Ennea was the second album by jazz-rock band Chase. It did not repeat the commercial success of their debut album. The original lineup from the first album was changed midway through the recording sessions, with Gary Smith taking over from Jay Burrid on drums and G. G. Shinn replacing Terry Richards on lead vocals. Sessions for the recording occurred in late August 1971 and again late October through early-mid November 1971 at CBS/Columbia Studios in San Francisco. The cost of the album went $120,000.00 over budget. The six songs on side two of the album comprise a jazz suite entitled "Ennea", with lyrics based on Greek mythology. The album's title is the Greek word for nine, a reference to the nine band members. The lyrics to the suite were written by Bill Chase's longtime lady companion Erin Adair. The tune "Cronus" was originally used as an instrumental. The single "So Many People" saw limited airplay in the U.S. The album charted for just 12 weeks, peaking at #71. Part of the song "Cronus" was featured in the intro to the Telewizja Polska show "997". Swanee River, which opens the album, was originally entitled "Closer to the feeling" and was going to have a quasi-Allman Bros. flavor, but the lyrics had yet to be written. When GG Shinn was listening to the playbacks in the studio, he noted the chord changes were the same as Stephen Foster's immortal 'Way down upon the Suwanee River' so the title was altered. It Won't Be Long was penned by Organist Phil Porter and initially it was much slower and had more of an "Asian" feel. Charlie Brent, re-arranged the song for the band to feature a screaming Trumpet solo for Bill and highlight the brilliance of the Trumpets more. The songs 'Darkest Days' and 'Listen To Her Sing' were slated to be included on the album, however, original vocalist Terry Richards was fired in October 1971 before recordings were completed The album cover was photographed by renowned Rock photographer Jim Marshall at the Persidio Park in San Francisco
Reception
In his retrospective review for Allmusic, critic Bruce Eder wrote that although the band's second album appeared with high expectations "Ennea fell so far short in critical reception and sales... What was lacking was balance—the rock and jazz elements that seemed so finely tuned together on the first album don't coexist as easily on this album... Ennea still has lots of good moments and some great ones—greater, at times, that anything on the first album if nowhere near as appealing and concise overall—and is still worth hearing."
