C'est Chic

by Chic

Overview

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

Product Details

Release Date:	06/21/2019
Label:	Atlantic
UPC:	0603497857128
Rank:	2129

Tracks

1. Chic Cheer
2. Le Freak
3. Savior Faire
4. Happy Man
5. I Want Your Love
6. At Last I Am Free
7. Sometimes You Win
8. (Funny) Bone

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Chic   Primary Artist
Jon Faddis   Guest Artist,Horn,Trumpet
David Lasley   Guest Artist,Vocals
Luther Vandross   Guest Artist,Vocals
Alfa Anderson   Vocals,Lead Vocals
Alfred Brown   Strings
Bernard Edwards   Bass,Vocals,Conductor,Keyboards,Lead Vocals
Robert Sabino   Piano,Clavinet,Keyboards,Piano (Electric)
Barry Rogers   Trombone
Jose Rossy   Percussion
Nile Rodgers   Guitar,Conductor
Raymond Jones   Keyboards
Jeanie Fineberg   Horn,Saxophone
Alex Foster   Horn,Saxophone
David Friedman   Bells
Barry Rodgers   Trombone
George Young   Flute,Sax (Tenor)
Kenny Lehman   Woodwind
Tom Coppola   Keyboards
Diva Gray   Vocals,Lead Vocals
Sammy Figueroa   Percussion
Karen Milne   Violin,Strings
Marianne Carroll   Violin,Strings
Andrew Barrett   Keyboards
Tony Thompson   Drums
Luci Martin   Vocals
Cheryl Hong   Violin,Strings
Ellen Seeling   Horn,Trumpet
Gloria Augustini   Harp
Andy Schwartz   Keyboards,Piano (Electric)

Technical Credits

Burt Szerlip   Engineer
Bernard Edwards   Arranger,Composer,Producer
Bob Clearmountain   Engineer
Jeff Hendrickson   Assistant Engineer
Dennis King   Mastering
Nile Rodgers   Arranger,Composer,Producer
Joel Brodsky   Photography
Ray Willard   Assistant Engineer
Bob Defrin   Art Direction