C'est Chic

C'est Chic includes the band's signature hit "Le Freak", which topped the US Hot 100 chart, US R&B, and US Club Play in October 1978,{{cite magazine|url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p3884/charts-awards/billboard-singles|pure_url=yes}}|title=US Singles Charts > Chic|magazine=Billboard|accessdate=2015-05-21}} 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{{cite web|url=http://www.theofficialcharts.com/artist/_/chic/|title=UK Charts > Chic|publisher=Official Charts Company|accessdate=2010-09-11}}).

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 for eleven weeks.{{cite magazine|url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p3884/charts-awards/billboard-singles|pure_url=yes}}|title=US Albums Charts > Chic|magazine=Billboard|accessdate=2012-05-17}} 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,{{cite web|url=https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH_RESULTS&artist=%22Chic%22#|title=US Certifications > Chic|publisher=Recording Industry Association of America|accessdate=2012-02-08}} selling over a million copies. In the UK it peaked at number 2 and has been certified Gold by the BPI.{{cite web|url=http://www.bpi.co.uk/certified-awards/search.aspx|title=UK Certified Awards Search > Chic|publisher=British Phonographic Industry|accessdate=2012-02-08|archive-date=May 1, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501152215/http://www.bpi.co.uk/certified-awards/search.aspx|url-status=dead}}

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 It was withdrawn and replaced with the C'est Chic version with a less risqué cover.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 by Atlantic Records/Warner in 1991 (catalogue number 7567-81552-2). The album has been digitally remastered and re-issued twice: first in 2011 by Warner Music Japan and then in 2018 at Abbey Road Studios by Atlantic.

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/cest-chic-mw0000615011 |title=C'est Chic – Chic |publisher=AllMusic |accessdate=October 23, 2018 |last=Birchmeier |first=Jason}}

| rev2 = Christgau's Record Guide

| rev2score = B{{cite book |chapter=Chic: C'est Chic |chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=6574 |accessdate=October 23, 2018 |title=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies |title-link=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau |publisher=Ticknor and Fields |year=1981 |isbn=0-89919-026-X}}

| rev3 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

| rev3score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite book |chapter=Chic |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |title-link=Encyclopedia of Popular Music |last=Larkin |first=Colin |author-link=Colin Larkin |publisher=Omnibus Press |edition=5th concise |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-85712-595-8}}

| rev4 = Pitchfork

| rev4score = 8.4/10{{cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/chic-sister-sledge-the-chic-organization-1977-1979/ |title=Chic / Sister Sledge: The Chic Organization 1977–1979 |website=Pitchfork |date=December 12, 2018 |accessdate=December 22, 2018 |last=Beta |first=Andy}}

| rev5 = Rolling Stone

| rev5score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/chic/albums/album/117461/review/7567994/cest_chic |title=Chic: C'est Chic |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=September 8, 2005 |accessdate=October 23, 2018 |last=Walters |first=Barry |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080316202856/https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/chic/albums/album/117461/review/7567994/cest_chic |archive-date=March 16, 2008 |url-status=dead}}

| rev6 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev6score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite book |chapter=Chic |last=Sisario |first=Ben |author-link=Ben Sisario |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor1-link=Nathan Brackett |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |editor2-link=Christian Hoard |publisher=Simon & Schuster |edition=4th |year=2004 |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/161 161]}}

| rev7 = Spin Alternative Record Guide

| rev7score = 9/10{{cite book |chapter=Chic |last=Walters |first=Barry |title=Spin Alternative Record Guide |title-link=Spin Alternative Record Guide |editor1-last=Weisbard |editor1-first=Eric |editor1-link=Eric Weisbard |editor2-last=Marks |editor2-first=Craig |publisher=Vintage Books |year=1995 |isbn=0-679-75574-8 |pages=81–82}}

}}

The Globe and Mail deemed C'est Chic "a sleekly elegant variation" of disco.{{cite news |last1=Gilday |first1=Katherine |title=Pop |work=The Globe and Mail |date=20 Dec 1978 |page=F9}} The Los Angeles Times opined that, aside from "Le Freak", the album "consists of pedestrian disco pieces and plodding R&B ballads."{{cite news |title=Pop Music |work=Los Angeles Times |date=17 Dec 1978 |department=Calendar |page=127}}

All songs written by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers; except where indicated.

;Side one

1. "Chic Cheer" – 4:42
2. "Le Freak" – 5:27 {{audio|Chic - Le Freak.ogg|Sample}}
3. "Savoir Faire" – 5:01
4. "Happy Man" – 4:17

;Side two

1. "I Want Your Love" – 6:55 {{audio|Chic - I Want Your Love.ogg|Sample}}
2. "At Last I Am Free" – 7:08
3. "Sometimes You Win" – 4:26
4. "(Funny) Bone" – 3:41
5. *(LP only hidden track – moog solo)

;Side one

1. "Chic Cheer" – 4:42
2. "Le Freak" – 5:23 {{audio|Chic - Le Freak.ogg|Sample}}
3. "I Want Your Love" – 6:55 {{audio|Chic - I Want Your Love.ogg|Sample}}
4. "Happy Man" – 4:17
5. "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" (Edwards, Kenny Lehman, Rodgers) – 3:35

;Side two

1. "Savoir Faire" – 5:01
2. "At Last I Am Free" – 7:08
3. "Sometimes You Win" – 4:26
4. "(Funny) Bone" – 3:41
5. "Everybody Dance" – 3:22

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;Musicians

• Alfa Anderson – lead vocals (A2,{{cite web |last1=Buskin |first1=Richard |title=Classic Tracks: Chic 'Le Freak' |url=https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-tracks-chic-le-freak |website=SoundOnSound |publisher=Sound On Sound |access-date=27 July 2023}} B1, B2, B3)
• Diva Gray – lead vocals (A2)
• David Lasley – vocals
• Luci Martin – vocals
• Luther Vandross – vocals
• Robin Clark – backing vocals on "Dance, Dance, Dance" and "Everybody Dance"
• Nile Rodgers – guitar, vocals
• Raymond Jones – Fender Rhodes electric piano
• Robert Sabino – acoustic piano, clavinet, electric piano
• Andy Schwartz – clavinet, acoustic piano, electric piano on "Le Freak" (uncertain) and "At Last I Am Free"
• Bernard Edwards – bass guitar; lead vocals (A4, B3)
• Tony Thompson – drums
• Sammy Figueroa – percussion
• Jon Faddis – trumpet
• Ellen Seeling – trumpet
• Alex Foster – saxophone
• Jean Fineberg – saxophone
• Barry Rogers – trombone
• Jose Rossy – tubular bells
• The Chic Strings:
• Marianne Carroll – strings
• Cheryl Hong – strings
• Karen Milne – strings
• Gene Orloff – concert master

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;Production

• Bernard Edwards – producer for The Chic Organization Ltd.
• Nile Rodgers – producer for The Chic Organization Ltd.
• Marc Kreiner, Tom Cossie – associate producers
• Bob Clearmountain – sound engineer
• Burt Szerlip – engineer
• Jeff Hendrickson – assistant engineer
• Ray Willard as "Positively No Way Ray (Willard?)" – assistant engineer
• Bob Defrin – art direction
• Joel Brodsky – photography
• All songs recorded and mixed at Power Station in New York. Mastered at Atlantic Studios, N.Y.

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{{certification Table Top}}

{{certification Table Entry|title=C' Est Chic|type=album|artist=Chic|relyear=1979|region=Canada|award=Platinum|certyear=1979|accessdate=December 17, 2019}}

{{certification Table Entry|title=C'est Chic|type=album|artist=Chic|relyear=1978|region=France|award=Gold|source=infodisc|certyear=1979}}

{{certification Table Entry|title=C'est Chic|type=album|artist=Chic|relyear=1978|region=Hong Kong|award=Gold|certyear=1979|accessdate=December 17, 2019}}

{{certification Table Entry|title=C' Est Chic|type=album|artist=Chic|relyear=1979|region=United Kingdom|award=Gold|certyear=1979|accessdate=December 17, 2019|id=1145-1185-2}}

{{certification Table Entry|title=C'est Chic|type=album|artist=Chic|relyear=1979|region=United States|award=Platinum|certyear=1978|accessdate=December 17, 2019}}

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Robert Wyatt had a top 20 UK Indie Chart hit with a cover of "At Last I Am Free" in 1980.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/38292499 |title=Indie hits : 1980-1989 : the complete U.K. independent charts (singles & albums) |date=1997 |publisher=Cherry Red Books |others=Barry Lazell |isbn=0-9517206-9-4 |location=London |oclc=38292499}}

• List of number-one R&B albums of 1978 (U.S.)
• List of number-one R&B albums of 1979 (U.S.)
• Billboard Year-End

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{Chic}}

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Category:Chic (band) albums

Category:1978 albums

Category:Atlantic Records albums

Category:Albums produced by Nile Rodgers

Category:Albums produced by Bernard Edwards

Category:Albums with cover art by Joel Brodsky