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C'est Chic

 
Album Review: C'est Chic

  • Artist: Chic
  • Rating: StarStarStarStarHalf Star
  • Release Date: 1978
  • Total Time: 41:23
  • Genre: Rhythm & Blues

Review

Released in 1978, just as disco began to peak, C'est Chic and its pair of dancefloor anthems, "Le Freak" and "I Want Your Love," put Chic at the top of that dizzying peak. The right album at the right time, C'est Chic is essentially a rehash of Chic, the group's so-so self-titled debut from a year earlier. That first album also boasted a pair of floor-filling anthems, "Dance Dance Dance" and "Everybody Dance," and, like C'est Chic, it filled itself out with a mix of disco and ballads. So, essentially, C'est Chic does everything its predecessor did, except it does so masterfully: each side similarly gets its timeless floor-filler ("Le Freak," "I Want Your Love"), quiet storm come-down ("Savoir Faire," "At Last I Am Free"), feel-good album track ("Happy Man," "Sometimes You Win"), and moody album capper ("Chic Cheer," "[Funny] Bone"). Producers Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers were quite a savvy pair and knew that disco was as much a formula as anything. As evidenced here, they definitely had their fingers on the pulse of the moment, and used their perceptive touch to craft one of the few truly great disco albums. In fact, you could even argue that C'est Chic very well may be the definitive disco album. After all, countless artists scored dancefloor hits, but few could deliver an album this solid, and nearly as few could deliver one this epochal as well. C'est Chic embodies everything wonderful and excessive about disco at its pixilated peak. It's anything but subtle with its at-the-disco dancefloor mania and after-the-disco bedroom balladry, and Edwards and Rodgers are anything but whimsical with their disco-ballad-disco album sequencing and pseudo-jet-set Euro poshness. Chic would follow C'est Chic with "Good Times," the group's crowning achievement, but never again would Edwards and Rodgers assemble an album as perfectly calculated as C'est Chic. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
Chic Cheer (Lyrics) Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers Chic (4:42)
Le Freak Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers Chic (5:23)
Savoir Faire (Lyrics) Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards Chic (5:01)
Happy Man (Lyrics) Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards Chic (4:17)
I Want Your Love (Lyrics) Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards Chic (6:45)
At Last I Am Free (Lyrics) Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards Chic (7:08)
Sometimes You Win (Lyrics) Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers Chic (4:26)
(Funny) Bone Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards Chic (3:41)

Credits

David Lasley (Vocals), Sammy Figueroa (Percussion), Dennis King (Mastering), Bernard Edwards (Arranger), Robert Sabino (Keyboards), Bernard Edwards (Vocals), Nile Rodgers (Producer), Jeanie Fineberg (Horn), Gene Orloff (Concert Master), Luther Vandross (Vocals), Chic Strings (?), Jon Faddis (Trumpet), Jon Faddis (Horn), Bernard Edwards (Producer), Luci Martin (Vocals), Bernard Edwards (Bass), Karen Milne (Violin), Diva Gray (Vocals), Ellen Seeling (Horn), Nile Rodgers (Arranger), Bernard Edwards (Conductor), Bernard Edwards (Keyboards), Andrew Barrett (Keyboards), Jose Rossy (Percussion), Ray Willard (Assistant Engineer), Cheryl Hong (Strings), Jeanie Fineberg (Saxophone), Tony Thompson (Drums), Robert Sabino (Piano), Karen Milne (Strings), Joel Brodsky (Photography), Ellen Seeling (Trumpet), Barry Rogers (Trombone), Nile Rodgers (Conductor), Robert Sabino (Clavinet), Alfa Anderson Barfield (Vocals), Alex Foster (Saxophone), Nile Rodgers (Guitar), Jeff Hendrickson (Assistant Engineer), Raymond Jones (Keyboards), Alfa Anderson (Vocals), Robert Sabino (Piano (Electric)), Marianne Carroll (Strings), Bob Defrin (Art Direction), Bob Clearmountain (Engineer), Alex Foster (Horn), Cheryl Hong (Violin), Marianne Carroll (Violin)
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Wikipedia: C'est Chic
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C'est Chic
Studio album by Chic
Released August 11 1978
Recorded 1978
Genre Disco / Funk / R&B / Jazz
Length 41:23
Label Atlantic Records
Producer Nile Rodgers,
Bernard Edwards
Professional reviews
Chic chronology
Chic
(1977)
C'est Chic
(1978)
Risqué
(1979)

C'est Chic is the second studio album by American R&B band Chic, released on Atlantic Records in 1978. C'est Chic includes the band's classic hit "Le Freak" which topped the US Hot 100 chart, US R&B, and US Club Play in October 1978, selling six million copies in the US alone and is to date both Atlantic Records' and parent company Warner Music's best-selling single ever - a record it's held for nearly thirty years. C'est Chic also contains follow-up single "I Want Your Love" (#5 R&B, #7 Pop February 17, 1979) and the track that has since become the band's anthem; "Chic Cheer".
The C'est Chic album reached #4 on Billboard's album chart and topped the US R&B chart.
C'est Chic was transferred to compact disc and re-released by Atlantic Records/Warner Music in 1991 (catalogue number 7567-81552-2), and remains one of two Chic studio albums never to have been reissued in digitally remastered form.

Contents

Track listing

All tracks written by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers.
Side A:

  1. "Chic Cheer" - 4:42
  2. "Le Freak" - 5:23 Chic - Le Freak.ogg Listen
  3. "Savoir Faire" - 5:01
  4. "Happy Man" - 4:17

Side B:

  1. "I Want Your Love" - 6:45 Chic - I Want Your Love.ogg Listen
  2. "At Last I Am Free" - 7:08
  3. "Sometimes You Win" - 4:26
  4. "(Funny) Bone" - 3:41

Personnel

Production

US Singles

Original US 12" "Le Freak".

"Le Freak"

  • "Le Freak" (7" Edit) - 3:30 /"Savoir Faire" - 4:57 (Atlantic 7" 3519, September 21 1978)
  • "Le Freak" - 5:23 / "Savoir Faire" - 4:57 (Atlantic promo 12" DSKO 131, 1978)
  • "Le Freak" - 5:23 / "You Can Get By" - 5:36 (Atlantic 12" DK 4620, 1978)
  • "Le Freak" - 5:23 / "Savoir Faire" - 4:57 (Atlantic 12" DK 4700, 1978)
  • "Le Freak" - 5:23 / "You Can Get By" - 5:36 (Atlantic Oldies promo 12" DSKO 178, 1979)

"I Want Your Love"

  • "I Want Your Love" (7" Edit) - 3:28 / "(Funny) Bone" - 3:41 (Atlantic 7" 3557, January 29 1979)
  • "I Want Your Love" - 6:53 / "(Funny) Bone" - 3:41 (Atlantic promo 12" DSKO 146, 1979)
  • "I Want Your Love" - 6:53 / "(Funny) Bone" - 3:41 (Atlantic 12" DK 4712, 1979)




 
 
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Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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