CHIC RULE, discuss. Dr. C to Thread

BUT THE RECORD COMPANIES ARE MUCH TOO STUPID TO HAVE A BIG BOX SET!
Oh THE IRONY!

And Tony Thompson . . . grand.

FYI... there's an Ultimate Chic DVD coming out later this year. Plus "Le Freak" is going to be featured in the film Shrek 2. Oh yeah and there's a new Chic album in the works right now! Will hopefully be out this year as well.

How's this as far as comps go? Is allmusic's review dead-on what with its 5 stars and such?

The Live at the Budokan CD as well, which is beyond awesome. It was recorded in 1996 and was Bernard Edwards' last performance with the band as he passed away in his hotel room that night after the show.

But the news of the Ultimate Chic DVD coming out later this year is straight from Nile himself. YAY!

Ain't no party like a DISCO party!

2. At Last I Am Free - at around 3 and a half minutes everything turns staccato for the third chorus, leaving the strings gliding along below the melody before Luci lifts an octave, reaching and bending the melody as an intro to Bernard's bass solo.

3. You Are Beautiful from 1984's Believer - as good as any of the big hits. The intro guitar over the quiet sequencer chug sounds like Nile has just invented a new instrument and when he reprises it with accompanying vocoder later on, you might believe that he's invented a new language to go along with it. The way that Bernard stays within the confines of Tony Thompson's meter to keep out of the way of the guitar during the chorus, then lets rip with wild syncopation on the verses is monumental.

There may be nothing better than this music.

If you love this track, check out the remix for Brandy's "Full Moon"

Can't remember if it's the "soulchild remix" or the "rascal extended mix"........hmmmmmmm..........go with the rascal!!!

Did I ever mention N1le Rod9ers is my boss?

I have a boxlot of Live at the Budakan CD's sitting at my desk, if anyone wants one...

so are people's opinions on the best tunes that sampled chic?

my tentative vote goes to "love like this" by faith evans, but i'm willing to bet there are other good ones i've missed out on...

The Best of Chic Vol. 2, bought on Xgau's recommendation in high school (on tape!), is one of the most important records in my personal canon. Not my favorite, just the one that, along with The Disco Years Vol. 4: Lost in Music (another Xgau pick), made me into a TOTAL AND COMPLETE Chic obsessive as a teenager, lifted them to the forefront of my canon, killed whatever rockism remained squabbling around my feet. 100% UNDENIABLE CLASSIC

Oh, and back to the top of this thread: "Pretty Baby" is totally, totally ace.

Why has this band been so ill-served by reissues/boxes? "C'est Chic" is really the only sorta weak one in the bunch, and even it's quite good. "Believer" is even good, and "Take It Off" a really underrated album with amazing guitar playing...not to mention "Soup for One"--for some reason, I find the song "Let's Go on Vacation" very moving, bittersweet, even tho it's a relatively minor song in the Chic canon. "I Work for a Livin'" too.

Niles' "B-Movie Matinee" very nice too.

I'll take a Budokan DVD if ya got one to get rid of.

I'll take a Budokan DVD if ya got one to get rid of.

What's everybody's take on the 2nd Sister Sledge record? And did Sheila B. & Devotion do anything other than "Spacer" w/ Nile and 'Nard?

Besides the Sheila B. and Devotion LP with Chic (my copy is SELF-titled, but for some reason sometimes the title is listed as "King Of The World") they also did one before that without Chic. Can't vouch for it as a whole since I don't own it but I've got the song "Love Me Baby" and it's pretty good, fun stuff.

I think I'll just stop now and point you to some websites:

http://www.discosavvy.com/sheila.html

http://www.chictribute.com/history/intro.html

www.nilerodgers.com

But in other places, it feels a lot...looser, almost as if it's a rough mix, don't you think? "My Old Piano," I think, sounds the most startlingly different -- just dry as a bone, no background vocals at all, no reverb. To be honest, I'm not sure I like it as much--Chic's stuff usually sounds a bit smoother and more polished than this--but it's certainly fascinating.

Has anyone here heard the boots of the aborted Chic collab with Aretha? According to Paul Lester in Uncut a few years, they supposedly DO exist...

Why far-fetched? Isn't that the nature of bootlegs? And slsk, for that matter?

everybody dance: chic and the politics of disco (book) by daryl easlea.

"the first and the definitive biography of one of the most groundbreaking, hugely influential and vastly underrated acts of all time."

it's absolutely *shameful*.

fantastic news about the book though.
please god it's good as they (and disco) so deserve it so fckng much.

clams on the half shell, and rollerskates, rollerskates.

So stiff it's funky is what I vaguely remember teh Detroit Belleville 3 (or Atkins ?) saying about Kraftwerk actually. Big names...

Yo Stupidpuma where ya at ? Still working for NR ? More goodies lying around these days ?

Risque is possibly my favourite album ever apart from a few by The Fall. Mark E Smith is a fan you know...It sort of makes sense that as there are many similarities between the two bands...

OK. Better than the Beatles? No. But better than 38,124 of history's other musical aggregations. And of course Rodgers/Edwards/Thompson could improve anybody's record simply by showing up.

My own favorite unexpected-Chic-Corporation-production is still Carly Simon's "Why."

The making of "Le Freak", and "Good Times" mp3s and a BBC doc

from the blog:
"Nile Rodgers gave them exclusive access to some of his multitrack masters, most notably for Chic’s “Le Freak” and “Good Times.” They then proceeded to deconstruct the masters, analyzing and isolating some of those small, but key elements that made those records as amazing as they are.

Just being able to hear them isolate the drums and bass of “Le Freak” alone was worth it. Also, hearing Nile talk about the concept behind “Good Times” as well as hearing it's isolated strings, guitars and bass only affirms why "Good Times" is one of their most iconic, if not one of the most iconic records of that time."

As is apparent by my comments further up this thread, I tend to get rather silly when discussing this band who have moved me like no other over the years except perhaps The Fall.

The box set WILL happen someday but as someone who has pretty much everything, here's hoping some of the unreleased outtakes and different mixes will be included, esp the Johnny Mathis stuff and a rumoured 20 to 30 unreleased completed tracks from the period 1979-83.

Fuck me, I'm gonna go listen to Chic now.

Still one of the best shows I've ever seen!

Their shit was complex for sure!

Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.

I STILL want a Chic Org fucking box-set!!

Dr. C (Dr. C) on Thursday, 23 March 2006 18:00(1 year ago)'

found a used copy of Real People on vinyl in mint condition at the local record store yesterday

pretty awesome record eh

you know, it's the first one with really bitter lyrics, a fall from grace- but the ridiculous chops on the "open up" instrumental, the acoustic guitar reprise on "you can't do it alone" and the innumerable hooks in "rebels are we" redeem almost everything.

check out Nile's solo on the title track...

went without saying/had to be said

anyone who hasn't d/l'ed those Disco Delivery MP3s needs to do so now. they are absolutely incredible.

is there anywhere i can still hear these?

Real People = the post-disco Countdown to Ecstasy, or vice versa

oooh!

Do Chic have a Gaucho? I don't think so. I refuse to believe that Believer is, at any rate.

Real People is my favourite of their first four, so streamlined and rocking. (Nice ballads too.) And I never even heard a note of it until a few years ago. I know there are people who'd refer to the instrumental stuff as "filler", but fuck 'em: Some people regard all instrumentals as filler. I call it "music".

So that Chic box never came out in May, did it?

not unless it was the 2CD, no

My God, this is powerful stuff, almost religious. Undeniably physical music that is utterly ethereal yet tough as nails at the same time. There's a deep chasm of melancholy and sadness at the heart of what are, on the surface, very jubilant songs, and I find that undercurrent unbearably affecting. The austerity, tightness and restraint in something like the tap-dance breakdown and slow build-up in "My Feet Keep Dancing" makes me feel like my lungs and heart are going to explode. I could burrow down into the burning, roiling groove in "I Want Your Love" forever. It almost makes me want to fuck up my life on purpose just to tap into that undercurrent of desperation. The sixteenth-note strings then brass figure a few minutes in is just rococo enough, then it strips down completely to the rawest but cleanest ur-funk guitar ever. Just amazing.

Saw an interview with Nile Rogers, he says "Le Freak" was written about them not being able to get into Studio 54. Its working title was "Fuck off!".

So I finally got Take It Off. "Your Love is Canceled" and "Stage Fright" I know already, but, wow, "So Fine" is the kind of precision guitar work and in-the-pocket rhythm that's the stuff dreams are made of. The vocals on "So Fine" reminded me a bit of Roxy Music's "The Space Between," on which the backing vocals coo "So rare, so fine" with the same kind of detachment (Rodgers did co-write and produce Ferry's solo "Help Me" single).

just a memory of being 14 at a 'disco' getting down to le freak and loving it,
before the rot set in and boys had to like only punk/new wave or endure homophobic abuse

Dr. X gets it...

Okay, I finally found my vinyl copy of "Take It Off", Alfred. I hope you're happy. It took me far too long because it was in a small pile of records I'd pulled out earlier and was about the last place I would have looked for it. I remember that LP sucking ass, but I'll put it on, one more time for you. After I get finished hearing the bonus trax on the latest Replacements reissues, that is...

Since that Chic Org box set never came out, I'd like to make my own. But I know I'd miss something. I'm not very familiar with Chic.

But what about Chic-era Sister Sledge Mr. Snrub? Because that is the godhead, man. For the serious.

I'm not sure how I never went on and on about Sister Sledge's "Thinking of You" in this thread -- it's probably my favorite Chic Org. track ever. In the chorus, Luther Vandross seems to only sing the word "now" in the line that goes ".../Now I'm livin' in ecstasy"...and really, it's the only word he has to sing.

That 1984 remix of "Lost in Music" is sick, btw.

Yep, it's a great song. Heard the Paul Weller cover? That blows my mind, too.

"Thinking of You", I mean.

Now my brain hurts.

I've had so much fun dancing and DJing with "thinking of you" over the years. Oddly, it is part of the British soul/disco canon and I've found that US folks don't know it the way they know "le Freak" etc. (yeah yeah I know that all ilxors are hipsters who know everything don't dogpile me here, but in general, I've found it more likely that when I play it people in the US ask me who it is, but it's like a "wedding DJ" staple in the UK).

it's like a "wedding DJ" staple in the UK

Funny you say that -- I put it on our playlist at my wedding. No one knew it at all (our wedding was in NYC), but it went over quite well, IIRC.

Sao Paulo

I get them now.

Yay! YES

<33

AWWW SHIT YEAH! Never heard that on vinyl before. So charming.

Hello.

On October 18th , Rhino France will be releasing a 4CD boxset : "Nile Rodgers presents THE CHIC ORGANIZATION BOXSET VOL 1 : "Savoir Faire". This boxset , produced in partnership with Nile Rodgers , will not only feature songs from CHIC but also from artists produced by THE CHIC ORGANIZATION : Norma Jean, Sister Sledge, Sheila & B Devotion, Diana Ross, Fonzi Thornton & many more surprises to come... It will include rare versions, unreleased tracks, outtakes, remixes from Dimitri From Paris... All packaged in a 4CD remastered digipack long box, with a 20 page booklet and liner notes by Nile Rodgers. Please visit Rhino France Facebook Fanpage to listen to a 2' teaser of Norma Jean "Saturday" remixed by Dimitri From Paris . More news soon...

FREAK. OUT. : )

remixes from Dimitri From Paris

ugh

Earlier there had been talk of an eight-disc set — I'm guessing people at Rhino figured, wisely enough, that they would sell more four-disc boxes than eight-disc ones, so that the rest of the stuff will come out as Volume 2 if enough people by Volume 1.

I kind of liked the idea of eight discs because I imagined each disc as being a Chic studio album plus remixes and selections from work for other artists (they did eight studio albums, right?). But I will take whatever comes!

The Chic organisation - geniuses or what ?

;_;

sorry I've been thinkin about Chic a lot lately...taught my self the bassline for Good Times a couple of weeks ago...

D'oh, sorry I missed that post of yours there Andy!

apparently there was a Johnny Mathis album they produced that got shelved. there was an EMP paper about that? hoping that will make it to the box.

I think there will be tracks from the Chic-produced Johnny Mathis album in the box, and there have been rumors that Sony might finally officially release the album.

remixes from Dimitri From Paris

ugh

― Underground - Parking (2010) (sic), Thursday, 16 September 2010 03:11 (17 hours ago) Bookmark

+1, though it can't be any worse than the Sure is Pure remixes which stink up the CD reissue of 'We Are Family'.

http://theseconddisc.com/2010/09/17/and-these-are-the-contents-of-the-chic-box-set/#more-2554

why exactly is dimitri from paris all over this?

I'm guessing it has something to do with Rhino France putting this out? Who knows. Kind of annoying and unnecessary IMO.

Agree that there's no real need but don't get the Dimitri hate. All of his recent mix/edit work has been pretty tasteful, at least within the realm of exhuming classic disco that I've heard.

the lack of need is more than enough - whether you find him delightfl or grotesque, it's a hideous waste of disc space, especially if they dropped 320 minutes of Chic but squeeze on 12 minutes of Dmitri

I've got love for this, and that is making me cautiously optimistic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Oj743luUe0

apparently the remixs' are more like re-edits, so only original Chic organisation multi-tracks will be used.

but don't quite me on that....

Looking forward to bingeing on Chic when this box set drops.

Dimitri did REAL right by Love Committee's "Just As Long As I Got You":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zs7jov0Ol8

Call me crazy but I'm overwhelmed by the box set's track selection -- nothing surprising here besides the Mathis stuff.

why isn't the amazing Mathis track on there?! the one that leaked? yeah that tracklist is all over the place. a *2 volume* box set?! just the job for the current financial climate.

that tracklist is a nightmare, for this Chic purist. not a nice way to treat a catalog of an incredible band that made quite a few great records that deserve to be heard the way Chic released them