You’re trying too hard.
Color my world is wonderful.
And Ollie is a great player. But you’re reaching.
You needed to be a senior in HS when Color My World came out to appreciate just what sop it was.
It was played in the highest rotation of high rotation possibilities on the radio.
You'd be driving and there would be a nice run of uptempo rock songs on the radio, then CMW would come on and you'd want to rip the radio out of the dash to avoid that simplistic and depressing saccharine. And this would happen every 40 minutes or so. Even on progressive stations at first (although WNEW jocks stopped playing it pretty quickly).
It was pretty much the only slow dance song played at any function.
It got voted favorite tune by thousands of high schools in 1974. That's not a high note one wishes their generation to be remembered by (personally, I went with All The Young Dudes).
There are few songs that will actually make me angry hearing them. CMW is #1 on that list. It represented everything that was wrong with American youth in 1974.
And until that song, I was a Chicago fan. They did some meaningful music in the late 60s early 70s. CMW was their sellout moment.
As far as Ollie Halsall, the key word is "unappreciated". People of my generation knew who Terry Kath was. They're familiar with his work on Chicago's first three albums and his early death. Nobody I know has ever listened to Patto or Timebox. The guy could play anything and do it in the context of the song. So it's my opinion he's pretty much the most unappreciated guitarist of which I'm aware.
