Robert Lamm became the first member of
Chicago to release a solo record back in 1974 but he put his extracurricular activities on ice until 1993, when he released
Life Is Good in My Neighborhood. Another album,
In My Head, followed in 1999, but it was
Like a Brother -- a 2000 collaboration with
America's
Gerry Beckley and
Carl Wilson of
the Beach Boys -- that opened up a streak of laid-back albums stretching into the 2010s.
Time Chill: A Retrospective focuses on these albums, selecting highlights from 2003's
Subtlety & Passion, 2004's
Too Many Voices, 2008's
The Bossa Project, and 2012's
Living Proof, adding a bonus track from a reissue of
Like a Brother and a mix from
Robert Lamm Songs: The JVE Remixes. All of this holds together because Lamm specializes in smooth grooves in his solo work, grooves that are surprisingly informed by electronic dance and hip-hop: witness "Sleeping in the Middle of the Bed," which actually includes raps from Lamm. Hints of Chicago can be heard in places that aren't
JVE's remix of "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" -- they are there in the soaring melodies, Latin rhythms, and jazzy inclinations, but Lamm's work is distinguished by its electronic gleam.
