Nile Rodgers & Chic in concert

LPJim

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Last night Nile Rogers and Chic got the joint jumping at the Tennessee Theater in Knoxville to a near capacity crowd.

The guitarist, composer and front man told the audience he was especially happy to be there because it was the act's chance to headline. The band is in the midst of a tour as opener for Cher, with nearby stops in Nashville and Charlotte.

For roughly an hour and a half we heard most of Chic's best known hits, such as "Le Freak", "Dance, Dance Dance (Yosah X 3)," "My Forbidden Lover," and "Good Times." Included in the set were tunes Rogers penned that were hits for other artists. Among them "Let's Dance" (David Bowie), "Notorious" (Duran, Duran), "We Are Family" (Sister Sledge), "I'm Coming Out" & "Upside Down" (Diana Ross) and "Up all Night" (Daft Punk).

On stage were two finely dressed female vocalists, keyboardist, sax player, drummer and trumpet player. The latter two did some fine solos. For the finale ("Good Times") some lucky audience members got to dance on stage.

With temps dipping down to 20 degrees few wanted to venture out in the weather. Those who braved the cold got a treat for their effort.
 
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That would have been good. I'm not a huge R&B fan, but I do like the Chic sound. It's pretty unmistakable and doesn't get enough credit for being "good music" in my opinion.....Chic gets lumped in with other "disco acts" that did everything by synth and drum machine. (Bee Gees still have the same problem.)
 
Chic had quite a difference from others during their era. They came into the scene near its peak with a different sound. It did take a little time to warm to them, but Rodgers and Edwards pulled together a lot of different influences with the Chic sound, and it is a lot more sophisticated than they were given credit for. They went for a high-class look originally--sequined dresses for the ladies, suits and ties for the band. After the group concept faded away, Rodgers went on to do loads of production work, including major hits by everyone from David Bowie to Madonna. I'm glad he's still out there making the music with a band these days. :)

What set them apart to me was the use of the instruments--it had piano that sort of leaned towards jazz, strings, and a guitar sound that was almost as based in rock as it was in funk, and some unusual arrangements. A lot of their contemporaries and predecessors had a more formulaic sound, basically a funk beat modified to "four to the floor", hand claps on the 2 and 4, keyboards that could be piano or synthesizers (or even a Fender Rhodes), real drums or those early "syn-drums" for punctuation, and often a horn section. (Way more "organic" than the synth-driven music of today.) One thing to keep in mind that while there were a lot of known singers and stars, a lot of the disco "bands" really were nothing more than another project that was created by a known producer, built from studio musicians and singers. The product was 12" singles for the dance clubs. Much of it was forgettable; some of them became minor dance floor hits that some will recognize. Each label often had their own sound, like Casablanca, Salsoul, etc.

Remixes of artists we already knew, or "...gone disco" albums were a different part of that trend. That gave us Earth Wind & Fire dabbling in it with "Boogie Wonderland" to please the record company, to rock mainstays like Rod Stewart, Rolling Stones, Doobie Brothers, Chicago, etc. having 12" disco remixes. Like anything, they all had their good and bad points.
 
Didn’t know where else to post this. PBS is running a show Friday night here calked Chic Featuring Nile Rodgers Jazz A Vienne Featuring songs of Diana Ross and Sister Sledge at the 2013 Jazz a Vienne music festival in France. It says it’s new, not broadcast before. It’s on late here 3/1/24 at 11:30PM-1:00AM.
 
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In my music "shuffle," a song called "Lost in Music" by Sister Sledge came up yesterday. It's a really good song that I've always liked and is on the We Are Family album. Produced by Nile Rodgers and featuring the distinctive Chic sound. Outside of the recognizable Sledge vocals, you could easily mistake it for a Chic record.
 
In my music "shuffle," a song called "Lost in Music" by Sister Sledge came up yesterday. It's a really good song that I've always liked and is on the We Are Family album.
The only track I don't care for on that album is the title track--it is very overplayed. But "Lost in Music" and "He's The Greatest Dancer" are prime cuts. All three got played locally.

"Reach your Peak" from a later Sister Sledge album is also a nice mid-tempo track. Not quite as "Chic-ey" but still clearly has their touch.



Their sound was all over a handful of other albums in their "Chic Organization," such as Norma Jean (Wright), whose self-titled Norma Jean had the hit "Saturday" that sounded like it was lifted straight off of a Chic album. (Norma Jean was the lead singer on their first album.) Sister Sledge, of course, had a heavy dose of the Chic sound, and Sheila and B. Devotion had their lone hit "Spacer" that again could have come right from one of the Chic records.

I think I read in Nile Rodgers' bio that Diana Ross came to them to producer her album Diana since she wanted a more updated sound. Yet she didn't like the outcome. 🤷‍♂️ I mean, if you're getting Rodgers/Edwards to produce your album around that time, it's gonna sound like Chic! But she had Motown engineer Russ Terrana remix it and re-record her vocals so they were more forward in the mix. Only many years later in a CD reissue were the original Chic mixes released as a bonus disc. And I prefer that over the Motown remix.

Rhino had a series of themed dance club compilations and one featured Chic, or others influenced by their sound. A few were odd choices (like KC & the Sunshine Band's "Keep It Comin' Love" which may have come before Chic), so they were really stretching to fill the disc with related tracks. (Basically if it had a similar rock guitar style, they considered it "related.")
 
Didn’t know where else to post this. PBS is running a show Friday night here calked Chic Featuring Nile Rodgers Jazz A Vienne Featuring songs of Diana Ross and Sister Sledge at the 2013 Jazz a Vienne music festival in France. It says it’s new, not broadcast before. It’s on late here 3/1/24 at 11:30PM-1:00AM.
I'm sure I can find it streaming somewhere, or see if I can record it off the airwaves if they decide to broadcast it locally.
 
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