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No problems with 1980s production styles on this track, as it's from 1979 and features the immaculate production skills of Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. They also wrote the song and indeed it's pretty much a Chic record with different singers on it, although this didn't save it from flopping in the US. Here in the UK it wasn't an A-side at the time but showed up as a single five years later for reasons that aren't instantly apparent: as far as I can tell there was no new Greatest Hits collection, and indeed the sleevenote merely attributes this as being taken from the original We Are Family album.
Whatever the reasons for its return, 'Thinking Of You' is a nice song to have back. Whilst Chic can be accused of being formulaic at times, it was a pretty good formula, and this songs offers an especially winning combination of their typical spotless perfection (listen to how fantastic Rodgers' guitar playing is on the intro, all the better for the fact that he's resisting anything showy) and rock-solid groove with some hint of emotional engagement, the latter not always being the case with the parent act. Indeed, I suspect this may be why it's been successfully covered, which doesn't often happen with Rodgers/Edwards songs. It was the start of a minor revival for the Sledges, followed by remixes of two more songs from We Are Family (with extra vocals from members of Duran Duran, which would have made a neat connection) and, less cheeringly, by the drippy new song 'Frankie' the following year. This song got its own remix in 1993, as part of the next re-release programme.
Also appearing on: Now 5, 24
Available on: We Are Family [Expanded]
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