Chic and ...Johnny Mathis??!!

[Dingus]

Why had I never heard anything about this before? I came across these tracks completely by accident in Youtube yesterday, and the more I listen to them the more I like them . Apparently Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards were brought in during 1981 to work the same kind of magic they had the year before for Diana Ross, but the record company didn't like the results and so the album was never released. I find this a bit mystifying , as the results sound great to me . What is on the face of it a slightly unlikely pairing seems to really work ; Mathis highly distinctive voice and singing style is perfectly complimented by the compelling and sophisticated grooves the Nile and Bernard turn out so effortlessly. Interesting to hear Bernard slapping a bit on some tracks as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PO2xatKx4I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK8rn76tJTo

Edited August 5, 2012 by Dingus

[lowdown]

Do you mean this ?
If so great stuff.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utEXofodsVM[/media]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htW4OPrqSQ4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htW4OPrqSQ4[/url]


Garry

Edited August 5, 2012 by lowdown

[Dingus]

Yes , that's one of the tracks. My embedding from Youtube hasn't worked how I expected it to. Back to the drawing board!

[lowdown]

Just copy and paste the address from Youtube straight into your post.
I think you are allowed two videos in each post.


Garry

[Dingus]

Thanks for the help , I'll try and get it sorted out now.

[Dingus]

Fixed. Thanks for the help Garry.

[lowdown]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1344179586' post='1760743']
Fixed. Thanks for the help Garry.
[/quote]

No problems.
Back to your OP - Yep i found it strange that the album was not released.


Garry

[Dingus]

All I can think of is that it was considered too contemporary and too hip for Johnny Mathis's usual audience. You would think however, that before the record company had sanctioned and paid for the recording they would have had a fairly good idea what they were going to get. I have done a bit of research on Google and apparently both Chic and Johnny Mathis were delighted with the results, but the label said no go . It must have been a pretty costly affair for someone - Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards were the hottest producers around at this time and won't have come cheap. And then there's the recording costs. I personally think people would have bought it in droves, but maybe I'm a bit biased because I'm such a fan of just about anything the Chic Corporation got involved with , and also maybe nowadays we take it for granted that audiences are more accepting of inter-generational music. In recent years artists such as Neil Diamond , Johnny Cash and Tony Bennett et al. have all made crossover albums that appealed to their existing fans as well as a new younger audiences . Thirty years ago it was probably a lot harder to envisage this kind of thing happening .

Edited August 5, 2012 by Dingus