The gold-selling ‘Chicago 13’ nearly cracked the Billboard Top 20 after arriving 45 years ago – but something was very wrong.

Even 45 years later, ‘Chicago XI’ isn’t their best-loved original-lineup album. Yet, for better or worse, it remains one of the most memorable of the era.

Here are the ’60s classic-rock records we simply couldn’t live without if something went wrong on our three-hour tour … our three-hour tour …

This is the final song from Chicago’s last non-holiday album. If they don’t release another one, it’s really not a bad way to go out.

Robert Lamm’s “Naked In the Garden of Allah” helped balance this LP’s expected modern-era Chicago balladry with a return to more politicized songcraft.

When they decide to shed the decades-old false personality they sported for commercial reasons, Chicago can still make music that a listener can enjoy.

Chicago’s “Watching All the Colors” introduced fans to Lou Pardini, but in the end is just a pleasant little bon-bon, forgotten as soon as it’s over.

Robert Lamm’s “Something’s Coming, I Know” isn’t about taking risks. Instead, it settles for being this Chicago album’s most effortlessly joyous moment.

‘Now’ showed Chicago could produce a better album than they have in years when given complete artistic control. But they still had to include a ballad.

Once, the Robert Lamm-sung “Free at Last” might have had something to do with freedom’s fight, since he was the fierce political heart of Chicago. Not now.