After slipping into a coma during the excessively boring initial songs on 2006’s Chicago XXX, the listener gets resuscitated by the defibrillation of “90 Degrees and Freezing.” Still groggy following that coma, Chicago XXX doesn’t fully come into its own until Track 10.
“Come to Me, Do” is perhaps the best song Robert Lamm has contributed to Chicago since “Over and Over” on 1986’s Chicago 18. (In fairness, he had some really strong solo contributions on Life is Good In My Neighbourhood, In My Head, and Subtlety and Passion, but I digress.)
There’s a lightness and fun vibe that permeates this song. It’s a refreshing change from the weighty, sometimes pretentious, overly preachy, and trying-too-hard-to-be-clever material that tried to recapture a spark of the smart political consciousness of his early songwriting career.
Indeed, “Come to Me, Do” feels like a musical sequel of sorts to “Over and Over,” which warmly celebrated “fireworks, fireflies, on the roof watching summer night skies.” Lamm advertises himself as a “refreshment” from the overall malaise and weight of the world that many were feeling. While the lyrics don’t speak of the same summer nights, the light airiness of the music captures that same general spirit of “Over and Over.”
What is perhaps most surprising about “Come to Me, Do” is that producer Jay DeMarcus showed some restraint on the level of compression, certainly more so than almost any other song on Chicago XXX. The music is given at least a little bit of breathing room that was lacking for a majority of this album.
Chicago XXX is one of the band’s most frustrating albums, as the potential is there, but the project is largely marred by the track order and Jay DeMarcus’ sterilized, over-Fosterized and too-compressed production. Any of the opening tracks on their own aren’t overly saccharine, but putting them together in succession to lead off the album is just way too much.
One of the easiest and quickest improvements would’ve beeb to spread those opening tracks out across the album. Move “Come to Me, Do” to perhaps Track 2 after “Feel,” and before “King of Might Have Been.” Follow that with “90 Degrees and Freezing,” “Already Gone” or perhaps “Better.” Even “Loving Chains” would have been a drastic improvement to the aural feng shui of this project.
I suggest “Come to Me, Do” as Track 2 following “Feel” because Robert Lamm recently proved he still had his songwriting chops with Subtlety and Passion. He deserved to be rewarded with the first two tracks on Chicago XXX. He already had “Feel,” the first Lamm-sung Chicago single since the 1970s, but he deserved a one-two punch to drive the point home: “Come to Me, Do” would have been the right uppercut to follow the connecting left jab of “Feel.”
Lamm’s voice, unfortunately, was starting to show its age a bit more with “Come to Me, Do.” The music and lyrics are Lamm at his best, but his vocals are sadly not what they once were. He acquits himself as admirably as possible, considering that he’d put in nearly 40 years of constant touring and recording at this point.
One wonders what he could have done with this song had it been recorded when he was in his vocal prime in the early-to-mid-’70s, an era when his versatility arguably made Lamm the strongest vocalist in the band. Yes, Terry Kath had the soul, and Peter Cetera had the heart, but Lamm could adjust and adapt to the material he was singing better than any of his bandmates.
Nevertheless, “Come To Me, Do” serves as a reminder to fans that yeah, Robert Lamm is still relevant. He could still write some damn fine songs, and he still had something to say with his music.
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