Groovy Tuesday: Chic’s “Risqué”

Every Tuesday, the Analog Kid blog goes back in time and features some groovy R&B/soul songs from a specific year. Sometimes you’ll hear songs from individual artists, and other times you’ll get an entire full-length classic LP ripped directly from the Analog Kid’s vast vinyl vault. Warning: by R&B/soul, I also mean disco. I could go Chery Lynn on your ass at any given moment, so just be ready!

Chic has been a finalist for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame eight times, including the past two years. They missed the cut once again, but something tells me that founding member Nile Rodgers is still doing just fine. Rodgers just won an armload of Grammys the other night for his work on Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories album, and Chic continues to tour around the world. Most importantly, Rodgers has been declared cancer-free after a long bout with prostate cancer.

If you already think of Chic as just some crappy disco band, I’m probably not going to be able to change your mind. That doesn’t mean that I’m not going to try. Today’s Groovy Tuesday post features Risqué, Chic’s 1979 masterpiece that spawned the massive #1 hit “Good Times” (and its vast legion of rip-offs). That same year, Rodgers and partner Bernard Edwards also wrote and produced Sister Sledge’s We Are Family album. The influence of Chic was everywhere, from the obvious (“Rapper’s Delight”) to the homage (“Another One Bites The Dust”). Rodgers and Edwards were funky, they were tight, and they wrote and produced some of the best songs of the ’70s and ’80s.

Congratulations on your health and your Grammys, Nile. Hopefully the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will soon come to its senses.

Chic: Risqué

Atlantic Records, 1979

1. “Good Times” (Edwards/Rodgers)

2. “A Warm Summer Night” (Edwards/Rodgers)

3. “My Feet Keep Dancing” (Edwards/Rodgers)

4. “My Forbidden Lover” (Edwards/Rodgers)

5. “Can’t Stand To Love You” (Edwards/Rodgers)

6. “Will You Cry (When You Hear This Song)” (Edwards/Rodgers)

7. “What About Me?” (Edwards/Rodgers)

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Bonus Tracks!

The first rule of The Analog Kid blog is that if you write about a song on the Analog Kid blog, you share the song on the Analog Kid blog.

The Sugarhill Gang: “Rapper’s Delight” [12″ Long Version] (Robinson/Big Bank Hank/Wonder Mike/Master Gee/Edwards/Rodgers)

From the 12″ single Rapper’s Delight

Sugar Hill Records, 1979

Sister Sledge: “We Are Family” (Edwards/Rodgers)

From the album We Are Family

Cotillion Records, 1979

Queen: “Another One Bites The Dust” (Deacon)

From the album The Game

Elektra Records, 1979

Captain Sensible: “Wot” (Captain Sensible)

From the album Women And Captains First

A&M Records, 1982

Chic: “Good Times” [Single Version] (Edwards/Rodgers)

Atlantic Records, 1979

Daft Punk With Pharrell Williams: “Get Lucky” (Thomas Bangalter/Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo/Pharrell Williams/Nile Rodgers)

From the album Random Access Memories

Columbia Records, 2013