Chicago 18 is the fifteenth studio album by the American rock band Chicago, released on September 29, 1986. This album is the first without original vocalist Peter Cetera, and the first to feature Jason Scheff on bass and vocals.
With Cetera having left the band in 1985 for a solo career, Chicago eventually hired Scheff to fill Cetera's position as vocalist and bassist. With Scheff and Bill Champlin, who had joined the band in 1981, the most prominent voices in Chicago now belonged to its two newest recruits.
Chicago again hired producer David Foster to create a followup to Chicago 17.
The band recorded an updated, high-tech remake of their classic "25 or 6 to 4" (#48). Scheff recalled when he asked Foster on the way he should sing the song, the latter responded: "Just like Cetera."[citation needed] The following singles, "Will You Still Love Me?" (#3) and "If She Would Have Been Faithful..." (#17) became hits. Scheff was lead vocalist on all three releases. The album also features a brief instrumental horn riff, Pankow's "Free Flight."
Despite the success of its predecessor, Chicago 18 ultimately only went gold, peaking at #35 on the Billboard Top 200 charts.
A re-recorded version of "When Will the World Be Like Lovers?" (Robert Lamm/Tom Keane/David Foster) appears on Robert Lamm's 1995 solo album Life Is Good In My Neighborhood. The original recorded version from the Chicago 18 sessions also appears online.
"Free Flight", a 25-second unlisted instrumental composed by James Pankow, appears at the beginning of "Nothin's Gonna Stop Us Now".
David Boruff plays the saxophone solo on "Forever" instead of Walter Parazaider.
Jeremy Lubbock – string arrangements on "If She Would Have Been Faithful...", "Will You Still Love Me?", and "I Believe"
Jules Chaikin – string contractor
Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
Betty Joyce – kids choir contractor on "One More Day"
Jon Joyce – kids choir conductor on "One More Day"
Rebecca Clinger, Christopher Leach, Julie Leach, Myhanh Tran, Peter Wade, Jason Pasol, Brandon Roberts, Alitzah Wiener, Betty Joyce, Laurie Parazaider, Felicia Parazaider, Melody Wright and Bettina Bush – kids choir on "One More Day"
^Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 166. ISBN978-951-1-21053-5.
