Chicago’s “Watching All the Colors” is the ultimate yacht rock song: It starts with gentle piano/guitar synth and the horns come in soothingly, but as with most of 2014’s Chicago XXXVI: Now, the horns are poorly recorded.
How mellow is a lot of this album? Lee Loughnane sticks mostly to flugelhorn instead of his usual trumpet. Oddly enough, the entire Chicago touring band plays or sings on this recording, including the now-retired Walt Parazaider, who makes an appearance on alto sax. As no one is credited with flute, one can assume it’s another synth patch played by Robert Lamm.
“Watching All the Colors” ultimately settles into a smooth bossa nova rhythm and a sort-of catchy chorus, with lead vocals by Lou Pardini, who was Chicago’s newest singer at the time of this album’s release. He also plays keyboards along with Robert Lamm, essentially a replacement for Bill Champlin.
Pardini is the ultimate adult contemporary/lite rock baritone vocalist, with some gruffness, but not enough to ruffle any feathers. In the end, however, this Chicago track is a pleasant little bon-bon, forgotten as soon as it’s over.
- Chicago, “Watching All the Colors” (2014): Saturdays in the Park - January 22, 2022
- Chicago, “Love Lives On” from ‘Chicago XXXVI: Now’ (2014): Saturdays in the Park - January 8, 2022
- Chicago, “More Will Be Revealed” from ‘Chicago XXXVI: Now’ (2014): Saturdays in the Park - December 11, 2021
