Chic | The Chic Organisation 1977-1979

The best Chic has ever sounded digitally. Better than the original Atlantic CD's. Better than the hi-res re-releases from 2014. Even better than the "best of" Rhino compilations from the early 90's.

Beautiful dynamics, thumping bass and perfect clarity.

Same goes for We are Family.

 

I’m still on the fence about this one given the price. What’s with the faster versions of some tracks, are they noticeably faster or is it s minimal difference?

 

Enjoying the CD box set. Yowza Yowza Yowza!

Niles is the man. Good enough for Bowie, good enough SRV and damn sure good enough for me.

Buy this box set.

 

This is a totally useless box. The mastering on the first album is better than the hi-rez version, or the old 90s Atlantic CD, but why in the hell did Nile Rodgers just include all of the albums? And, every one of those singles/12" tracks have been issued several times before. To top it off, "I Want Your Love" isn't in the correct pitch of the 7" single.

If you are a Chic Organization fan as I am, you probably have all this music already.

 

The 12" single of "Good Times" is the same as the album version.

 

Thanks. I’m on the fence about this box — what are the issues about speed differences for one of the discs?

 

The pitch is all over the place on Chic's original records. They used to speed the tracks up for the single releases. My UK Good Times 7" and 12" singles are significantly faster than the same track on my Risque LP which is a German original. I don't know what pitch Chic intended, possibly both.

 

So is there any consensus here on how this box set handles all this?

 

I'd like to know too. I had a Chic best of CD years ago which sounded fantastic, but I didn't like it as all the tracks were pitched far slower than the single versions.

 

I was tempted by this until I noticed I have everything on it on vinyl already. Nice set though.

 

This is the best I've heard Chic on CD. Fantastic.

 

I have all of the original cds and several compilations, among them the two Rhino comps from the early nineties. The only reason to buy this box set would be a significantly (!) better sound quality. I mean something I don't have to talk myself into hearing differences just because I spent money for it.

 

I don't detect any speed issues except with that one track I mentioned.

 

Who knows!

When Rhino/Atlantic issued the Sister Sledge's "We Are Family" album on CD back in the 90s, they used what I believe is the recorded speed. When Atlantic issued the high-res version, they used the original LP master, which is faster. On this new set, it sounds as if they used the same master as they did in the 90s.

As you mention, the "Risque" album is all over the place, even on the original LP.

There doesn't really seem to be any set standard for what the correct pitch is for anything Chic did in the year 1979.

 

I was really up for this release but now reading about original album tracks being restored with versions at different speeds I’m not that fussed. If you have decent original vinyl copies, is there any point in “upgrading” to this vinyl boxset?

 

I think you've mistaken what we have said.

I am saying that the speed issues on Chic material on both or original vinyl, remastered vinyl, 12" singles, and CD, has always been screwy. It's hard to say exactly what is correct. My personal preference is for all reissues to match the pitch on the mixdown master tapes.

I thought about asking Nile Rodgers directly, but I doubt he is even interested in discussing it. Same with Bob Clearmountain.

For some reason, I am very, very sensitive to the pitch on the song "My Feet Keep Dancing". In fact, I think the entire Chic catalog could use the Plangent treatment.

 

No, I’ve not misunderstood, I read online that some tracks on Risque in the boxset are pitched differently than the original vinyl release as well as some of the tracks on the Sister Sledge album, so I’m talking about comparing albums, like for like (not the bonus record of edits). If the new albums are different to the original albums, then that’s revisionism imo and I’d rather stick with the originals unless the sound on these is remarkably better.

 

Unless the original LPs were wrong, and i'm pretty sure the original Sister Sledge album was too fast in 1979.

 

Other than the booklet, whose liner notes weren't anything to write home about, I'm quite happy with the vinyl version of this set. All six discs are flawless and dead quiet, and the remastering is great. They did a very nice job reproducing the original packaging for these. I'm happy.

 

I'm not 100% sure, but My Forbidden Lover and possibly My Feet Keep Dancing appears to be slightly faster than the on my original Atlantic CD's. But the old discs could just as well be too slow.

It's not the chipmunk speed up like the single version of He's The Greatest Dancer. And the rest of the set is sonically perfect.

 

There has been a trend on the last couple of years, and I have to say the Chic cd box is absolutely the worst. It takes a long time to get those cds out of the jackets.

 

What’s the difference in sound between this box and the original vinyl releases? Someone commented it’s very restrained, is the difference even noticeable?

 

I think the correct speed that "My Feet Keep Dancing" was mixed down on is on the "Dance, Dance, Dance" comp issued back in the early 90s on the Rhino/Atlantic series. But, that CD has lots of other mastering issues that I had to fix in Audition.

I wish Steve could remaster the Chic/Sister Sledge catalog to get it right once and for all.

 

I think this is pretty close.