C'Est Chic

Chic | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 15, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Atlantic
• ASIN: B000002IIQ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,527 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: CHIC
Title: C'EST CHIC
Street Release Date: 09/15/1992
Domestic
Genre: SOUL/R & B

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alltime Classic Disco, July 25, 2001

By 

disco75 "disco75" (State College, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: C'Est Chic (Audio CD)

This is one of the top 5 disco albums and a pinnacle from the best band since the big band era. It exploded with confidence and talent to spare onto an unsuspecting audience who had benignly liked the group's first lp. Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards seemed ready to discard conventions in pop music and had the skill to achieve this goal. Even the album cover was unique, listing the song titles on the front and depicting the band in the cool, detached, stylish way that became their trademark for a while.

The music didn't depend on the personality of the vocalists; rather, the group was conceived to be an organic whole. Instrumental and semi-instrumental tracks were heard alongside songs with chanted verses; song construction and arrangement had the string section not just creating a backdrop but often carrying the melody. The guitar assumed rhythm duties; at times the bass played melody. The interplay of guitar and bass was well served with a bedrock of solid drumming and piano playing (witness "I Want Your Love," "Chic Cheer"). The arrangements were unconventional but subtle. Many people complained of the simplistic lyrics or repetitious choruses, failing to perceive the unity of the compositions, the use of voice as instrumentation, the employment of minor progressions and layering to build and release tension.

Much has been said about "Le Freak," a huge hit in 1978. A hard sell to the label suits, it ended up an anthem of the times, serving multiple duty as disco hit, dance step hallmark, and banner for the socially disenfranchised who were being edged off the very club floors they created by increasing numbers of suburban dancers. More remarkable is "I Want Your Love," a perfection of a song that works in the clubs, on the radio, in the living room, and especially in the bedroom. Seductive and plaintive, it is one of the most gorgeous, well crafted recordings ever.

Overlooked gems abound on this lp. "Happy Man" contains the rare male vocal lead and a rolling bass that gathers increasing steam to the extended instrumental fade. "At Last I Am Free" is a tone poem that shows the emotive capabilities of the vocalists, proving that Chic was not a group with personality-less, interchangeable singers. "Savoir Faire" is a hybrid jazz-pop construction that puts the string section to use in rare ways. In sum, this was a stunning achievement, hardly predicted from the group's one previous effort. That there was still more innovation to come from the group was a hope that was more than gratified in coming years.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CHIC Came Into Their Own On THis Album!!, March 13, 2005

By 

HE WHO FUNKS BEHIND THE ROWS!! (Seattle & San Diego) - See all my reviews

This review is from: C'Est Chic (Audio CD)

I was 14 when this album came out and that was the summer
that I first started going to house parties
and block parties! Throughout the disco era,
I had my pick and choice of who and
what I listened to in this genre:
KC & The Sunshine Band, the late great Sylvester,
(and the other queens) Donna Summers,
Thelma Houston, etc., etc.!!
But you see, I was a young disciple of the
school of funk, and so Parliament / Funkadelic,
Bootsy's Rubberband, The Isley Brothers,
Earth, Wind & Fire, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan,
WAR, The Ohio Players and a young upstart at that time
from Minneapolis named Prince were getting heavy
rotation on my turntable!

Then in late 1977 and early '78, entered the sounds
of this new funky disco movement out of New York
called CHIC with their songs "Dance, Dance, Dance
(Yowsah-Yowsah!!)" and "Everybody Dance", and both
my funk quota and my disco quota would be fulfilled
for the next 2 or 3 yrs afterwards!
But this album, "C'est Chic", was the first CHIC
album that I bought, and I was hooked from there!
Mixing funky bottom bass from the late Bernard Edwards,
the scorching guitar licks and riffs of Nile Rodgers,
some tasty string arrangements, some catchy, choppy
and somewhat repetitve lyrics and vocals which still
caught your attention, the well-placed fender rhodes
and piano of Raymond Jones, and the hot drumming
of the late Tony Thompson...and you had a package
which reeked of "Good Times" (pun intended),
haute couture and GQ fashion, and late 70's
devil-may-care abandon!---Chic was simply, the bomb!

From the funky "Chic Cheer" to the disco smashes
"Le Freak" and "I Want Your Love", to gems like
"Happy Man", "At Last I Am Free" and "Funny Bone",
to the lush instrumentation of "Savior Faire",
this album is definitely CHIC's pi'ece de resistance!!
To my mind, CHIC stands out as one of my all-time
favorite groups of the disco era, and their sound
was influential beyond just disco too!
Included with both Sister Sledge's and Diana Ross'
Chic-produced classics came: 1980's acts like Change,
which begat Luther Vandross and his earlier
Chic-influenced sound, Madonna's "Like A Virgin" album,
which was produced by Nile Rodgers,
Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust",
The Power Station, which was an 80's collab group
of some of rock's elite with Tony Thompson's "thumpasonic"
drums booming in and both Bernard & Nile doing their
thing in the backdrop!..."Some Like It Hot!"
David Bowie's "Let's Dance" and "Modern Love",
and then of course...hip-hop was brought in by the
bass breakdown of another CHIC anthem called "Good Times",
by a group called The Sugarhill Gang and their song
"Rapper's Delight"!!
What more needs to be said?...just buy this album!!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Disco Chic, February 8, 2007

By 

Olukayode Balogun (Leeds, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: C'Est Chic (Audio CD)

I was just a callow youth when I bought this record on vinyl when it first came out all those years ago. The worldwide buzz was all about the massive club hits "Le Freak" and "I Want Your Love", and while I totally understood why and love those songs to this day, my personal favourite was always the album opener, "Chic Cheer".

Few people I met ever shared my view but I finally felt personally vindicated twenty years later when Ron 'Amen-Ra' Lawrence and Sean 'Puffy' Combs sampled the song for Faith Evans' 1998 megahit "Love Like This". I was a amateur DJ back then and was one of the first on the circuit to get the 12 inch single. I remember playing it at a friends birthday party in Chiswick and remember the crowd going wild. And then, a few years later, in 2003, Fatman Scoop & The Crooklyn Clan used the Faith Evans tune as the basis of their similarly massive club hit "Be Faithful". People still go crazy for that one.

Anyway, almost thirty years after its release, this is still one album (I own it on CD now) I play on a regular basis and I enjoy it just as much as I did on day one. It never fails to make me smile, sing along and sometimes even dance, no matter what mood I'm in. Every tune is a winner and I especially love that they included the instrumental - dare I say jazz-fusion? - number, "Savoir Faire". All the songs were written, produced, arranged and conducted by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards and those two will go down in history not just as the kings of disco, which they were, but as the architects of some of the best music my generation was to ever enjoy.

Say Amen for the days when you got just eight songs on a CD and still feel like you got your money's worth. That happens very rarely these days, if at all.