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Amazon.com: "Sisyphus has attained legendary status among rock critics, Chicago fans, those who’ve heard parts of it and those who have only read about it." —from liner notes by Bill DeYoung
Formed in its namesake city in 1967, Chicago is the first American band ever to propel albums into Billboard®’s pop Top 40 for five consecutive decades, and is among the most successfully charting U.S.-grown acts of all time. Now, another page in the band’s history is revealed with the long-awaited release of Stone Of Sisyphus, the once shelved album that has attained legendary status among fans and critics alike. Recorded in 1993 and originally intended as Chicago XXII, the disc marked a return to the genre-transcending, adventurous fusion of sounds that defined the group’s 1970s-era heyday. Three tracks from it surfaced on Rhino’s 2003 Chicago box, but the album itself is previously unissued—now, this momentous release also features four incredibly rare bonus tracks. Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-07-07
Ther Album for true Chico fans
Finally, a new album (alright 15 yrs old - but new to legit sales) That is not a corporate sell out, and shows the various styles and modes that Chicago has always been capable of. Yes, part of me died with Terry but this is worthy of his legacy. Rating:
Date: 2008-07-06
ROCKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gotta say, Chicago has been sitting on a jewel for a long long time! Being fan from the day they first created music, im so glad to say this has been released as i know everyone here is! Thanks so much for getting this gem out and to us adoring fans!!!!!!! A++++++++ Rating: 
Date: 2008-07-04
Chicago's famed lost record - disappoints
If you like the first 3 Chicago records (when they were innovative, allowed Robert Lamm & James Pankow to write & arrange) then this record is a real disappointment. For me the loss of Terry Kath was sad, the departure of Danny Seraphine indicative of the music business & let's not mention Peter Cetera he just used the band for his own brand of high pitched MOR music. For me the main offender is Bill Champlin, his dreadful voice overshadows this record how he hijacked a career under the banner of Chicago remains a mystery. Robert Lamm should have taken over the vocals and artistic control. Until Robert Lamm takes control (1969-1974) then Chicago will always be a MOR power ballad band. Rating:
Date: 2008-07-03
Lost West Coast Classic
Christmas has arrived in June this year. 1992-93 were seminal years for the West Coast and AOR genres, and I bought most of the releases...David Foster's River of Love, Richard Marx, Bruce Gaitsch, Tim Pierce, Joseph Williams, Jay Graydon, and many others. SOS is a lost gem from this era, and a must have for fans of this genre.
Peter Wolf was the producer on this project responsible for the artist creativity and diversity of the mix, as other reviewers mentioned nobody had done since the James William Guercio days. I think this is the logical predecessor to XXX, funny it is dubbed XXXII, though XXX is a bit more mainstream it has more in common with SOS than any other album.
The fact that Dann Huff (yes that Nashville producer) plays most of the guitars on SOS gives an indication of the production quality. Note: Dann is Jay DeMarcus (Rascal Flatts) producer as well as Keith Urban's, and Dann plays a bit on XXX as well.
The vocals and horns are in top form here, as are the keys, drums and bass. Overall an extremely tight sound. Highly recommended. Rating: 
Date: 2008-07-01
Not outstanding, but a very solid effort.
I think that many long time fans of Chicago heard the terms, 'lost classic' and 'return to their roots' being applied to "Stone Of Sisyphus" and started conjuring up comparisons to their classic run of albums from CTA through Chicago XI in their heads before hearing this. Those people will be disappointed no matter what Chicago releases.
What I loved most about the early Chicago recordings, (CTA through XI) was that the sound was very raw, but clean. Early on, the only electronic instruments were Terry Kath's guitar and Peter Cetera's bass with the occasional electronic keyboard supplied by Bobby Lamn. The sound that was produced was mixed so that it felt stripped down. You could hear the horn lines above everything else, those horn melodies and riffs are what drove many of the pieces often times becoming THE signature of a piece. (Try to imagine 25 or 6 to 4 without that opening horn line repeated throughout... ) Then the 80's came and the horn players, the bands signature sound, got moved aside in favor of ~ack~ ballads, electronic strings and electronic studio effects. They lost the sound that made them so unique and distinctive and even though had a few hits, they got lost in the crowd because they started sounding just like every other middle of the road top 40 band instead of the rock and roll fusion act that they started out to be.
Now comes the over a decade delayed "Stone Of Sisyphus" and it is good, not exactly a classic, but very good. Many of those previous problems that I mentioned were rectified on this recording. There are two very good ballad type numbers, "Bigger Then Elvis"; which was written by bassist Jason Scheff as a love note to his father Jerry who played bass on Elvis' Comeback special in 68 and then even had Jerry come in and play bass on the tune and "Let's Take a Lifetime" which is a really decent song about not wanting to rush someone else into anything that they aren't ready for in a relationship. The rest of the songs on the disc mix styles and rhythms all over the place, making this one of the more eclectic sounding releases Chicago has put out in quite some time.
The title track, "Stone Of Sisyphus" is an out and out rocker with the horn trio of Loughnane, Pankow and Parazaider back to doing what they do best, adding horn licks and flourishes that you'll be singing along with after a few listens. A good track with a lot of energy and excitement.
"Mah Jong" is hard to classify. It's got a pretty funky beat to it and is solidly done, but it doesnt do much for me personally.
"All The Years" is penned by Robert Lamm. It's up tempo, but at the same time seems to be a bit melancholy about looking back and wishing things could have been done differently.
"The Pull" is probably the best song by Lamm written for a Chicago album in a while. Musically it sounds almost anthemic and the vocals are extremely well done. Along with the title track, this is among the best songs on the release.
"Sleeping In The Middle Of The Bed" is one of those experimental types of songs that even if it doesnt always pan out, is nice to hear Chicago expanding their boundaries by playing. Robert Lamm 'rapping' may not be everyone's idea of a hit song, but in an odd way it has grown on me and I dont skip the track as I thought I would initially.
"Here With Me (Candle In The Dark)" is closer to a power ballad then the previously mentioned songs. The music is more intense and powerful and the vocal harmonies are there in full force as well.
"Plaid" is the band's statement to record company execs it seems who on one hand want them to record nice, inoffensive stuff, but when they go out on the road, play all those old tunes that people want to hear. Kind of makes you wonder why the record execs wouldnt want them to continue to create their own music the way they wanted?
"Cry For The Lost" while having some good vocal work is probably the one track on the album that is very vanilla for me. It's not bad, but there's nothing special to set it apart as the other songs on here do.
"The Show Must Go On" Is a decent album ender though nowhere near as biting the previous 'Plaid' is regarding the business they are all in.
I wont review the few bonus tracks as they're mostly alternate takes or demos. Overall the album is a solid 4 star effort. What I dislike is the mixing on it. The terrific horn trio of Loughnane, Pankow and Parazaider do have much more to do on this album then they have in years and its evident that they fun with it, but once again, they are placed back in the mix it seems instead of out front on equal footing with the vocals. Maybe its because the song structures aren't necessarily built around the horn riffs as they used to be, I dont know, but that was a bit of a disappointment to my ears. The vocals sound 'distant' in some ways to me, which is a shame because there is some really great singing going on here from all involved parties. It sounds as if everything was filtered electronically somehow instead of the organic sound that much of their music used to have. You used to be able to hear the saliva rattling in Walt Parazaider's sax when he played, but the horn sounds have been sanitized so much that it almost sounds as if they're being played on a synthesizer at times. The songs themselves are not at all bad, but I would have much preferred to hear them with a more stripped down and organic sound to be REAL throwback to their roots. If the mix would have been a little cleaner it would be a solid 4.5 star effort.
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