KC and the Sunshine Band...(help?!)

I can recommend the MoFi silver label reissue of the 1st LP. It really grooves, despite many of the songs being recorded at a by-then outmoded 8-track multitrack studio.

 

KC claims that he never thought of any of their songs as "disco", and their first album Do It Good (that "Queen Of Clubs" came from), is 100% soul/funk/R&B- nary a "disco" track in sight. Any KC songs that might be considered "disco" only started on their 2nd album.

The original album series that I mentioned above, is their first 5 studio albums for less than $20! It's a great place to start, without going down the hole.

 

It really wasn't a disco song, but at some point, all of their songs got painted with that brush.

I don't own the 45, but I've heard that it was the wrong speed on there as well (too fast).

 

I've heard that that's the best their self-titled album has ever sounded (which was actually their second album- their first LP was Do It Good which I don't think MoFi has done), in spite of the fact that the original master tapes are lost.

I have to say that I'm happy with the sound of their self-titled album on CD (except for the speed/fadeout issues with "boogie shoes" that I mentioned above), but I am considering picking up a MoFi copy one of these days, just for fun.

 

Wow! I'd say you deserve it! My hat is off to you, sir! Have one for me, too, while you're at it! I REALLY appreciate the effort you're putting into this! You mention that "boogie shoes" is nearly identical on the VH1 and Best Of discs, so I'm guessing Fisher didn't fix the speed issue for the VH1? (It was too fast on the Best Of collection).

 

Boogie Shoes was originally the B Side of Shake Your Booty. It didn't become a hit until Saturday Night Fever. So you might have had that great 2 sided 45!

 

I will have to check on that. The dynamic range information is the certainly the same for Boogies Shoes between the Best of and VH1 collections. I think that adjusting speed would not affect the peaks, only squash things together a bit. But I will get back to you on this.

 

My KC & The Sunshine Band holdings are all TK Records 45 RPM singles or MECA 45 RPM singles. Save for "It's The Same Old Song" which I own on a UK Epic Promo 45.

 

The UK Jay Boy 45 has a different flip side, I own that 45 backed with "I'm A Pushover". "Boogie Shoes" was also released in the UK on Jay Boy as the flip side of "I'm So Crazy ('Bout You).

 

I only have "Boogie Shoes" on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and a couple of their hits on K-Tel anthologies. I like their hits, my favorite being "Keep It Coming, Love". Many of the others are, IMO, rather interchangeable with very similar tunes. A good comp would be all the KC I would personally need. Behind the Music, pictured above, looks like it might be the definitive collection.

 

I think a lot of folks would be happy with the VH1 set, but it does have one major fault in that it does not contain the 80s comeback hit, Give It Up, which is essential in my opinion. Sure it is more lightweight than what preceded it, but it is a fun song nonetheless. The 1990 Best of does contain this track, as does the 25th Anniversary Collection.

Keep in mind, too, that the band's albums contain some really cool funky rhythms. There is decidedly more to this band than the hits.

 

I’ve never investigated them on record, but there is a concert that VH-1 used to show of them in 1976 or so where they are absolutely killing it. They must have been incredibly fun to go see back in those days. A couple of clips:

 

What's this? People actually playing real instruments alongside each other. What will they think of next? Oh, sitting at one's computer, sampling to produce what is also considered music. Which is theoretically less noteworthy?

Actually, I pretty much treat all music the same. However made, it is one's creation, and if it sounds good, that's great. I just don't like it when people dump on KC and the Sunshine band as if they were some kind of ephemeral, untalented hacks. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

For now though.....

 

Yes, they were great! There was a thread here recently that was something like "are there any bands/artist you didn't get to see live that you wish you could have" and I posted that I wish I could have seen KC back in the 70s. I definitely would have gone to see them if I'd been about 10 years older. Here's the full concert that your clips came from, btw, REALLY great!

 

One of the odd things about the band , that in the Philly area "I Get Lifted" is "the KC song" , it still gets a huge amount of airplay.....a friend of mine works at WDAS ( an Adult Urban format station) , and told me , even in 2019, there are days , that that song , is the most requested song on the station...the funny thing (or bad thing) is that no one has told KC , this , as of yet .....and 1/2 of the people that go to one of his concerts in the area , leave the show disappointed that they do not play the song live

 

You sound like me, about 6 months ago, lol. I only had the "fever" soundtrack and KC's duet with Teri Desario. I always liked KC- his music was ubiquitous throughout my life, but I never paid a whole lot of attention to it, probably due to my age. I really only first took notice of his music when "Give It Up" came out, which I loved, but didn't buy because I was only about 13 and I wasn't buying my own records yet.

You owe it to yourself to at least check out some of the non-hit album tracks on YouTube, like I did. They led to me wanting to explore the albums and I now find myself liking many of those songs more than the hits they shared album space with. The non-LP B-sides are great, too. I'll never think of them as a "singles" band ever again!

 

It actually first appeared on George McCrae's debut LP! Supposedly, it's KC's most-sampled song as well. I thought KC had started performing it live again...if not, he really should. It's one of the best songs on their 2nd album, and it would be way better than all of the dumb covers that I hear his band is doing now.

 

no luck on my end, the last 2 times I have seen them
(over the last 2 yrs)

 

That's crazy of him not to do it. They even used the song in a Jimmy Choo ad recently. Maybe he just can't sing it live anymore?

How are his recent shows, BTW? Worth seeing?

 

eh---it is a 1 in 4 chance
3 out of 4 times, he just does not take the music or himself seriously --and kind of just goes thru the motions
1 out 4 times, though , he and the band , for whatever reason, just "kill" , and make you think it is still 1979.... this is over the last 20 yrs

 

It really bugs me when people lump KC&TSB in with the likes of The Village People and other flaky disco groups.
KC&TSB was a great group--they were great musicians and KC wrote some fantastic songs.

...but only if you're sitting in the last row (or have very poor eyesight).

All kidding aside...maybe I'll try to catch them next time they're in town.
They were here on my birthday last year and I debated going, but decided against it.

 

That's how we did keyboards back then! No fancy racks, no MIDI - just duct tape a Hohner Clavinet on top of a Rhodes 88!

 

You might want to check out other artists like George Macrae (Rock your Baby) that I think KC wrote for and ? may have been label mates.

 

Yeah, I mentioned him in post #43 above. KC wrote ALL of the songs for GM's 1st album. They were both on TK records. KC also wrote songs for many of the other TK artists, too. I'd like to put a master list together of all the songs KC wrote for other people-there were quite a lot!