C'est Chic

C'est Chic is the second studio album by American band Chic, released on Atlantic Records in 1978.

Release
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, 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 for eleven weeks. C'est Chic was Billboards 1979 R&B Album of the Year, claiming the number one spot on Billboards Year End Review. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA, 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 It was withdrawn and replaced with the C'est Chic version with a less risqué cover.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 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.

Critical reception
The Globe and Mail deemed C'est Chic "a sleekly elegant variation" of disco. The Los Angeles Times 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 and Nile Rodgers; except where indicated.

C'est Chic

 * Side one
 * 1) "Chic Cheer" – 4:42
 * 2) "Le Freak" – 5:27
 * 3) "Savoir Faire" – 5:01
 * 4) "Happy Man" – 4:17
 * Side two
 * 1) "I Want Your Love" – 6:55
 * 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)

Très Chic

 * Side one
 * 1) "Chic Cheer" – 4:42
 * 2) "Le Freak" – 5:23
 * 3) "I Want Your Love" – 6:55
 * 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

Personnel

 * Musicians
 * Alfa Anderson – lead vocals (A2, 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


 * 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.

Cover Versions
Robert Wyatt had a top 20 UK Indie Chart hit with a cover of "At Last I Am Free" in 1980.