Chicago: Chicago II Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.5

Chicago: Chicago II Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 26, 2025

Years before they started bringing out standalone audio Blu-rays of Warner and associated label quadraphonic releases from the heyday of four channel recordings, Rhino offered audiophiles Chicago: Quadio , which as my Chicago: Quadio Blu-ray review probably makes clear was an absolute delight to be able to listen to and write about. Rhino revisited one of the albums in that set a couple of years ago with Chicago IX: Chicago's Greatest Hits '69-'74, offering a Dolby Atmos mix of a Chicago album for the first time. Now Rhino is back with the second album from Chicago, and in fact the first to call the band by that simplified name after their debut Chicago Transit Authority. Like Rhino's Chicago IX, this new version has a Dolby Atmos track, as well as a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 option, in addition to the previously available quad and stereo mixes. While Chicago Transit Authority certainly did well enough upon its release, it's arguable Chicago was still just a bit in the shadow of Blood, Sweat & Tears until the impact of this album started being felt, and some of the band's best remembered singles from this general era are contained here.

The album's track list can be seen in the screenshots of the disc menu I've uploaded to accompany this review.

Chicago: Chicago II Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Rhino is kind of curiously inconsistent with how it authors its audio Blu-rays, but the good news is this is one of their discs where you can easily toggle between audio codecs by utilizing the colored buttons on your remote (my system experienced brief HDMI handshakes, but no real issues). Best of all, the song continues playing. As you can see if you parse through the screenshots, a track playing is indicated by a small circle to the left of the title, but you can scroll through the tracks and highlight other titles before choosing them, as shown in some of the other screenshots.

Chicago: Chicago II Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

I gave top marks to Rhino's original Quadio set of the first several albums, and a bit more measured response to their more recent update of Chicago IX, but this album offers what to my ears is a noticeably more spacious, full bodied and especially better balanced accounting of the album in the Atmos mix when compared to the quad mix, which frankly sounds positively brash and even slightly tinny at times compared to what I'd term the more burnished sound of Steven Wilson's Atmos redo. If you read my original review of the Quadio box, there was a bit of controversy at the time about bass levels, and I will say that the Atmos track definitely offers a more forceful midrange to low end than even the quad mix, but I never found it bothersome or in conflict with vocals or higher range instrumental solos. I think I even prefer the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix on this disc to the quad mix, as it doesn't have the same comparatively overly bright sound that the quad mix does, even if it doesn't offer quite the same spaciousness as the Atmos track. Interestingly, the vocal mix issues on "25 to 6 to 4" that I mention overtly in my review of the greatest hits package and kind of allude to in my review of the original Quadio box are nowhere to be heard here, which is a good thing. Neither the Quadio box set nor the greatest hits disc had credits that I could find, but this release of course credits Steven Wilson for the Atmos and stereo remixes (the insert leaflet reprints Wilson's 2016 comments about his stereo remix). Also credited are Paul Klingberg for the 5.1 remix and Al Lawrence and Don Young for the quadraphonic remix.

Chicago: Chicago II Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no on disc supplements. This comes in a standard Blu-ray case with an inner print reproducing some of the original album printed content. A folded leaflet offers track listing, credits, and Wilson's 2016 comments about his stereo remix.

Chicago: Chicago II Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Purists and/or originalists may decry the lack of the "original" stereo version on this disc, but let those curmudgeons pout in the corner while you luxuriate in another really gorgeous Steven Wilson Atmos creation. Highly recommended.