"Alive Again" is a song written by

James Pankow James Carter Pankow is an American trombone player, songwriter and brass instrument player, best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago. Early life, family and education Born in St. Louis, Missouri of German and Irish descent, Pa ...

for the group

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

and recorded for their album '' Hot Streets'' (1978), with

Peter Cetera Peter Paul Cetera ( ; born September 13, 1944) is an American retired musician best known for being a lead vocalist and the bassist of the rock band Chicago from 1967 until his departure in 1985, before launching a successful solo career. His c ...

singing lead vocals. The first single released from that album, it reached No. 14 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. In Canada, "Alive Again" spent two weeks at No. 11. "Alive Again" was Chicago's first new single after their split with producer

James William Guercio James William Guercio (born July 18, 1945) is an American music producer, musician, songwriter, and director. He is well known for his work as the producer of Chicago's early albums as well as early recordings of The Buckinghams and Blood, Swe ...

. It was also their first single after the accidental death of

Terry Kath Terry Alan Kath (January 31, 1946 – January 23, 1978) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He played guitar and sang lead vocals on many of the band's early hit singl ...

;

Donnie Dacus James O. "Donnie" Dacus (born October 12, 1951, in Pasadena, Texas) is an American guitarist, backing vocalist, actor, songwriter, and co-producer. He has been a member of the rock bands Chicago and Badfinger. Early life Dacus grew up in Clebur ...

played

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

on the recording.'

Recording and Production

According to Mike Stahl, Chicago's live audio engineer at the time, members of Chicago's rhythm section–Robert Lamm, Donnie Dacus, Peter Cetera and Danny Seraphine–came into the studio, started "jamming", and then played what they thought would be a run-through of "Alive Again". Producer

Phil Ramone Philip Ramone (né Rabinowitz, January 5, 1934March 30, 2013) was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, who in 1958 co-founded A & R Recording, Inc., a recording studio with business part ...

had recorded the run-through, and despite recording the rhythm track ten more times, the run-through had the "feel" he was looking for, so the run-through made it to the album. After the recording of "Alive Again" had been completed, Chicago's brass section recorded with the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era i ...

on their song, "

Tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

". Inspired by his work with

Barry Gibb Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He rose to worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees, one of the most commercially successful groups in the history of popula ...

, James Pankow rewrote the brass charts for "Alive Again" and the song was rerecorded with the new brass charts. Mike Stahl said the new arrangements gave the song a whole new "feeling" and "sparkle". '' Cash Box'' said it has " aggressive horns, high riding vocals, tight and melodic structure and a bright optimism."

Personnel

- lead & backing vocals, bass *

- backing vocals, electric & acoustic guitars *

Robert Lamm Robert William Lamm (born October 13, 1944) is an American keyboardist, guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He wrote many of the band's biggest hits, including " Questions 67 & 68", " Does ...

- Fender Rhodes electric piano, backing vocals *

Danny Seraphine Daniel Peter Seraphine (born August 28, 1948) is an American drummer, record producer, theatrical producer and film producer. He is best known as the original drummer and a founding member of the rock band Chicago, a tenure which lasted from F ...

- drums *

Laudir de Oliveira Laudir Soares de Oliveira (6 January 1940 – 17 September 2017) was a Brazilian musician and producer mostly renowned for his time as percussionist with the band Chicago. Oliveira grew up in Rio de Janeiro, and started working professionally i ...

- percussion *

- trombone *

Lee Loughnane Lee David Loughnane (pronounced LOCK-nain; born October 21, 1946) is an American trumpeter, flugelhorn player, vocalist, and songwriter, best known for being a founding member of the rock band Chicago. Early life and education Lee David Loughna ...

- trumpet *

Walter Parazaider Walter Parazaider (born March 14, 1945) is an American woodwind musician best known for being a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He plays a wide variety of wind instruments, including saxophone, flute, and clarinet. He also occasiona ...

- tenor saxophone

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Popular culture

*The opening guitar and horns riff of this song was used in the opening highlights montage by the ''

NBA on CBS The ''NBA on CBS'' is the branding that is used for weekly broadcasts of National Basketball Association (NBA) games produced by CBS Sports, the sports division of the CBS television network in the United States. CBS aired NBA games from the 1 ...

'' from

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major off ...

. *An instrumental version was used as the opening theme to the syndicated radio show '' The Don & Mike Show'' in 2003.

References

External links

* 1978 singles Chicago (band) songs Songs written by James Pankow Song recordings produced by Phil Ramone Columbia Records singles CBS Sports 1978 songs {{1970s-single-stub