''C'est Chic'' is the second studio album by American band

Chic Chic (; ), meaning "stylish" or "smart", is an element of fashion. It was originally a French word. Etymology '' Chic'' is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s. Early references in English dictionaries classified ...

, released on

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

in 1978.

Release

''C'est Chic'' includes the band's signature hit "

Le Freak "Le Freak" is a funk-disco song by American disco band Chic, released in September 1978 by Atlantic Records as the first single from their second album, '' C'est Chic'' (1978). It was written and produced by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, a ...

", which topped the US Hot 100 chart, US R&B, ''and'' US Club Play in October 1978, selling six million copies in the US. The album also contains the hit single " I Want Your Love" (number 5 R&B, number 7 Pop, number 4 UK). ''C'est Chic'' was the band's most commercially successful album, reaching number 4 on ''Billboard'''s album chart and topping the US

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

for eleven weeks. ''C'est Chic'' was ''Billboard''s 1979 R&B Album of the Year, claiming the number one spot on ''Billboard''s Year End Review. The album was certified platinum by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

, selling over a million copies. In the UK it peaked at number 2 and has been certified Gold by the BPI. The European version was originally called ''Très Chic'', with the cover featuring a woman wrapped around a neon light tube. It was withdrawn and replaced with the ''C'est Chic'' version with a less risqué cover. ''Très Chic'' had a different track listing. ''C'est Chic'' was released on

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

Warner Warner can refer to: People * Warner (writer) * Warner (given name) * Warner (surname) Fictional characters * Yakko, Wakko, and Dot Warner, stars of the animated television series ''Animaniacs'' * Aaron Warner, a character in '' Shatter M ...

in 1991 (catalogue number 7567-81552-2). The album has been digitally remastered and re-issued twice: first in 2011 by

Warner Music Japan Warner Music Group (WMG) owns, has a joint share, or is associated with the record labels listed here. Flagship labels *Atlantic Records *Elektra Records *Parlophone Records *Warner Records Atlantic Music Group * 1st & 15th Entertainment * A ...

and then in 2018 at

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...

by Atlantic.

Critical reception

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' deemed ''C'est Chic'' "a sleekly elegant variation" of disco. The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' opined that, aside from "Le Freak", the album "consists of pedestrian disco pieces and plodding R&B ballads."

Track listing

All songs written by

Bernard Edwards Bernard Edwards (October 31, 1952 – April 18, 1996) was an American bassist and record producer, known primarily for his work in disco with musician Nile Rodgers, with whom he co-founded Chic. In 2017, Edwards was selected as the 53rd greates ...

and

Nile Rodgers Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 750 million albums and 1 ...

; except where indicated.

''C'est Chic''

;Side one # "Chic Cheer" – 4:42 # "

" – 5:27 # "Savoir Faire" – 5:01 # "Happy Man" – 4:17 ;Side two # " I Want Your Love" – 6:55 # "At Last I Am Free" – 7:08 # "Sometimes You Win" – 4:26 # "(Funny) Bone" – 3:41 #*(LP only hidden track – moog solo)

''Très Chic''

;Side one # "Chic Cheer" – 4:42 # "

" – 5:23 # " I Want Your Love" – 6:55 # "Happy Man" – 4:17 # "

Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah) "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" is a song by American R&B band Chic. It was the group's first single, a hit in the United States (reaching number 6 on both the pop and R&B charts), as well as in the United Kingdom and Canada. In ...

" (Edwards, Kenny Lehman, Rodgers) – 3:35 ;Side two # "Savoir Faire" – 5:01 # "At Last I Am Free" – 7:08 # "Sometimes You Win" – 4:26 # "(Funny) Bone" – 3:41 # " Everybody Dance" – 3:22

Personnel

;Musicians * Alfa Anderson –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

(A2, B1, B2, B3) *

Diva Gray Diva Gray (September 14, 1952 – November 19, 2024) was an American singer. She was best known as a background vocalist behind the band Chic with Luther Vandross and Robin Clark, as well as in other disco groups, including Change, and Lemon with ...

– lead vocals (A2) *

David Lasley David Eldon Lasley (August 20, 1947 – December 9, 2021) was an American recording artist, singer, musician and songwriter. He was best known as a touring background singer for James Taylor, as a session singer on recordings by artists including ...

– vocals * Luci Martin – vocals *

Luther Vandross Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American Soul music, soul and Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer. Over his career, he achieved eleven consecutive RIAA certification, RIAA-certified ...

– vocals * Robin Clark – backing vocals on "Dance, Dance, Dance" and "Everybody Dance" *

–

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, vocals * Raymond Jones – Fender Rhodes electric piano * Robert Sabino – acoustic piano,

clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into ele ...

* Andy Schwartz – clavinet, acoustic piano, electric piano on "Le Freak" (uncertain) and "At Last I Am Free" *

–

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

; lead vocals (A4, B3) * Tony Thompson –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Sammy Figueroa Sammy Figueroa (born November 16, 1948) is an American percussionist. At 18, he joined the band of bassist Bobby Valentín and also co-led the Brazilian/Latin fusion group Raíces. He is known as an extremely prolific session player, having pl ...

– percussion *

Jon Faddis Jon Faddis (born July 24, 1953) is an American jazz trumpet player, conductor, composer, and educator, renowned for both his playing and for his expertise in the field of music education. Upon his first appearance on the scene, he became known ...

– trumpet * Ellen Seeling – trumpet * Alex Foster – saxophone * Jean Fineberg – saxophone * Barry Rogers –

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

* Jose Rossy –

tubular bell Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillons, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells withi ...

s * The Chic Strings: ** Marianne Carroll – strings ** Cheryl Hong – strings ** Karen Milne – strings *

Gene Orloff Gene Orloff (June 14, 1921 – March 23, 2009) was an American violinist, concertmaster, arranger, contractor and session musician. Background The son of a Russian immigrant violin maker, Orloff would try and get his father's violin down from th ...

– concert master ;Production *

– producer for The Chic Organization Ltd. *

– producer for The Chic Organization Ltd. * Marc Kreiner, Tom Cossie – associate producers *

Bob Clearmountain Bob Clearmountain (born Chiaramonte, January 15, 1953) is an American mixing engineer and record producer, best known for his work with major acts, including Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Pretenders, and Bryan A ...

–

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a sound recording, recording or a Concert, live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization (audio), equalization, Dynamic range ...

* Burt Szerlip – engineer * Jeff Hendrickson – assistant engineer * Ray Willard as "Positively No Way Ray (Willard?)" – assistant engineer * Bob Defrin – art direction *

Joel Brodsky Joel Lee Brodsky (October 7, 1939 – March 1, 2007) was an American photographer, best known for his photography of musicians, particularly his iconic "Young Lion" photographs of Jim Morrison. In his lifetime, he is credited with photographing o ...

– photography * All songs recorded and mixed at

Power Station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

in New York. Mastered at

Atlantic Studios Atlantic Studios is the recording studio network of Atlantic Records. Although the historic recording studio was located at 1841 Broadway (at the corner of 60th Street), in New York City, Atlantic Recording Studios was initially located at 234 Wes ...

, N.Y.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Cover Versions

Robert Wyatt Robert Wyatt (born Robert Wyatt-Ellidge, 28 January 1945) is an English retired musician. A founding member of the influential Canterbury scene bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole, he was initially a kit drummer and singer before becoming para ...

had a top 20

UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the ...

hit with a cover of "At Last I Am Free" in 1980.

References

{{Authority control Chic (band) albums 1978 albums Atlantic Records albums Albums produced by Nile Rodgers Albums produced by Bernard Edwards Albums recorded at Power Station Albums with cover art by Joel Brodsky