Unreleased CHIC productions

[Marcio**]

1 - Johnny Mathis I Love My Lady LP (Columbia 1981) UNRELEASED!

2 - Fonzi Thornton unknown title LP (1982) UNRELEASED!, probably contained:
I Work For A Livin'
Riding


from

http://www.answers.com/topic/chic-1 :)

[Jimmy-Michaels]

Id love to hear that Johnny Mathis if it ever surfaced in bootlegg anywhere :o

[Karlos]

The unreleased Johnny Mathis LP is the stuff of legends. I remember reading about it during an interview with Chic a few years ago. It apparently contains some stunning tracks but is destined never to see the light of day :cry: :cry: :cry:

Have never heard even of a bootleg copy....

[Jimmy-Michaels]

Ahh that sucks..a real shame :cry:

[markydefad]

Why no release for the Johnny Mathis LP? He no likey? :-?

Mathis should welcome a chance to appear "hip"....his work with Thom Bell was real good and the disco combo of "Begin The Beguine" b/w "Gone, Gone, Gone" is classic!!!!

[ol'skinflint]

the thought makes me salivate! Let's not forget that apparently Nile Rodgers occasionally visits this site, so why don't we see if we can persuade him to part with it. I'd probably pay any price. And the Chic-produced songs by Carly Simon ("Why?") and Teddy Pendergrass ("Dream Girl") always made me wonder if they had any unreleased work.

[judydoggie]

I too was going to recommend going to Rodgers' site and leaving a message -- he's not so mega-star he doesn't keep tabs on 'em; at least, for his publicist's sake, I hope not.

Mr. Rodgers has two very interesting records in the can, one performed entirely by Kelly Mittelman, a personal friend; the other, a self-produced (post-Motown) opus by Ms. Ross herself.

Some marketing strategies recommend flooding the market and giving the consumer no choice but to purchase some of the product. Others say product should be milked for its entire lifetime until it's in the bargain bins; then release more.

Why not get ahold of Universal's Rhino group. The Mathis thing sounds like it'd be right up their alley. But they'd probably group it with the infamous Joe Beck arrangement of Sinatra doing "Night and Day" a' la disco; and then six years later the Merm got the disco bug... catch my drift?

Color me opinionated; Mathis is indeed a great song stylist and a wonderful entertainer. I just can't get over the fact that his voice sounds like the higher octaves of a Hammond B-3 organ.

No offense meant,

Love, Paul - a.k.a. judydoggie

[dvdjamm]

i remember hearing about chic doing a album with aretha franklin back in the day.....but i guess nothing came out from it...now that would be something to hear......

[ol'skinflint]

knowing how many people are still interested in Chic's work. I've seen several interviews he's done on MTV and VH1 and I know he's very down to earth and approachable. And has anyone caught a recent episode of MTV's show "Classic Current?" I watched yesterday and there was none other than punk pioneer Paul Weller of the Jam doing "Thinking of You", which, if I'm not mistaken, is yet another Nile Rodgers/Bernard Edwards composition done originally by Sister Sledge. Even the mighty Isley Brothers recently covered a Chic song ("A Warm Summer Night"). I think it might be quite a challenge, though, to get one of the money grubbing record companies to release the Johnny Mathis record in question, especially since none of us know the reason why it was shelved in the first place....

[Karlos]

Racking my brains I now remember seeing an article a while back on Chic in Record Collector magazine in here in UK and guide prices were given for some of their work. I'm sure the Johnny Mathis LP was listed with a guide price of £100 so maybe some boots are out there somewhere......

[Nano]

i remember hearing about chic doing a album with aretha franklin back in the day.....but i guess nothing came out from it...now that would be something to hear......

According to Aretha's (pretty lame) autobiography, she was offered the same material later used in Diana Ross' "Diana" B&W LP. They came to her with the basic tracks already done and ready to put her voice over them, which was not to Aretha's liking (she wanted to be part of the creative process). Then they turned to Diana instead. The material included the classic disco tracks "Upside down" and "I'm coming out". (Diana fought and succeeded in changing some of the songs arrangements, but that's another story and another thread.)

[NYPaul]

The web page ChicTribute.com has some info on the Johnny Mathis album:

I just got the below statement from Johnny Mathis people:

"We regret that, to our knowledge, "I Love My Lady" will not see the light of day. We have forwarded to Sony, by way of our attorney, letters, inquiries, etc. from fans who were hoping to hear this album. This seems to have had no impact. Although we appreciate your enthusiasm, we won't be pursuing the matter any further with Sony. Mr. Mathis has already weighed in on the matter, and they refused to release it. Sorry."

So Johnny Mathis is not against this release, in fact he favors it, it is Sony who is the stumbling block.

Also some background on the album:

http://www.chictribute.com/disco/chic/mathis.html

Paul

[SandraDee]

'I Love My Lady'? Who actually is the lady in question, his mum or sister perhaps? :lol:

[buckaroo]

...The material included the classic disco tracks "Upside down" and "I'm coming out". (Diana fought and succeeded in changing some of the songs arrangements, but that's another story and another thread.)

Didn't she...run off with the masters? :-?

[KayJayEm54]

Why doesn't Nile release the Johnny Mathis material himself, or even as the next CHIC album?

OK, Sony own the finished work but surely as writer and publisher of the original material, Nile could do what he wanted and release the material himself? .... or is it a tad more complicated than that?

It's the songs we want to hear - yes it would be nice to hear Mr Mathis singing them, but IMHO it's all about the song and the musicians behind it - CHIC could provide the vocals and Nile update the arrangements for the 21st Century.

Nile - please consider, if you haven't already done so.

[BrunoRepublic]

Why doesn't Nile release the Johnny Mathis material himself, or even as the next CHIC album?

OK, Sony own the finished work but surely as writer and publisher of the original material, Nile could do what he wanted and release the material himself? .... or is it a tad more complicated than that?

It is indeed. It depends on what sort of legal contracts are involved, but it is standard practice for the record company owns the mechanical rights to the music, as in the master tape. Nobody else can release that music without the label's consent. Rogers may also have entered an agreement that he would not give the songs to any other artist, although that is not as common. Publishing rights come into play here; just because Chic wrote the songs doesn't mean they have any control over them. The fact remains that the music industry is a nasty business, and the people who create the music usually have very little control in how it is marketed (not to mention they're the last to get paid).

It may indeed be possible for Rogers to re-record the album, but I don't see this as a viable option. It's not 1982 anymore, and it wouldn't sound the same. Rogers has moved on. And it is quite possible that the label has a clause in the contract which states that if Rogers uses the material anywhere else, the label is entitled to the royalties to recoup the advance given for the unreleased album (evil, but this is one of the many ways in which labels screw everyone over). And fans would just still be demanding the original release anyway.

Bottom line: if it were at all feasible to do, it would have been done already.

[paul]

I heard Nile the other day on Air America. He did mention he will be releasing something shortly. He was vague about the label and I got the impression it was unreleased material.
It was nice hearing him. He said he wished he were back in those disco days again. :D

[SandraDee]

He said he wished he were back in those disco days again. :D

He's not the only one sweety. :lol:

[SandraDee]

I must admit i really like Nile; obviously I've never met him but he crops up on many UK Tv music nostalgia programs being interviewed & he always seems so sincere & natural & funny whereas most music biz people come over as the odeous creepy snakes that they probably are! :o (no names mentioned; the list would be too long! :lol: )

[paul]

He said he wished he were back in those disco days again. :D

He's not the only one sweety. :lol:

Yep I guess that's true for all of us. Errr, ok Quinny, I know you disagree :lol:

[falling man]

https://www.yousendit.com/transfer.p...7b1a459037548f


enjoy!

[DonaldCleveland]

That was brilliant. Steve Berkowitz, Leo Sacks, Rob Santos are you paying any heed? The people want it. Johnny is clear. HE WANTS IT. There should be NO impedance to this album save a sales department stocked with kids who dont know who Johnny Mathis or CHIC are.....

3 songs from the sessions on a CHIC box set? Gotta be from RHINO UK I will safely assume. Daryl Easlea to the rescue?? THANKS Daryl.

[SandraDee]

Hmm, sounds like an Al Jarreau track don't u think?

[DonaldCleveland]

SD:
The AL Jarreau of what year? Oh, you mean 2 years AFTER this was recorded and AFTER Nile had already worked with him? Then, yeah it does.

I'm waiting for the first person who says "no wonder it wasn't released- it's in mono and sounds like a bad MP3".......

[SandraDee]

I wasn't criticising, just an observation, I love 'em both.