With CHIC co-founder/co-producer/guitarist Nile Rodgers back in the musical spotlight where he belongs - his distinctive funk guitar anchors Daft Punk's chart-topping single "Get Lucky," the arguable song of the summer - Rhino's U.K. arm has done well to introduce another CHIC-oriented compilation to stores.
Up All Night: The Greatest Hits (cheekily named after a lyric in "Get Lucky") is more than just a set of tracks by the immortal disco band. Sixteen of the album's 25 tracks are classics produced by Rodgers and late bassist Bernard Edwards on behalf of The CHIC Organization. These include mega hits by Sister Sledge ("We Are Family," "He's the Greatest Dancer") and Diana Ross ("Upside Down," "I'm Coming Out") and awesome deep cuts by Norma Jean ("Saturday"), Debbie Harry ("Backfired") and Carly Simon ("Why"). The title track to the legendary I Love My Lady, a shelved 1981 album produced by CHIC for Johnny Mathis, also makes an appearance. (Though I Love My Lady has yet to be released in full, several tracks from the sessions turned up on 2010's Rodgers-assembled CHIC box set, which only came out in France, because the rest of mainland Europe or the U.S. apparently have gone insane.)
In fact, one can easily view this as a double-disc distillation of that box - although we have a few familiar names to thank for this compilation: the set's been compiled by Wayne A. Dickson of Big Break Records and mastered by Dickson and BBR engineer Nick Robbins, with Christian John Wikane providing liner notes. "You will note that these are all the versions released on 12" or LP," Dickson posted on BBR's Facebook page, "and that the the pitch/speed of the tracks is that of the original vinyl releases and not the slower versions on most CD releases up 'til now." (On this point, we have retained the supplied timings in the track list.)
Up All Night: The Greatest Hits gets the party started on July 1. After the jump, pre-order your copy and check out the full track list!
Nile Rodgers Presents The CHIC Organization, Up All Night: The Greatest Hits (Rhino (U.K.), 2013) (Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.)
Disc 1
- Le Freak - CHIC (5.20)
- He’s the Greatest Dancer - Sister Sledge (6.04)
- Upside Down - Diana Ross (4.03)
- Everybody Dance (12” Version) - CHIC (8.25)
- We Are Family - Sister Sledge (8.06)
- Spacer (12” Version) - Sheila & B. Devotion (6.15)
- I Want Your Love - CHIC (6.49)
- Lost in Music - Sister Sledge (4.42)
- Saturday - Norma Jean (6.04)
- Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah) - CHIC (8.20)
- Got to Love Somebody - Sister Sledge (6.50)
- My Feet Keep Dancing - CHIC (6.33)
Disc 2
- Good Times - CHIC (8.07)
- I’m Coming Out - Diana Ross (5.20)
- Why (12” Version) - Carly Simon (8.09)
- My Forbidden Lover (12” Version) - CHIC (6.29)
- Thinking of You - Sister Sledge (4.20)
- I Love My Lady - Johnny Mathis (5.21)
- Backfired (12” Version) - Debbie Harry (6.22)
- Soup for One (12” Version) - CHIC (7.58)
- High Society (12” Version) - Norma Jean
- Reach Your Peak (12” Version) - Sister Sledge
- Your Love is Good (12” Version) - Sheila & B. Devotion
- My Old Piano - Diana Ross (3.54)
- Chic Cheer - CHIC (4.41)
Disc 1, Tracks 1 and 7 and Disc 2, Track 13 from C'est CHIC (Atlantic, 1978)
Disc 1, Tracks 2, 5 and 8 and Disc 2, Track 5 from We Are Family (Cotillion, 1979)
Disc 1, Track 3 and Disc 2, Tracks 2 and 12 from diana (Motown, 1980)
Disc 1, Track 4 from Atlantic 12" single DK 4621, 1978. Original version from CHIC (Atlantic, 1977)
Disc 1, Track 6 from Carrere 12" single DM 4811, 1979. Original version from King of the World (Carrere, 1980)
Disc 1, Track 9 from Norma Jean (Bearsville, 1978)
Disc 1, Track 10 from CHIC (Atlantic, 1977)
Disc 1, Track 11 from Love Somebody Today (Cotillion, 1980)
Disc 1, Track 12 and Disc 2, Track 1 from Risqué (Atlantic, 1979)
Disc 2, Track 3 from Mirage 12" single DM 4831, 1982. Original version from Soup for One: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Mirage, 1982)
Disc 2, Track 4 from Atlantic promo 12" single DSKO 207, 1979. Original version from Risqué (Atlantic, 1979)
Disc 2, Track 6 from cancelled album I Love My Lady (Columbia, 1981). First released on Nile Rodgers Presents The CHIC Organization Volume 1: Savoir Faire (Rhino/Warner France, 2010)
Disc 2, Track 7 from Chrysalis 12" single CDS 2547, 1981. Original version from Koo Koo (Chrysalis, 1981)
Disc 2, Track 8 from Mirage 12" single DM 4827, 1982. Original version from Soup for One: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Mirage, 1982)
Disc 2, Track 9 from Bearville 12" single DBSS 8898, 1979
Disc 2, Track 10 from Cotillion promo 12" single DMD 229, 1980. Original version from Love Somebody Today (Cotillion, 1980)
Disc 2, Track 11 from Carrere promo 12" single DMD 245, 1980. Original version from King of the World (Carrere, 1980)
Rick says
Fine looking compilation, essentially a "best of" of the French Chic box set. The cover is weird though, California palm trees when Chic was a New York band?
Mike Duquette says
The cover is almost certainly meant to evoke the single artwork for "Get Lucky," which Nile appears on in distinctive silhouette on the right. http://cdn3.pitchfork.com/news/50380/81bd60e2.jpg
Thomas says
Gets super excited... then reads "mastered by Dickson and BBR engineer Nick Robbins"...
Oh well then :/
zubb says
What's wrong with those guys? The CDs I have purchased from BBR have sounded great!
Thomas says
Well I guess BBR cd's are great if you like your music loud and super compressed... 🙂
@Jonathan you're right, but unfortunately the odds that these guys would change their "remastering techniques" for this release are very slim!
Jonathan says
Aw, Thomas. You can still be super excited. I think it's always best to reserve judgement on sound (or anything really) until I actually listened to it and experienced it myself. Otherwise those kind of pre-judgements come off like sour grapes.
zubb says
"Well I guess BBR cd’s are great if you like your music loud and super compressed… 🙂
@Jonathan you’re right, but unfortunately the odds that these guys would change their “remastering techniques” for this release are very slim!"
All I can say is that the BBR CDs I have purchased do not suffer from these traits you describe. They are crisp and clear and I am hearing instrumentation in most that I either never noticed before or were previously buried in the original mastering. It's unfortunate that you don't care for them Thomas because they are putting out some really terrific titles.
Kym says
I agree. BBR's remastering style is "goose up the bass and make it loud". Mind you, they're not as bad as Culture Factory...
I received this set yesterday and yes, it's pretty boomy-sounding, but not as bad as I expected. It is nice to hear Johnny Mathis' "I Love My Lady"!
zubb says
Nice that they included Carly Simon's "Why" in this set after having left it off from the box set. I wish someone would put out a comprehensive Thom Bell collection together.
zubb says
Ugh. I need to proof read before I hit post.
Joe Marchese says
Such a collection for Thom Bell is long overdue - and an idea I've mulled over for quite a long time now. Thankfully, thanks to the stellar efforts of labels like Big Break Records, SoulMusic Records, Purpose Music Vaults, and Real Gone Music, much of Bell's harder-to-find output has been reissued recently. I expect we'll have more great stuff to come from Thom's legendary career.
Tom says
Love Chic, but there have been so many compilations in the past few years - the Definitive Groove Collection, the aforementioned box set, the 2-disc comp "Magnifique", the Nile Rodgers comp "Everybody Dance" from Japan...
Thomas says
Too bad they didn't include any Fonzi Thornton tracks. Hopefully soon, someone will release Fonzi's unreleased Chic produced album "Frostbite". Two tracks from that album, 'I Work for Living' & 'I'll Change My Game', are so much better than anything on that Johnny Mathis album!
Ben says
Hi Mike, the "Savoir Faire" boxset has finally been released in the U.K. on June 10 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0041T7FS6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B0041T7FS6&linkCode=as2&tag=thesecdis-21) and in Germany on June 14 (http://www.amazon.de/Nile-Rodgers-Presents-Organization-Boxset/dp/B0041T7FS6/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1371161516&sr=1-1&keywords=the+chic+organization).
Pete says
Ben, Sainsburys Entrtainment have it for £10 less than Amazon currently (£18.99). Got mine today. I think the packaging may have been "stripped down" for the UK release, but the music is intact!
Pete says
Meant to post this link http://www.sainsburysentertainment.co.uk/en/Music/CD/Chic/Nile-Rodgers-Presents-The-Chic-Organisation-Boxset-Vol-1-Savoir-Faire/product.html?product=E11239264