Rating: 
Summary: Weaker Every Read!
Review: A neat little book that could have been so much better.Joseph is licking Chicago's boots and glosses over some interesting facts that are known to anyone with minor interest in this great band -like the fact that guitarist Dawayne Bailey was sleeping with Walt Parazaider's daughter and that Robert Lamm can be difficult to work with. This book had no depth at all, no character and poor quality photos. There were also spelling mistakes, including unforgiveable spellings of well-known people (Phil Ramon - who he?)!
Rating: 
Summary: What a ripoff.....
Review: A stunning book as much for the photographs as for the text content. Ben Joseph knows this group and obviously isn't jaded by his association with them. Chicago are icons and Joseph goes a long way to explain why. Especially appreciated by me are the glorious exclusive photos of Kath and fellow band members. Well done.
Rating:
Summary: Chicago:A book written from album covers
Review: Being a huge Chicago fan, the first record(yes it was vinyl) I purchased was CTA, I was disappointed by Ben Josephs' book. Hardly anything new was learned from the book, that could not have been discovered from reading the album covers. As the members of the band are roughly my age, I want to know how they handled success, who did they marry, how did they invest their millions, what are their hobbies, how many children do they have... I want to know more than a list of albums and their ranking on Billboard. The book could have been so much more if it would have let us meet the individuals who are Chicago. I met Terry's widow on Behind The Music, but Ben's book didn't give me any new information about who these people are. The marketing gimick to create a band image worked well to make the producers of Chicago rich, but now is the time to show us the people of Chicago. Ben, give it another shot---tell us things we don't know...
Rating:
Summary: Chicago: Feelin' Stronger... An enjoyable read
Review: Ben Joseph's "Chicago:Feelin' Stronger Every Day" is an enjoyable read, and not without merit. It's been many years since I bought my first Chicago album, and I still love their music (mostly the early stuff CTA - Chicago VII). This book fills in a lot of holes in my memory, and has inspired me to go back to the albums and give another listen to some of the material not on my home-made minidisc compilations. I enjoyed the brief glimpses into what was going on behind the scenes of the group's early days; the book disappoints, however, in the one area that is most important to me: it fails to provide much discussion of the music itself. Chicago's sound is distinctive. The arrangements cannot be confused with any other horn band. A discussion, even non-technical, of how this sound was achieved and how they integrated all of the disparate elements was what I was hoping for.
Rating: 
Summary: Chicago: By the Numbers
Review: Ben Joseph's "Feelin Stronger Every Day" is not the all encompasing work that veteran CHICAGO fans have been waiting for. Mr. Joseph is a fan, and that does indeed come through in his writing. His approach of going album by album is too structured and there are few new insights into one of the great rock bands of all time. Originally advertised as 240 pages, "Feelin' Stronger..." is 185 pages, including photographs, of reprinted interviews and reviews. One never really feels connected to the band. How were the plane rides and recording sessions??? What was happening back stage at the shows??? In fact, the two most interesting characters in the book are two of the band's producers, James William Guercio and David Foster. Changes in band personnel are touched upon, but never really explored in depth. Veteran fans may become frustrated at casual references to issues that are not followed up on and small factual contradictions. Mr. Joseph gives it a good effort, and his passion for the music is obvious. But maybe he has taken on an impossible task. CHICAGO is known for keeping their inside workings to themselves. It is a decent read, but in college terms it is CHICAGO 101. Don't expect much more.
Rating:
Summary: Chicago: Feelin' Stronger... An enjoyable read
Review: Ben Joseph's "Chicago:Feelin' Stronger Every Day" is an enjoyable read, and not without merit. It's been many years since I bought my first Chicago album, and I still love their music (mostly the early stuff CTA - Chicago VII). This book fills in a lot of holes in my memory, and has inspired me to go back to the albums and give another listen to some of the material not on my home-made minidisc compilations. I enjoyed the brief glimpses into what was going on behind the scenes of the group's early days; the book disappoints, however, in the one area that is most important to me: it fails to provide much discussion of the music itself. Chicago's sound is distinctive. The arrangements cannot be confused with any other horn band. A discussion, even non-technical, of how this sound was achieved and how they integrated all of the disparate elements was what I was hoping for.
Rating: 
Summary: The band that keeps on going...
Review: Chicago has certainly been around for a long time, and as this book points out, they've gone through a lot of changes in the process. Unlike many other supergroups, Chicago has always chosen to stay out of the media and there really hasn't been a whole lot of press on this band. I was glad to finally see that someone made their story available in print. I was also unaware of some of the albums, especially the Japanese Live album and the Andre Kostelanetz album, which I understand is extremely hard to find.Although Chicago continues to make music, The original band is still my favorite. Reading the book brought back many fond memories of concerts and songs from my past, and it did, as the author says, "make me smile."
Rating:
Summary: The band that keeps on going...
Review: Chicago has certainly been around for a long time, and as this book points out, they've gone through a lot of changes in the process. Unlike many other supergroups, Chicago has always chosen to stay out of the media and there really hasn't been a whole lot of press on this band. I was glad to finally see that someone made their story available in print. I was also unaware of some of the albums, especially the Japanese Live album and the Andre Kostelanetz album, which I understand is extremely hard to find. Although Chicago continues to make music, The original band is still my favorite. Reading the book brought back many fond memories of concerts and songs from my past, and it did, as the author says, "make me smile."
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Coverage
Review: I've been a big fan of Chicago since 1972, and whenever they come to New England, I make a special effort to catch them. I think that the author, Ben Joseph, has done a remarkable job in writing a mature objective history of the band. I'm sure in writing about a notorious band like this, the author could have gone the route of so many tabloid journalists, and written about the drug and alcohol problems, the marital problems, the dirt, that modern press loves to throw in our faces. Instead, Ben Joseph only highlighted the positive aspects of the band, and there were many great things that he drew the reader into. I'm familiar with the newsgroups and the website, and the liner notes, and I still found lots of new insights into this amazing part of American musical history. I really have never written anything other than personal letters and emails to friends, but when I read the comments from two individuals from the UK, I was shocked at the misrepresentation of this great book, and felt it was my duty to the band, and perhaps to anyone who reads these comments on Amazon's website, to clarify a few things. The book is well written, superbly edited, and contains great photos that have never been published. The company that published it, Quarry Music Press, has been one of the best music only book publishers in the world for a long time, and this is a welcome addition to their catalog.
Rating:
Summary: A must have for the true Chicago fan!!
Review: Over the past 25 years I have seen Chicago in Concert over 50 times. I simply love their music and I am truly amazed at the fact that they have been around for over 35 years. I bought this book because I thought it was going to be a history lesson on the band and it is but it is also so much more. Covering the band from the beginning with members Terry Kath and Robert Lamm to the days of Peter Cetera to the lastet members Tris Imboden adn Keith Howland. The book covers every album including Chicago 26 "live in Concert". I am most impressed and hope as the band continues another edition will come out. If you love Chicago Like I do, then you have to get this book it is as sweet as the music of the band.
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