Nile Rodgers - Adventures In The Land Of The Good Groove (1983)

You will hear a Nile Rodgers song today.
It will make you happy.

from the dust jacket of Rodgers' 2011 autobiography, Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny.

I just finished reading Le Freak. Sadly, I'm probably the only person who will ever check it out of our public library. It's an okay book, not a great book - it falls apart at the end and deals more with Rodgers' drug use than his music (maybe his drug use made his memories of the '80s more than a little fuzzy). Still, the above promo tag line is certainly true: Rodgers' music makes me happy. Not only was he responsible for Chic's great music, he also had a hand in David Bowie's Let's Dance, The B-52's Cosmic Thing, The Vaughan Brothers' Family Style, Al Jarreau's L Is For Lover, Madonna's Like A Virgin, one of my favorite Duran Duran cuts, The Reflex, and on and on. In my book, Nile Rodgers is an underrated musical genius.

Rodgers doesn't write much about his solo work in his autobiography. In fact, of his three solo albums, this one is the only one that is even mentioned. On page 186, he simply calls this album "his experiment" and goes on to say, "I knew my record was over before it started." After this record, he would make a strong comeback with Bowie's Let's Dance, but this album was a commercial flop.

Overall, it's not a bad album, but it had two main problems: 1) as a mix of disco and funk performed on New Wave music's synths and drum machines, it was unlike any other music of the time (except maybe Prince's), and 2) Rodgers is a great songwriter, guitarist, and producer, but he doesn't have a great singing voice. Of course, Luther Vandross sang on all those Chic records and that's a tough act to follow. However, in this album you can hear the beginnings of the club/dance music that would break with Madonna and become commonplace on the charts later in the '80s. I'm surprised more hip-hop artists haven't sampled these beats over the years.

Press of the time:

• Rolling Stone (★★★½): "a synthesis of Sixties R&B, Chic-like Seventies ballads and electronic, Eighties-style rock"
• High Fidelity: "the title says it all, and the album delivers nothing more, and nothing less."
• Smash Hits (10 out of 10): "the best thing I've heard in the last five years"
• Billboard: "more fresh variations on familiar riffs"
• CashBox: "A testament to Rodgers' extraordinary talent and versatility."
• Robert Christgau: A-
• RPM: "The funk is even more prominent but the dance qualities are still obvious which should result in this package becoming a very hot item at the dance club"

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: did not chart, but 'bubbled under' at #202

Tracks: My favorites are Land Of The Good Groove, Beet, Rock Bottom, and Most Down. There's also a fairly decent R&B ballad with some beautiful chord changes here: My Love Song For You. The weaker tracks are Yum-Yum (which, curiously, was released as a single with the questionable lyrics "Poontang, poontang, where you want it / Slept all night with my hands on it / Give me some of that yum yum / Before I sleep tonight") and It's All In Your Hands. There are two bonus tracks on the CD, extended versions of the title track and Yum-Yum.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: My friend Jim bought this LP when it was first released. I gave it a listen and, prematurely, summarily dismissed it. I don't know what made me think to order the CD when it was finally reissued in 2008.