CHIC (2018 REMASTER)

Chic: Norma Jean, Alfa Anderson (vocals); Nile Rodgers (guitar, vocals); Bernard Edwards (bass, vocals); Tony Thompson (drums). Additional personnel: Luther Vandross, David Lasley, Norma Jean, Alfa Anderson, Robin Anderson, Diva Gray (vocals); Gloria Augustini (harp); George Young, Vito Rendace (flutes, tenor saxophones); Kenny Lehman (woodwinds); Jon Faddis (trumpet); Barry Rodgers (trombone); Robert Sabino, Andy Schwartz, Tom Coppola (keyboards); David Friedman (vibraphone, orchestral bells); Sammy Figueroa (percussion). Producers: Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers, Kenny Lehman, Bob Edwards. Engineers: Robert Drake, Mike Frondelli, Ron Johnson, Tom Savarese, Bob Clearmountain. Recorded at Electric Lady Studios and The Power Station, New York. All songs co-written by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers except "Dance Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" and "Sao Paulo" (Bernard Edwards/Nile Rodgers/Kenny Lehman). Although their follow-up album, C'EST CHIC, was the one that contained their anthemic disco hit "La Freak," this 1977 debut set the stage for the band's ultimate success as one of the iconic vocal groups of the disco era. Songwriters Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards (guitarist and bassist, respectively) were masters at concocting simple, driving grooves with percussive, hooky basslines, and an aura of decadent fun, underscored by the indiscriminate dropping of French expressions. Lead singer Norma Jean Wright was particularly expressive in her upper range, creating a template for the hot-to-trot, feline sound associated with female disco vocalists. Backing singer Alfa Anderson holds her own here, too, and the women's voices blend well on such hits as "Dance, Dance, Dance" and "Strike Up the Band."