In fairness, guest vocalist Michael McDonald did the best he could with what he was given. But when you’re given a steaming pile of poo, not even the best singer in the world could polish a turd into a diamond — and certainly not Michael McDonald. (No offense to Mr. McDonald.)
I’m still trying to understand what the former Doobie Brothers frontman did to Chicago to draw their ire. And what did Jackie Wilson ever do to them? Did he run over one of their dogs? Did he steal candy from them when they were babies? McDonald didn’t deserve to be embarrassed by this fecund manure, and thankfully Wilson didn’t live to see his biggest hit denigrated and insulted by Chicago with this arrangement.
In the end, the completely unnecessary Chicago XXVI – and by extension “Higher and Higher” – was merely a cash grab designed to lure fans into buying yet another album full of tracks many of them purchased several times over. Oh, you already had them? Let us sleepwalk through three bland and lifeless new songs to get you to spend your money. The result is still a useless beer coaster.
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