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

The 1990 EMI one, with 16 tracks and white cover/blue logo it's the same?

 

Boogie Shoes WAS a great track, and KC and the Sunshine Band a great band. Then, now not so much.

 

Probably the same sound on the different CDs:

KC And The Sunshine Band* - The Best Of KC And The Sunshine Band

 

I remember hearing "Please Don't Go" no the radio and loving it, but I could never hear it when the announcer named the performer. I was really surprised when I learned it was KC and the Sunshine Band. I used to love their early hits like "That's The Way" and "Get Down Tonight", but a ballad like "Please Don't Go" was totally unexpected.

 

I've often wondered whether KC recording his own songs wasn't a last-minute change of mind. The kind of music he was writing and producing wasn't typically recorded by white singers, so George McCrae was the perfect vehicle for them. Then KC may have had second thoughts, like: why not?

 

No, I don't, but I'd be curious to hear a comparison, too. I don't own either either pressings of that LP.
Hopefully someone else here knows, or could maybe do an A/B of a track or two.

 

I think KC always wanted to "perform" and he sang in his church choir and in school. But, I guess he realized his limitations which is why McCrae and Jimmy Bo Horne recorded so many of his songs.

 

there is a KC and Sunshine with Finch from years ago that was never released

 

An unreleased song or whole album?

 

It should be noted that "Boogie Shoes" was sped up on the SNF soundtrack and single. It is much slower on the original parent LP.

 

I saw them many many times when Harry came out of retirement. Encouragement, I suppose! (wink wink) For the first few years they played all their hits in the first 15 minutes, a quick medley, and then they relaxed and played what they felt like, which was more or less being a human funk radio. They slammed when they played what they felt like, always.

 

Harry is a pop genius and my favorite is his version of Rock Your Baby (which he wrote)

 

I am pretty particular about sound quality. There hasn’t been much discussion about sound quality and their vinyl output, curious as all their hit albums came out while vinyl was the main medium. This is a band I know a lot about regarding their music as it was a top five band for me growing up. I put an enormous effort into getting the very best pressings possible of all their TK Records releases, though I have all KC’s albums following his departure from TK as well (admittedly, not really worth owning...clearly Richard Finch was essential to their success and KC stopped working with him for the most part when he left TK....I don’t know anything about Finch except for the comments here that he wasn’t great to work with).

Anyway, TK must have put a lot of effort into finding the worst possible record plants to press their albums because they are uniformly awful. Regrind and just awful pressing quality all around. Part 3 is the only album where you have a half way decent chance of finding a well pressed copy. As others have noted, TK studio had pretty primitive equipment to work with so kudos to Finch for figuring out a way to make their music sound pretty darn decent....he didn’t exactly need help in making their albums sound worse by having his boss press their records on the cheap.

That said, I have great copies of all their albums, but it took a great deal of effort. I can tell you that the MFSL copy of the S/T album is by far the best it will ever sound. The horns sparkle, the sound is very dynamic and exciting, and is exactly the way I think most of us would expect it to sound. Given the master tapes are rumored to no longer exist, and probably why MFSL had to issue it under the Silver Series label, it’s remarkable they squeezed so much out of whatever source they had. Just buy it if you are a fan of the album...it doesn’t get better. And of course, the vinyl is dead quiet.

I don’t know where this came from, but I have owned probably 20 copies of Do You Want To Go Party (I told you I’m obsessed with getting the best copy) and came to the conclusion a good copy didn’t exist. That one takes the cake for worst across the board quality vinyl I’ve ever run into. Please Don’t Go is distorted on every copy, the cymbals are smeared on that track, and there is so much regrind artifacts in the vinyl that every copy I’ve ever heard is incredibly bad. Last year I found a used copy that had the old TK label on it, not the admittedly nice newer label they started using. It was pressed at a very good plant like Specialty, and on superb vinyl. It sounds fantastic. It is the only copy I have ever seen. Wondering if anyone knows what this is? It is obviously very rate. It isn’t a great album imo, but there are some very good songs on it! And I love the opening track, Hooked On Your Love, which would have been a huge hit two years earlier, but the band had clearly run it’s course with most of the public by then. Curious Please Don’t Go (from that album) hit number one, though it was obviously a much different sound for them and deserved the top spot imo. Nice to go out on top!

I don’t want to hijack the thread, but if anyone is into vinyl and wants info on what the best pressings are for each, just ask. Seems like all of you are into cds instead. As I said, good copies are out there if you just know the matrix info. Great thread...just stumbled upon it!

 

sorry about that, whole album.

 

The problem with the sound isn't the vinyl, it's the recording itself.

 

Would the differences between sound quality be as pronounced as these two versions of Sweet's "Blockbuster"? No one has a clue for the sound differences.

This is the Blockbuster version I have on Sweet Rare Studio Tracks CD off of a not so well known Cleopatra Records label started in '92. It's how this song should've sounded back in the day but I'm sure didn't. My CD version is gorgeous played on my vintage home system.


This is close to how it sounds off the Capitol Records The Best Of Sweet album CD I have...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F4ZKAM-6s0

The differences are far more pronounced than a Steven Wilson remix and mastering of the Chicago II album.

 

Really? I've never heard that. How did you find out about it?

I'm friendly with one of the original KC band members. If there is an unreleased album from the Rick Finch era, he would have played on it. I'll ask him if he knows anything about it.

 

You're not hijacking the thread-- I appreciate the input! I own a few versions of each album on CD, and am pretty happy with the sound quality, so I've been hesitant to buy any of the original LPs because of their reputation for bad pressings. So, I'd love to have information on what pressings are the best, in case I decide to add some KC LPs to my collection-- thank you!

I'd be curious to hear an A/B with the MoFi LP and one of the better CD releases, actually. There was a fire at TK which may have destroyed or damaged some of the tapes, and apparently there were some tapes in Rick Finch's storage unit which went up for auction when he couldn't pay the bill.

From everything I've heard about Rick Finch, he was actually pretty great to work with, and everyone who worked with him seems to have nice things to say about him, except for Leif Garrett, whose disdain for Rick is understandable, but even he said that Rick was very professional (in the studio) and a hard worker. But, I think KC and Rick's estrangement was more of a "personal" nature, at least in the beginning.

I agree with you about "Hooked On Your Love", I think it is a killer track and would have been a huge hit if it had been released earlier. But, I actually think the whole album is great. "Que Pasa?" is one of my favorite KC tracks of all time!

 

it was after the classic era, maybe late 90s, but, not surprisingly, there was a big blow up between the parties involved.

 

I was under the impression that after Rick and KC split in 1981 or so, that they never reconciled. I'm surprised to hear that they may have worked on a project together post-split, especially since they were embroiled in a series of acrimonious law suits starting in the 1980s.

 

Do you mean his instrumental version from "the sound of sunshine" album?

 

I take it you know the KCSB history way better than I have the energy to research, but if what you say is true, I've got to wonder why the labels treated this band like the red headed stepchild of hit makers by at least keeping up helping out with preserving the tapes. The same with similar hit making bands as Sweet where I had to hunt down in a hodgepodge fashion decent sounding versions and rare extended versions like the 7 minute "Love Is Like Oxygen" that played in constant rotation on '70's radio I found on the"My Best Friend's Girl" movie soundtrack CD. Clearly these style of bands were money makers enough you would think garnered the respect from the labels to at least preserve their work seeing the movie industry thinks they're ear candy for background music for their movies and throw in the gaming industry who thinks they're still musically relevant to their current youth market.

Who's getting paid for all this usage of these almost forgotten bands? They're music still holds up today. I'm sure the labels are doing well.

 

Harry Wayne Casey apparently doesn't even mention Richard R. Finch's name anymore. There's a reason for that and it likely had to do with Finch's criminals activities for which he was recently released from prison for.

 

they never really reconciled they were just broke Finch in particular back from a multi year 'lost weekend' stretch in amsterdam

 

you could say that, that their 'estrangement' was of a 'personal nature'.