An homage to the prairie state Numero calls home, From Champaign To Chicago is a 19-track survey of Illinois' Cheapest Tricks.

Reaching back to 1973's Peoria outliers the Jets and winding up in 1987 with Romeoville's Julian Leal and his Dick Clark-approved "Get Away," From Champaign To Chicago connects, via map, pins, and string, the various scenes that pockmarked the face of the Land of Lincoln.

Chicago's Prettyboys, Tom Orsi, All-Night Newsboys, Kevin Lee & Heartbeat, Band Jocks, Northshore, Paul, the Kind, and Loose Lips are tethered to Rockford's the Names; Champaign's Vertebrats, Contra-Band, and the Nines; LaSalle's the Jerks; Joliet's Lay-Z; and Zion's Shoes...through the clubs, booking agents, weekly newspapers, and regional radio stations they were all fighting for access to.

Our CD edition has been given Numero's signature treatment, complete with exhaustive histories of each band's sonic contribution, whereas the double LP includes all of this, plus an attractive 7" plastic sleeve housing 19 individual glossy liner sheets featuring forgotten promo shots on their respective flipsides.