Chic - C'est Chic (CD 1993)

For many, this will be the ultimate Chic LP, containing 4 of Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers' best known and loved compositions. This really is Chic at their sophisticated best, with the Chic strings featuring heavily on all the tracks and Luther Vandross on backing vocals. Of course, the best known track is the number one selling Atlantic single of all time "Le Freak". Still a dance floor filler after all these years, the really remarkable thing about it is that unlike so much "dance" music, it works equally well as a listening track, even a "chill out" track. The endlessly spiralling strings just transport you to another place and Bernards almost fluid bass playing is addictive listening. Listen out also for the clever production trick on the live recorded handclaps. The tape was run backwards so the fade comes first!
Two of my favorites on the LP are "Chic Cheer" and "(Funny)Bone". The former is a pseudo "live" track which features the Chic choir encouraging you to "give me a c, give me an h" etc over one of the most infectious guitar and bass riffs ever recorded. Many bands have copied the format of this song over the years (or simply lifted it from Chic altogether!), and Chic revisited the idea on at least two more occasions in their career. The latter is basically a simple instrumental refrain set to a fairly slow disco beat that once again just draws you further and further into the music again because of the amazing strings and bass. For my money, despite being repetitive the track is far too short. The LP isn't all uptempo. "At last I am free" is a lush ballad that demonstrates the gentle side of the band.

After Cest Chic, Chic went on to make "Risque" which contained the killer "Good times" but then future album sales dipped, to the point where the LPs they cut in the 80's usually didn't chart in the UK. This is a huge shame as thre was a wealth of incredible material on them. Start with C'est Chic then seek them out. You'll be glad you did.