Forgotten Music Thursday: Bill Champlin - Runaway (1981)

The "perfect pop album" is a rather lofty platitude to heap on an album.  But if ever an album deserved that label, Bill Champlin's Runaway is one of the more worthy of that consideration.

Produced by the then up-and-coming producer, David Foster, back when Foster was still largely unknown by those not "in the know." 

Much like with Chicago 16, Foster's formula for success was intact with Runaway.  He brought in the best of the best session cats to augment Champlin's vocals and keyboard chops. 

Where Champlin's solo debut, Single, still had many of the blue-eyed soul leanings of Bill's then former band, The Sons of Champlin, Runaway, was a step more in the direction of his future adult contemporary/pop leanings of Chicago.  While some of the Jerry Hey horn arrangements (in particular Take It Uptown and Satisfaction, the latter of which Chicago actually included in their live set in the early 80s) would not have sounded out of place on a Chicago album, there's still enough of Bill on here to distinguish this as his album and not a Chicago-wannabe album.  The grit is still in his vocals, although that grit is considerably more polished with David Foster at the helm than it was during his days fronting the Sons of Champlin. 

What makes the album as a whole so enjoyable is its consistency.  There's not a weak track to be found, a testament to both Champlin's songwriting and Foster's production.  The closest any material comes to being weak is Stop Knockin' On My Door which musically is as good as anything else on the album, however lyrically it comes across more as a novelty song.  But even the novelty of the lyrics can be excused as Bill's way of showing he's not taking himself nor his music TOO seriously.  He still knew how to have fun and the lyrics are a testament to that fun-loving nature. 

Given the personnel associated with this album its comparisons to Chicago 16 and 17 are completely unavoidable.  And perhaps the only way this album could have been improved upon would have been with the participation of Peter Cetera.  There was an undeniable vocal chemistry between Champlin & Cetera that was never more evident than on songs like Sonny Think Twice from Chicago 16 or Hard Habit to Break from Chicago 17.  Had that vocal chemistry been discovered just a bit sooner, I have little doubt that Cetera would have made an appearance on this album as many of these songs sound tailor-made for Champlin and Cetera collaborations, the two of them trading off on vocals much as they did on the aforementioned Chicago albums.

But even without Cetera's participation, this album is thoroughly enjoyable to listen to and is easily one of Champlin's best solo endeavours.

Related Links
Bill Champlin (official site)
Bill Champlin (wikipedia)
Other Bill Champlin related reviews/articles on this site
David Foster (official site)
David Foster (wikipedia)

Chicago 16 (1982)

After the firing of their longtime producer, James William Guercio, and the death of guitarist/vocalist, Terry Kath in January 1978 Chicago limped into the eighties. After sagging sales on Chicago XIII and XIV they'd been dropped by Columbia Records. Many in the industry considered them dead on arrival.

At this point drummer, Danny Seraphine, was largely the driving force behind the band as he was one of the only ones in the band to hold himself together following the death of Kath.

While David Foster had been considered as a new producer back in 1978, those circumstances would not come to pass. However, this time around, David Foster and Chicago connected quite fortuitously as it would turn out.

With Robert Lamm battling some personal demons at the time, he was largely absent leaving the band with essentially only Peter Cetera as a vocalist and no keyboardist/pianist. A decision was made to approach grammy winning session vocalist, Bill Champlin, to guest on vocals and keyboards on Chicago 16.

The first song Champlin recorded with Chicago was Sonny Think Twice. From the first moment Peter Cetera and Bill Champlin sang together it was like lightning in a bottle. The vocal chemistry was tangible and was arguably even superior to the vocal chemistry Cetera had shared with Terry Kath. What had initially been a temporary stop-gap measure turned into a permanent one as Champlin was asked to join the band as a full member.

In addition to sharing vocals with Cetera on Sonny Think Twice Champlin also shared lead vocals with Cetera on Waiting For You to Decide and handled all lead vocals on the gritty James Pankow penned Follow Me which is easily the most uptempo and most upbeat song on the album.

With Hard to Say I'm Sorry/Get Away Chicago knocked one out of the park. It marked their second number one hit (their first being If You Leave Me Now in 1976) and would be the template for their quadruple platinum follow-up to 16, Chicago 17.

The similarities between 16 and 17 are unmistakable as Foster and the band had found a winning formula on 16 and took it to the next level on 17. But perhaps the biggest difference between the two albums is a hunger and energy present on 16. They didn't know what would or wouldn't work and took some risks and gambles.

While not their best-selling album, I'd argue that Chicago 16 is Chicago's greatest post-Terry Kath endeavor. Champlin's vocals add just the right grit and energy to the mix and that hunger took the music to a level the band hadn't played at since before Kath's untimely passing.

If you only pick up one Chicago album from the post-Columbia Records era, this one should be close to the top of your list. The tightness and cohesiveness, the overall polish that David Foster gave this album make it a gem in so many different respects.

Related Links and Video

Hard to Say I'm Sorry

Love Me Tomorrow

Chicago 16 (wikipedia)

Chicago (Official Site)

Chicago (wikipedia)

Peter Cetera (Official Site)

Peter Cetera (wikipedia)

Bill Champlin (Official Site)
Bill Champlin (wikipedia)

Danny Seraphine (wikipedia)

California Transit Authority (Danny Seraphine's new band - Official Site)

James Pankow (wikipedia)

Walt Parazaider (wikipedia)

Lee Loughnane (wikipedia)

Robert Lamm (Official Site)

Robert Lamm (wikipedia)

David Foster (wikipedia)
David Foster (wikipedia)
Chris Pinnick (wikipedia)

Other Chicago related reviews and posts

Mapping a Musical Evolution

I've been listening to Toto's earlier albums lately and I've noticed that there's a bit of a musical evolution in progress when listening to the below albums in the following order:

1976 - Boz Scaggs Silk Degrees
1977 - Toto s/t debut
1978 - Toto Hydra
1978 - Bill Champlin Single
1979 - Airplay s/t
1981 - Toto Turn Back
1981 - Bill Champlin Runaway
1981 - Peter Cetera s/t debut
1982 - Chicago 16
1982 - Toto IV
1984 - Chicago 17

You can hear how the Toto sound started with Scaggs Silk Degrees and then morphed with David Foster's production on Champlin's Single and Runaway albums and on David Foster & Jay Graydon's Airplay album. Peter Cetera dabbled with it a little by using Steve Lukather on his s/t debut but when Champlin & Foster came in and brought some of the guys from Toto along for Chicago 16 & 17 it just hit on all cylinders. And even though Foster didn't produce Toto IV you can hear a bit of his influence. It's little wonder that Chicago 16, 17, and Toto IV all sold so well (not to mention Toto IV seemed to sweep the grammies the year it came out).

I know the shift in the sound and style on Scaggs Silk Degrees to the sound & style of Chicago 16 & 17 is a gradual one. But if you listen to those albums in that order you can hear that musical evolution happening.

Some other albums that further help flesh out this musical evolution are Earth Wind & Fire's I Am (featuring the hit single After the Love Is Gone written by Jay Graydon, David Foster, and Bill Champlin and Steve Lukather playing some guitar parts on certain songs), I-Ten's Taking a Cold Look (featuring most members of Toto and co-produced by Steve Lukather), Steve Perry's Street Talk (prominently featuring both Steve Lukather and his semi-frequent songwriting collaborator, Randy Goodrum), Fee Waybill's Read My Lips, and The Tubes The Completion Backward Principle and Outside Inside albums.

After hearing this evolution I pored over the list a bit further, looking for THE common thread... I found that other than the Airplay album Steve Lukather of Toto contributed in some way shape or form (either as a songwriter, guitarist, or producer) to ALL of those releases. Some of his Toto bandmates joined him on some but not others... and the Airplay album, the only one that didn't have any contributions from Steve Lukather featured his bandmate, Jeff Porcaro on drums and percussion

Many of these releases are referred to as "West Coast Music." Considering Steve Lukather's involvement in most of them might he be considered the father or godfather of West Coast Music?