Album Review

Rob Theakston [allmusic.com]

Having tasted success with Chicago throughout the '70s, Peter Cetera decided to launch his solo career at the dawn of the '80s with this ten-track exercise in rock. In an immediate departure from the successfully safe formula Chicago utilized to exhaustion, Cetera employed a stellar crew of guest artists to reinforce that this was his project. The Beach Boys' Carl Wilson and Ricky Fataar make guest appearances, as does Toto wunderkind Steve Lukather, to complement Cetera's distinctive voice and bass playing. They waste no time in getting going with the rocker ''Livin' in the Limelight,'' which features Lukather delivering a blazing guitar solo and Cetera trying to be as hard rocking as any soft rocker could possibly be. Think Don Johnson's ''Heartbeat'' and you're still nowhere close. Things simmer down a bit, and even return to Chicago-friendly territory, with ''Mona Mona'' and ''On the Line.'' But the mandate remains the same: to distinguish this record as a solo endeavor, even though many songs here would lay the blueprint and signal the direction Chicago would take with Chicago 16 and the chart-topping juggernaut Chicago 17. For anyone but die-hard Chicago/Cetera fans, this is nothing more than a passing fancy, and those looking for Cetera's safe and accessible ballads will be mildly disappointed. But fans of early-'80s rock will be pleasantly surprised if they approach this record with open ears.