In his brilliant entry on disco for
The Rolling Stone
Illustrated History of Rock & Roll, Tom Smucker states that “the history of
post-Beatles rock could be summarized in seven syllables: Led Zeppelin,
Ramones, Chic” (569, 1992 revised edition). Damn str8, sister! One reason out
of 34,563,876,459 for why Chic looms so large over the post-12/31/1969 popscape
lies in Nile and Nard’s knack for breaking down a song into its constituent
parts and then building it back up again. The full-length versions of “My Feet
Keep Dancing,” “Good Times,” “I Like Love,” etc. destabilized the very notion
of “song” and upheld the club DJ’s art by fashioning tracks suitable for
weaving in and out of a non-stop mix of dance music.
Or maybe it was just a way to show off their gorgeous
mastery. That’s certainly the sense you get listening to the original Chic
mixes of Diana Ross:
Diana (Motown 1980). Apparently, Ross felt the original
mix was too disco (scary for her since the disco backlash had begun) and pushed
her vocals too far back in the mix. She commissioned a remix of the album and until a 2003
reissue, it was the only version officially released. It’s difficult today to
hear what the fuss was all about. As released in 1980,
Diana was a disco
classic and turned out to be the biggest-selling album of her career. In
particular, her mix of “Tenderness” (helmed by Motown engineer Russ Terrana) returns
the strings to the entirety of each verse, thus submerging her voice deeper in
glorious Chicdom.
Then again, the Chic mix of “Tenderness” seems to shout
“Heavenly track, right? Well, here’s how we made it.” After two choruses, the vocals drop out.
Nile’s elegant chicken scratch hides underneath the bass and drums, ready to
pounce. And up top, the strings planted in the verses saw away unadorned. You
actually start to get angry that Ross’ voice had distracted you from them. And
then, as if all this weren’t unbearably beautiful enough, in comes Nile’s
understated funk guitar setting the entire construction abuzz. Just as Tony
Thompson kicks off the section with a kinetic snare peal, Nile taps in
with a nearly imperceptible scratch that slams his run into place, a trick he
learned from Phil Manzanera on Roxy Music’s “Virginia Plain” (listen at 2:10
here
for how his guitar punches itself through that incredible prog snyth section
with an almost inaudible, seemingly accidental strum). Then the vocals of Alfa
Anderson and Luci Martin (better singers anyway) return, their calls to “come
on, love me!” weighing down on the edifice so heartbreakingly. By the time the
mix resurrects Miss Ross if not the song itself, it becomes clear that this has
been a Chic production, not a Diana Ross showcase.
The only problem is that all this breaking down/building up
takes time, too much for a radio edit. Fortunately, “Tenderness” has been
remixed by one
Smooth Cinnamon X to include the best parts of both mixes. She
retains the superior verses but incorporates, in her words, “that string and
Nile breakdown” from the Chic mix. And all in 3:44, about as perfect a slice of
bite-sized Chic as one can imagine. Thank you, Smooth Cinammon X! (May 2020 update: The video has long since been removed.)
Labels: Bernard Edwards, Chic, Diana Ross, disco, Nile Rodgers, Roxy Music
