Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers are one of the most talented Production teams in the history of popular music. There are some Chic Albums that are a little better than others but they're all all worth listening to. "Real People" very good album. I love "I Got Protection", "You Can't Do It Alone", "I Loved You More" and many others.

"Tongue In CHIC" although good, I found this album by accident while making a trip to the record store in mid-1982. Lucky for me, it was a new release. To this day, I heard no singles or saw any advertisments promoting this particular Chic album. But I really enjoyed it nontheless. All the tracks are very good, but I really love Bernard's solo track "Sharing Love". "City Lights" is a very good track that could be a staple on Contemporary Jazz radio. The live track "Chic (Everybody say)" is a crowd pleaser that ends with an awesome Nile Guitar solo.

Both these albums should've been big sellers when they were first released but I guess some A&R people back then and today really have no idea what real talent sounds like. They Should listen to these 2 albums and see.

I really love this group. There's never a flaw when it comes to Nile Rodgers and the late Bernard Edwards when creating such cool and classic soul type music. If you love real music without all of that cheap stuff you hear in the 2000 Millinium era, Then come on home to some real music from real people....CHIC !!!!

Chic defined disco. Producers Bernard Rogers and Nile Rogers, on bass and guitar respectively, and the original core line-up with Tony Thompson on drums, Alfa Anderson & Luci Martin on vocals and Raymond Jones & Andy Schwartz on keyboards, not to mention the Chic strings, formed the backbone to many a disco hit in their own name and hits by many other artistes including Sister Sledge, Diana Ross and Carly Simon. They were the sound of the late 70s. Their first three albums, 1977's "Chic", 1978's "C'est Chic" and 1979's "Risque" were as iconic as they were commerically successful. I still find them, almost 30 years on, as much fun to listen (and dance) to as I did back when they were originally released.

By 1980 when "Real People" was released, the disco wheels were already starting to come off. Hip-hop was muscling in, thanks in no small part to Chic themselves - after all without Chic, there would've been no "Rapper's Delight" - and black music was, in general, moving towards a more synthesiser based r&b sound. Chic ramped it up on this album though, making their sound heavier by bringing the bass and drums to the fore (they used the same formula on Diana Ross' "Diana", which they produced that same year). We hear Nile Rogers playing more lead guitar on this album where before he relied on rhythm playing for the most part. The keyboards are also brought forward, while the strings are taken back. It's a bolder sound, if you will.

To all intents and purposes, this was their last hurrah. I don't know if they scored any chart success with the album but songs like the instrumental opener "Open Up", "Real People", "I Got Protection", "26" and "You Can't Do It Alone" were a huge success with me and still are. It was never clear to me and still isn't, who exactly sang the lead vocal on "You Can't Do It Alone". I was convinced it was Luther Vandross who had done a lot of work with Chic but he's not credited anywhere. If it was either Edwards or Rogers, they did a very good job. It's one of Chic's best songs ever, in my opinion.

The follow-up, "Tongue In Chic" was less successful all round and while Rogers and Edwards try to keep things current, the old Chic magic is dying. The album isn't hideously bad or anything like that but it's not really worth listening to either except, maybe, for purely historical research reasons. They gave it their best shot but Chic and funk just don't mix.

The group released a few more forgettable albums and the two producers were beginning to go their separate ways. Edwards released at least one solo album but it disappeared without trace. Rogers solo work as well but scored big as a producer on his own, most notably with Madonna. The pair did eventually team up again though (sans Thompson) for Chic's 1992 release "Chic-ism". The songs "Your Love" and "Doin' That Thing To Me" reminded me of the heydays (and "One And Only One", "In It To Win It" and "M.M.F.T.C.F." showed promise) but again, I don't believe there was any chart success. A mediocre live album was recorded in 1996 and sadly, Bernard Edwards passed away shortly after, while touring with his group Power Station. The album was eventually released in 1999. Tony Thompson died in 2003.

However one feels about disco as a whole, I personally that Chic are a crucial part of musical history. The album "Real People" is a piece of history as it's really their last good album. This CD is therefore worth getting if only for the first half. After owning it on vinyl since the year it came out, I would've happily paid for "Real People" on CD on its own but I couldn't find it for love or money. Having "Tongue In Chic" isn't a bonus in any way but it doesn't take anything away from the CD either. I can always stop the disc after track 8 if I want to, no?

As a fan of Chic, having this two albums on a single package and in CD is a pleasure for the ears. I had them on vinyl and I can only say they sound as great as I remembered them back on the day I first purchased the original albums.
Great production, writing and luxurious voices, songs full of ideas that have inspired musicians worldwide, a must for soul and funk lovers.
The only flaw... It'd be fantastic if they had included some extra cuts, 12" versions or demos.
I'll be waiting for more.

I always felt that, the song "Up Side Down" by Diana Ross should have been a Chic release. When I first heard it, I thought right away it was either Chic or Sister Sledge, because in my opinion Sister Sledge was just an extention of Chic. But, I guess they had to promote the "Diva" Miss Ross for a new sound and the 80's decade, so the rest is history.

The Real People album is alright, the only radio play from that album of coures (only single released) is "Rebels Are We" but I think the best track on that album (to me)is the instrumental "Open Up." I like the base and the guitar precussion break down of the song, I mean just a masterpiece!!! DAMN CHIC WAS BADD!!!!