Early in this blog’s existence, I created a slightly premature imaginary liner notes for an imaginary compilation of Train. Later on a proper compilation album was made for Train that was highly different than I had imagined, with material that had not been released yet when I wrote (and not going as deep into album cuts as I had imagined), but which was certainly a worthy collection on its own terms. Today I would like to engage in a similar thought experiment for Peter Cetera, who despite having a sizable and successful body of work, has never had a proper greatest hits compilation. At first glance, this appears strange, but there is a certain logic to it, namely that Cetera only had two albums that were popular in pop, two that were notable as Adult Contemporary album, and a sizable amount of hits that were not released as part of any of Cetera’s own work, and this fragmented nature and the lack of recognition that Cetera has as a singer who has received a lot of positive attention as a star has meant that his body of work has not been given the credit that other artists of similar caliber (like, for example, Steve Perry) have received.

If one was going to create a “core curriculum” for Peter Cetera in a definitive compilation, how would one go about it? Let’s look at a least a couple possibilities. The first of these will be a pretty minimal greatest hits approach that focuses on material that achieved hit success as solo Cetera works apart from Chicago. A minimal approach that focused on successful works would begin with Cetera’s second album “Solitude/Solitaire”, and would include the following singles that all hit the Hot 100 (two of which hit #1): Glory of Love, Next Time I Fall In Love, and Big Mistake. It would include two songs from Cetera’s third album “One More Story:” One Good Woman and Best of Times. It would include three songs from “World Falling Down:” Restless Heart, Feels Like Heaven, and Even A Fool Can See. It would include one song, “(I Wanna Take) Forever Tonight” from One Clear Voice/Faithfully, and it would also include After All (a duet with Cher) from the film “Chances Are” and the two duets with Az Yet that hit the Hot 100 from Chicago songs in “Hard To Say I’m Sorry” and “You’re The Inspiration.” This minimal greatest hits would include all Hot 100 songs under Cetera’s name and gives us twelve hit songs. This represents the most minimal collection that fairly shows Cetera’s mainstream success.

If one wanted to expand this to a proper best of compilation, it would be pretty straightforward to add a few songs that received format success if not mainstream success. We could add Livin’ In The Limelight from Cetera’s self-titled debut that hit #6 on the mainstream rock chart, for one. We could add two songs that featured Cetera that have not received a great deal of attention but which hit the Hot 100, “Hold Me ‘Til The Morning Comes” with Paul Anka, “I Wasn’t The One (Who Said Goodbye)” with former ABBA singer Agnetha Faltskog. We could add “Only Love Knows Why,” an AC single from Solitude/Solitaire, “You Never Listen To Me,” with David Gilmour, which released #32 on mainstream rock, from One More Story. We could add a couple of soundtrack songs not already included in “Stay With Me” from Princess On The Moon and “No Explanation” from Pretty Woman. We could add “Faithfully” and “One Clear Voice” from One Clear Voice/Faithfully, as well as the two new songs from You’re The Inspiration: A Collection in “Do You Love Me That Much” and “She Doesn’t Need Me Anymore.” Finally, we could add “Perfect World” from Another Perfect World, which serves as a fitting capstone for Cetera’s work as a whole. This best-of compilation would include 24 songs and could be either a double-album or a long streaming album, and would give a flavor of Cetera’s full body of work while honoring his most successful songs, and demonstrating the breadth of his career as a whole.

Whether we look at a minimal greatest hits album or a more expansive best-of compilation album, Peter Cetera’s career deserves greater attention and the sort of retrospective that would give attention to the beauty as well as the diversity of Cetera’s offerings, which blend from mainstream rock to a large body of adult pop, adult contemporary, soundtrack pop, and even R&B and country-adjacent songs (even though, to my knowledge, he has not appeared on the country charts). Whether the longer album (or even the shorter one) could be negotiated given the divided nature of the rights of Peter Cetera songs is still an open question, but even if this proved to be a challenging task it is one that is well worth attempting, as Cetera’s music remains important in soundtrack releases and deserves reconsideration as a whole body of work. A good compilation would go a long way in bringing Cetera’s worthy career to greater public knowledge and appreciation.