The Heart of Chicago

Heart of Chicago 1967-1997 is a cheap way to celebrate Chicago's 30th anniversary. Featuring 13 arbitrarily picked hits from throughout the band's career -- from "Saturday in the Park" and "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is" to "If You Leave Me Now," "You're the Inspiration," "Hard to Say I'm Sorry," and "Look Away" -- adding two new tracks, the Lenny Kravitz-produced "The Only One" and "Here in My Heart," which was co-written by Glen Ballard and James Newton Howard. Although Chicago has enlisted heavy hitters for the new tracks, both fall flat. And as a thorough hits collection, Heart of Chicago 1967-1997 is unsuccessful as well, since it omits such hits as "25 or 6 to 4" and "Baby, What a Big Surprise," yet it works well as sampler for casual fans, since it has only the biggest hits.