All of Chic's 70s stuff has been remastered, remixed and reissued previously. Sister Sledge's "Love Somebody Today" is an unheralded masterpiece. Although it had no hits, I think it represents the 80s pinnacle for the Chic Organization. I hope it gets the remastered/remixed/expanded edition treatment one day.
I remember walking into the Westin Hotel Downtown Detroit in about early 1977. A group of a couple of guys and girls were standing in the lobby with musical instrument cases next to them. Being a musician I walked up to one of the guys standing next to to a guitar case and asked who they were, wondering if I knew them. The guy told me they were a new band called "Chic" as he pointed out the others standing around and of course, I hadn't heard of them. Spoke for a few minutes and wished them luck. Not 100% sure thinking back if it was Nile or Bernard I was talking too...
"Chic" was been one of my favourite group's from the very start of their career. It is about time that they get the credit they deserve for the musical ground they pioneered. I enjoy their four disc boxset with the previously unreleased Johnny Mathis tracks. Here is a run down of disc four of this set.Disc: 4
1. Carly Simon-Why [[12" mix)
2. Teddy Pendergrass-Dream Girl [[Previously Unreleased Nile Rodgers Remix)
3. Chic-Soup For One [[12" Mix)
4. Fonzi Thornton-I'll Change My Game [[Previously Unreleased)
5. Chic-Hangin'
6. Chic-I Feel Your Love Comin' On [[Dimitri From Paris Remix)
7. Chic-You Are Beautiful
8. Johnny Mathis-I Want To Fall In Love [[Previously Unreleased)
9. Johnny Mathis-It's Alright To Love Me [[Previously Unreleased)
10. Johnny Mathis-Something To Sing About [[Previously Unreleased)
11. Chic-Just Call Me [[Previously Unreleased)
12. Chic-Will You Cry Outtake [[Previously Unreleased)
IMO the We Are Family album is the best thing Chic and Sister Sledge ever did, separately or together. I also love "Got To Love Somebody" which is just as good as any of the well known Sister Sledge-Chic hits in my opinion.
Also, I'd really like to get that Johnny Mathis Chic album but I'm not sure I want to invest in a box set covering the entirety of Johnny's career for it...
TT123 You got mail
Although I bought their first 5 albums, the first two, "Chic" [[1977) and "C'est Chic"[[1978) remain my favorites of all of their work.
Nice packaging, mini replica Lp style. Damned hard to get out but hopefully they'll loosen up after a few goes. Haven't read the booklet yet, but suggest some pictures would've enhanced it. Main reason for purchase? The sound is superb. Just playing happy man as we speak. How apt😊
At a time when the disco sound was on the verge of getting a bit too predicable , and eurodisco was increasingly becoming the source of innovation, the Chic sound arrived just in time to give American disco a healthy booster shot, specifically in its funk arm.
So Michael McDonald ripped off part of the riff for I Keep Forgettin'! This came out in late 1981. I Keep Forgettin' came out in late 1982.
I think Michael's song was heavily influenced by an earlier song with the same title from the early 60's by Chuck Jackson and composed by the wonderful Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. I recall them being given a songwriting credit on Michael's version, so i think if he was ripping anyone off it would be Leiber and Stoller. Don't think Chic were given a songwriting credit.
All they did was slow it down!
Chuck Jackson - I Keep Forgettin'
Michael admitted in an interview about the warren g song regulate that he wrote his version based on this, he said it was a "reworking" of this 1962 classic.
Stage Fright did not reach Billboards Top 100 when it came out in 1981 and the cd from which it came Take it Off only only reached 124 on Billboard in 1981. I Keep Forgetting is from 1982 and I doubt producers Ted Templeman and Lenny Waronker were into Chic or had heard the Chic song , but who knows...
I am very well aware of the chart placings. I bought and listened to it in theFall of 1981. I liked it immediately. Chic suffered with radio programmers in the 80s because they were closely associated with Disco. "Stage Fright" and "I Keep Forgetting We're not In Love Anymore" are two different songs with that latter borrowing from the former.
Last edited by marv2; 11-27-2018 at 02:28 AM.
I completely agree. Though We Are Family is what I call the perfect album, Love Somebody Today was always my Sledge go to album. The vocal music and vocal arrangements were awesome and unfortunately highly overlooked. I always wondered if there were unreleased tracks from those Family & Love Somebody Today sessions.
Here's one of my lesser favorites from Chic from around 1980, still a great track!
Johnny Mathis "I Love My Lady" individual release of shelved 1981 album [[Second Disc/Real Gone) Feb. 1, 2019:
Johnny Mathis was billed on his very first album as “A New Sound in Popular Song.” In the decades since that 1956 debut, the vocalist has always explored new avenues in pop from Latin music to Philly soul. But the most adventurous of Mathis’ 60-plus albums may be the one that got away…until now. In late 1980, Johnny teamed up with the white-hot CHIC production team of Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, fresh off triumphant collaborations with artists including Sister Sledge and Diana Ross, for I Love My Lady. Mathis took his voice into new, uncharted territory on eight anthemic, club-ready tracks that pushed the envelope of rhythm and blues as they incorporated funk, jazz, disco, and dance rhythms. Despite the irresistible beats, incomparable vocals, and of-the-moment production, Columbia Records shelved I Love My Lady in 1981. Yet its legend only grew as the years passed. In 2006, house music duo The Shapeshifters even tantalizingly sampled a track from one song [[“Love and Be Loved”) while the full track remained in the vault. Finally, beginning in 2010, its songs began to trickle out on compilations, and in 2017, I Love My Lady was issued for the first time as part of a Mathis box set. Now, Real Gone Music and Second Disc Records are proud to present the first-ever standalone compact disc of this remarkable album by two American treasures: Johnny Mathis and CHIC. For the occasion, we’ve commissioned all-new cover artwork, and Johnny has graciously sat down for an interview with The Second Disc’s Joe Marchese to reflect on the album’s creation. The deluxe booklet also features rare photos of Johnny, and Mike Piacentini has remastered at Sony’s Battery Studios. A lost album no more, the sleek I Love My Lady presents the eternal Voice of Romance out on the town in the early 1980s, with sensuality and soul going hand-in-hand. It’s Johnny Mathis as you’ve never heard him before.
As this is a thread about CHIC and Sister Sledge, I feel it's appropriate to share the disco mixes I created this year featuring them. [[Yes, it HAS been a long time, hasn't it? LOL)
Chic - Le Freak [[DJ Moch's 12" Disco Remix)
Chic - I Want Your Love [[DJ Moch's Epic 12" Disco Remix)
Sister Sledge - We Are Family [[DJ Moch's Epic 12" Disco Remix)
Sister Sledge - He's The Greatest Dancer [[DJ Moch's Epic 12" Disco Remix)
That's all of them! Enjoy! Happy holidays!
Emile [[aka DJ Moch)
Emile I love your work! Bernard Edwards was the best bass player of the 70s!!!
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