Customer Reviews

Believer

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'Believer',in my opinion should've been HUGE!This 1983 recording comes during that period when Nile Rodgers was recording solo records and producing music for artists such as Madonna and David Bowie.In my humble opinion I cannot see why 'Believer' didn't jump out and become a huge comeback hit for Chic the way that 'Breakout' did for the Pointer Sisters.One reason may have been that unlike Real People/Tongue in Chic or Take It Off there is hardly a remnant of the "old" Chic sound on 'Believer'-the production is decidly crisp and contemporary with the compulsive early 80's handclaps,polyphonic synths,digital effects and early sampling (including the voice of Clark Gable) that will keep Chic fans begging for more.But the electro production is tempered by the high quality of the songs;the opening title song,"You Are Beautiful" and "Give Me The Lovin'" being fine examples.There are times here where Chic return to very organic territory such as on the POP PERFECT "In Love With My Music",with it's sing-a-long type hook.The same thing happens on the albums closing ballad "Take A Closer Look".On "Party Everyday" the band explores rap,a genre they helped to popularize through early hip-hops appropriation of "Good Times" but had never tinkered with themselves,and if I may say so Chic's own contribution is definately worth it."You Got Some Love For Me" and "Show Me Your Light" show yet more very prominant pop influences,that of early 80's dance pop that grew out of what Chic did several years earlier.What that leaves Chic with is that 'Believer' finds them very successfully catching up with a generation of dance and funk singers and musicians who were trying to catch up with them.And even though the album was a commercial clinker,in classic Chic style Nile and Bernard truely make the music their own.

1983. The very last year of musical creativity in R&B music. After that, other than a handful of artists, most of the music was what I call "microwave pop" which sorely depended on sythesisers and drum machines to make songs that lacked the "soul" of their predecesors.
But Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers did it right with this album, the wonderfully produced "Believer". I remember listening to them give an interview promoting this album on WBLS in New York hosted by the late Frankie Crocker. This is when I heard the lead off single "Give Me The Lovin'" for the first time. I had to have this album. I loved it from start to finish.
I especially enjoyed Tony Thompson's enhanced power-drumming which he used again on the Power Station project. What I did miss, however were the Chic Strings. I feel songs like, "Take A Closer Look" and "In Love With Music" would've been better with the Strings. To me, Chic without the String section is like Earth, Wind & Fire without the horns (something that was an obvious factor that contributed to the failure of EWF's "Electric Universe" album also released in1983).
It's too bad this album wasn't promoted the way it should've been. But nonetheless, some of the greatest albums in music never really get noticed.
Thank You Mr. Rodgers for this great piece of music. And to you Mr. Edwards and Mr. Thompson......may you rest in peace.

When this lp was originally released, I was sorely disappointed by both the full-on electro sound and the slim songs. I rarely revisited it in the years since, until Chic complilation cds starting appearing in the late 90s. For one thing, the instrumentation and mixing stood apart from everything else Chic had done, it sounded like a different group on the compilations. Going back to the album after having lived through post-disco dance music like electro, freestyle, industrial, house, techno, acid jazz, etc, I could finally hear something in Believer.

I felt then and still do, that "Show Me Your Light" was the strongest track in the group's pursuit of meshing synthdrums, electronic basslines, and 80s sensibilities with Rodgers' and Edwards' arranging skills. The track has drama and would have been ear-grabbing in clubs. Instead, the label that clearly didn't know what to make of Chic by this point released "Give Me The Loving" as the single. It was a strong track that fused electro R&B with the New Wave sounds that had pervaded the dance charts, but was probably too midtempo for dancefloor play. It barely cracked the R&B Top 100 and didn't get play on dancefloors. The title track was also a propulsive cut with crack, albeit synthed, instrumentation that might have worked as stronger single. Tony Thompson was hardly discernible on these and several other tracks that were peppered with electronic handclaps and synthdrum loops. He could be heard on more organic tracks like "You Got Some Love" that eschewed the canned sounds, and the power-ballad, Phil Collins-esque "Take A Closer Look." Both of those tracks, decades later, sound worthy of both Chic and radio play.

While these tracks were being mixed, Edwards recorded similar-sounding tracks such as "Your Love Is Good To Me" that would have made a great, hooky lead single from the Believer lp, and Rodgers was experimenting with rock-dance fusions with as much idiosyncrasy as Prince (eg "Rock Bottom," "All In Your Hands"). Both were branching out and production of Bowie, Madonna, Duran Duran, Power Station, and many other acts prevented another Chic project for a decade.

Of course it's not the last CHIC record. But probably it is the last attempt by the 2 (Bernard and Nile) to create something credible (¿Believer?) before going into memory-space as musicians (we know that Nile had some incredible successes as a producer afterwards).
So, on Believer, we have the delight to listen to some outstanding work: Believer, You Are Beautiful, You Got Some Love, and last, but not least, Party Everybody (the latter being the blueprint for oo so many rapping outlets).
In comparison to Take It Off, Believer sounds dated (the claps are so 80's!), and a tad bit sleepy.
Still, it's the sound of those times, and can create a reasonably danceable ambience.
Only for the "Believers".