Search And Destroy: The Chic Organisation

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All songs written arranged and conducted by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards.

Tom, Tuesday, 1 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Search: 'C'est Chic' album. Top-10 of all-time material. "Good Times" single. "Lost in Music" of course and "He's the greatest dancer" (some other tracks on that Sister Sledge album), "Like a Virgin". Pretty much the usual stuff really.

Destroy: 'Let's Dance' and 'She's the Boss'.

Omar, Tuesday, 1 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Really not my thing, but there's no arguing with some o' their stuff.

SEARCH: "Le Freak", Bowie's LET'S DANCE

DESTROY: Duran Duran's NOTORIOUS, Steve Winwood's "Higher Love"-era.

alex in nyc, Tuesday, 1 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Search: every Chic-written-and-produced single between 1977 and 1980. The longer the mix the better the mix. The post-'80 stuff I'm much less familiar with (anyone?). For albums, Chic's "Risque" and Sister Sledge's "We Are Family"

Destroy: Remixes. It's theoretically possible to remix Chic successfully but it's not been done yet. Covers and samples are another matter.

Tom, Tuesday, 1 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Diana Ross' Diana album (with "Upside Down" and "I'm Coming Out") is pretty decent as well.

Patrick, Tuesday, 1 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Backfired" on the first Deborah Harry solo album (can't recall the title; just recall its cover as "the one with the pin through her head") is good = search (but album's patchy).

AP, Tuesday, 1 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Diana is the one, although you certainly need C'est Chic (best Chic album, easily) and We Are Family. On Diana, rumour had it that Ms Ross insisted the production be turned down a bit, as it was so good she felt it was distracting from her singing.

Jack Seale, Tuesday, 1 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Oh, and the Best Of Vol 2 is worth having, as it's a handy summary of the speedball years. Certainly worth it for 26 ('On a scale of one to ten, my baby's a 26') and the hilarious Hangin' and Your Love Is Cancelled.

Jack Seale, Tuesday, 1 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

God weren’t Chic fucking fantastic. The most joyful, robotic, sheeny, ecstatic sound – and they invented office girl elegance as a disco sexy style years before the Human League. I have all their albums, but I would happily settle for the American best of compilation. But the Sister Sledge album is the masterpiece - not a duff moment. It must be the single most important post-punk album.

Guy, Tuesday, 1 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Are Chic the most rockist disco group?

That’s a very hard one.. because it depends on definitions of course. I suppose you could argue that the obvious white bands to discuss re: this question are discoist-rockers (Blondie, Roxy Music ‘Angel Eyes’, PIL). What about the Bee-Gees? Essential disco band, but aren’t they a late 60s rock hangover as well? They certainly release albums and act quite rockist (well rockist-lite!). When do we begin disco? Is Sly Stone disco? He’s more of a rock god than Chic… and very album orientated.

Guy, Thursday, 3 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I feel alone in here - despite Tom pointing this way...

Guy, Thursday, 3 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

guy, i'm here for you.

here's a question for any who around at the time. it's obvious now that chic are critic's darlings, but what kind of reception did they get at the time?

i think they are the most rockist disco group, and for a simple reason: they played their own instruments. rodgers and edwards were highly accomplished players and, a big plus, they had a human drum machine in the form of tony thompson. instrumental virtuosity has always been big with the establishment and the interplay between all involved was dynamic and, unlike most critical darlings, funky.

and their influence on prince, talking heads, duran duran, blondie, and madonna can't be overstated.

fred solinger, Thursday, 3 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

four weeks pass...
Chic were well recieved at the time, albeit grudgingly. I just found the long version of "Spacer" on napster. It totally rocks.

Will, Thursday, 31 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one year passes...
i heard diana ross's upside down in a bar in berlin over the weekend, it is indeed very good. is the rest of the nile produced diana album any cop?

gareth, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

eleven months pass...

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030708/latu007_1.html

piscesboy, Saturday, 2 August 2003 08:52 (twenty-two years ago)

search Savior Faire and Happy Man
destroy ?

thomas de'aguirre (biteylove), Saturday, 2 August 2003 12:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Search everything of their first few years. I'm glad Tony Thompson got a mention, as he is one of my two or three all-time favourite drummers.

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 3 August 2003 22:26 (twenty-two years ago)

eight years pass...

Nile R. just tweeted this

http://www.nilerodgers.com/blogs/planet-c-in-english/203

fucking awesome

unlistenable in philly (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Sunday, 6 November 2011 21:41 (thirteen years ago)

Is anyone going next Thursday at the Forum?

owenf, Sunday, 6 November 2011 22:31 (thirteen years ago)

that cover is so goddamned good

DWARF ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA (jamescobo), Sunday, 6 November 2011 22:38 (thirteen years ago)

Wow, that is amazing. What a line-up - who's the singer?

Also, incredible that this was them trying "to get high school prom gigs"!

Ismael Klata, Sunday, 6 November 2011 22:48 (thirteen years ago)

one year passes...

WHEN THE STARS COME OUT TONIGHT
AND SHINE SO VERY BRIGHT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFIIjhREA2Y

first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 2 August 2013 17:38 (twelve years ago)

ten months pass...

A life-size cardboard cut-out of American musician Nile Rodgers, a heart monitor, a wheelchair and a sack of potatoes are among the lost property found on Dublin’s Luas over its 10 years of existence.

do u like green ez & jam (darraghmac), Monday, 30 June 2014 05:55 (eleven years ago)

sounds about right

dem bow dem bow need calcium (seandalai), Tuesday, 1 July 2014 14:01 (eleven years ago)

one year passes...

fuck me Real People is a great record

best beloved george benson (The Reverend), Sunday, 13 September 2015 16:39 (nine years ago)

three years pass...

just me, or does the opening of this song (and the whole song, really) lay down as bold a gauntlet as anything by the ramones or the sex pistols?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCkRDEhQtsY

affects breves telnet (Gummy Gummy), Saturday, 9 February 2019 03:12 (six years ago)

two more things

1) does anyone even recall the "they shoot horses..." reference in that song anymore?
2) i don't know why it didn't occur to me before that ESG owe about 85% of their shtick to Chic

affects breves telnet (Gummy Gummy), Saturday, 9 February 2019 03:15 (six years ago)

re #1, i guess this is a better version to post

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0eIg4wZryc

affects breves telnet (Gummy Gummy), Saturday, 9 February 2019 03:18 (six years ago)

Agree with most everything said above but just want to single out the always swoon-inducing "Thinking of You".

Spencer Chow, Saturday, 9 February 2019 07:59 (six years ago)

what the heck is "spacer" about anyway?

affects breves telnet (Gummy Gummy), Monday, 11 February 2019 20:21 (six years ago)

"Dance, Dance, Dance" is one of my favorite songs with my least favorite vocals.

In his book Nile gets into his idea of "Deep Hidden Meaning," or "DHM," but I find the concept as inscrutable as harmolodics.

Josh in Chicago, Monday, 11 February 2019 20:35 (six years ago)

Few songs have meant more to me than "Lost In Music"

brimstead, Monday, 11 February 2019 20:43 (six years ago)

this has got to be some sort of high water mark of human civilization

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWcCl-EhRVE

affects breves telnet (Gummy Gummy), Thursday, 14 February 2019 03:46 (six years ago)

jfc that bass

affects breves telnet (Gummy Gummy), Thursday, 14 February 2019 03:46 (six years ago)

is it just me or is there pretty much a straight lind between some of the piano chording in chic songs and detroit techno?

affects breves telnet (Gummy Gummy), Thursday, 14 February 2019 03:48 (six years ago)

uh, straight *line

affects breves telnet (Gummy Gummy), Thursday, 14 February 2019 03:48 (six years ago)

Guitar in that song is like Johnny Marr 101.

Surprisingly little live (no miming) footage of them from the late '70s on youtube..

Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 14 February 2019 04:07 (six years ago)

Thought the revive would be about this, should be great:

https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/meltdown

the word dog doesn't bark (anagram), Thursday, 14 February 2019 08:20 (six years ago)

five years pass...

forgot about how much i love this not-Chic Chic song. just put on the 12-inch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjxckE2R-I0

scott seward, Monday, 22 April 2024 17:56 (one year ago)


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