Into The Groove (38)

Hello, Into the groove spotlight today are CHIC. Their commercial career hasn't been that long, but what they did in the late seventies got everybody moving. This impact on the music scene was expanded into the eighties with highly succcesful productionwork.In addition to refining a relatively minimalist take on the disco sound, they helped to inspire other artists to forge their own sound. Edwards died age 43 ..practically on stage..of pneumonia..only the good die young. Well my vinyl was beyond ripping..too freaked out..fortunately a few years ago an excellent 2 disk compilation came out..the party goes on..

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CHIC - The Definitive Groove Collection (154min ^ 298mb)

Rodgers and Edwards first met in 1970, when both were jazz-trained musicians fresh out of high school. Edwards had attended New York's High School for the Performing Arts and was working in a Bronx post office at the time, while Rodgers' early career also included stints in the folk group New World Rising and the Apollo Theater house orchestra. Around 1972, Rodgers and Edwards formed a jazz-rock fusion group called the Big Apple Band. Despite interest in their demos, they could not get a record contract, and so they moonlighted as a backup band, touring behind smooth soul vocal group New York City after they broke up, the Big Apple Band hit the road with Carol Douglas for a few months, before Rodgers and Edwards decided to make a go of it on their own toward the end of 1976. At first they switched their aspirations from fusion to new wave, briefly performing as Allah & the Knife Wielding Punks, but quickly settled into dance music. They enlisted onetime LaBelle drummer Tony Thompson and changed their name to Chic in summer 1977 so as to avoid confusion with Walter Murphy & the Big Apple Band (who'd just hit big with "A Fifth of Beethoven"). 

The trio needed a singer to front the band. That singer was Norma Jean Wright, who sang lead on their demo single "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" they shopped it around to several major record companies, all of which (obviously) declined it. The small Buddah label finally released it as a 12" in late 1977, and as its club popularity exploded, Atlantic stepped in, signed the group, and re-released the single on a wider basis. "Dance, Dance, Dance" hit the Top Ten, peaking at number six, and made Chic one of the hottest new groups in disco. The self-titled album (1977) was an immediate success and sent Chic out on the road. They performed as a quartet until February 1978, but Rodgers and Edwards thought that their live performances would improve both in sound and visuals if they added another girl to front the band. Wright suggested her friend Luci Martin, who became a member in late winter/early spring of 1978.

Right after the sessions ended for its debut album, the band members began to work on Wright's self-titled debut solo album Norma Jean, released in 1978. To facilitate Wright's solo career, the band had agreed to sign her to a separate contract and label. Unfortunately the legalities of this contract eventually forced Wright to leave the band in mid-1978, she was replaced by Alfa Anderson, who had been on back up vocals on the band’s debut album. In late 1978, the band released C'est Chic, containing one of its best-known tracks, "Le Freak". The famous refrain "Aaa, freak out".That single was a massive success, topping the US charts and selling over 6 million copies. It is still the biggest-ever selling single ever of Atlantic's parent company, Warner Music. Follow-up "I Want Your Love" reached number seven, cementing the group's new star status, and C'est Chic became one of the rare disco albums to go platinum.

1979's Risqué was another solidly constructed LP that also went platinum, partly on the strength of Chic's second number one pop hit, "Good Times." "Good Times" may not have equaled the blockbuster sales figures of "Le Freak," but it was the band's most imitated track: Queen's number one hit "Another One Bites the Dust" was a clear rewrite, and the Sugarhill Gang lifted the instrumental backing track wholesale for the first commercial rap single, "Rapper's Delight," marking the first of many times that Chic grooves would be recycled into hip-hop records.

At the same time, Edwards and Rodgers composed, arranged, performed, and produced many influential disco and R&B records for both established artists and one-hit wonders, including Sister Sledge's albums We Are Family (1979) and Love Somebody Today (1980); Sheila and B. Devotion's "Spacer"; Diana Ross's 1980 album diana, Carly Simon's "Why" and Deborah Harry's debut solo album, Kookoo.

The disco fad was fading rapidly by that point, and 1980's Real People failed to go gold despite another solid performance by the band. Changing tastes put an end to Chic's heyday. Take It Off (1981), Tongue in Chic (1982) and Believer (1983) all suffered the same fate, with diminishing creative and commercial returns, and Rodgers and Edwards disbanded the group in 1983. Later that year, both recorded solo LPs that sank without a trace. Hungry for acceptance and respect in the rock mainstream both Rodgers and Edwards sought out high-profile production and session work over the rest of the decade. Rodgers produced blockbuster albums like David Bowie's Let's Dance, Madonna's Like a Virgin, and Mick Jagger's She's the Boss. Edwards wasn't as prolific as a producer, but did join the one-off supergroup the Power Station along with Tony Thompson as well as Robert Palmer and members of avowed Chic fans Duran Duran; he later produced Palmer's commercial breakthrough, Riptide. Edwards also worked with Rod Stewart (Out of Order), Jody Watley, and Tina Turner, while Rodgers' other credits include the Thompson Twins, the Vaughan Brothers, INXS, and the B-52's' comeback Cosmic Thing.

After a 1992 birthday party where Rodgers, Edwards, Paul Shaffer, and Anton Fig played old Chic hits to rapturous response, Rodgers and Edwards organized a reunion of the old band. They recorded new material—a single, "Chic Mystique" (remixed by Masters at Work) and subsequent album Chic-Ism, both of which charted—and played live all over the world, to great audience and critical acclaim. In 1996 Nile Rodgers was named JT Superproducer of the Year in Japan, and was invited to perform there with Chic in April of that year. Just before the concert at the Budokan Arena in Tokyo, Edwards fell ill, but despite Rodgers' insistence, he refused to cancel the gig. He managed to perform but had to be helped at times. After the concert he retired to his hotel room where he was later found dead by Rodgers. The cause of death was ruled to be pneumonia. Rodgers and CHIC continue to perform to venues worldwide.



CHIC - Groove Collection I

01 - Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah) (8:21)
02 - Everybody Dance (6:42)
03 - Strike Up The Band (4:34)
04 - Le Freak (5:31)
05 - Savoir Faire (5:04)
06 - Chic Cheer (4:44)
07 - At Last I Am Free (7:13)
08 - I Want Your Love (6:56)

CHIC - Groove Collection II

09 - Good Times (8:15)
10 - My Forbidden Lover (4:42)
11 - What About Me (4:13)
12 - My Feet Keep Dancing (6:41)
13 - Chip Off The Old Block (5:00)
14 - Rebels Are We (3:21)
15 - Real People (3:45)
16 - Will You Cry (When You Hear This Song) (4:09)
17 - 26 (4:06)
18 - You Can't Do It Alone (4:47)
19 - Stage Fright (3:39)

CHIC - Groove Collection III

20 - Just Out Of Reach (3:47)
21 - Flash Back (4:29)
22 - Your Love Is Cancelled (4:16)
23 - Soup For One (5:36)
24 - When You Love Someone (5:09)
25 - Hangin' (3:38)
26 - Give Me The Lovin' (3:32)
27 - Believer (5:07)
28 - You Are Beautiful (4:37)
29 - Chic Mystique (6:39)
30 - Your Love (5:57)

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