KC and the Sunshine Band - KC and the Sunshine Band (Part 3)

Part Three was the band's fourth album, and after dropping two albums just months apart in 1975 (although to be fair their third album The Sound of Sunshine was an instrumental album, so maybe it didn't count) the band was building up a pretty solid list of hits, and honestly I will admit some of them were pretty dang catchy. Although I was kind of embarrassed to admit to liking anything disco.

KC and the Sunshine band (or K.C. & The Sunshine Band) were basically a funky pop band who managed to become synonymous with disco, and why not? It was music that made your feet happy, and for a couple of years these guys were almost as unassailable as the Bee Gees. Then they weren't, but for a time they were. When this came out they were, and they were at the top of their game.

Over the last year I have found myself picking up albums by artists I never, ever ... EVER thought I'd listen to, let alone buy. Yes buying - as a dollar is still a dollar. When I broke down the first barrier by picking up the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, I didn't realize it would be the tip of iceberg. If I'd have known it would lead to picking up albums by Village People, I would never have peeked into Pandora's box. However, that album owed it's entire existence to a handful of spectacular (yes, they were that good. You have to give props where they're due) songs by the brothers Gibb, with a lot of filler and one lone KC song that I sort of shit on: "Boogie Shoes" To be sure I went back to see if I was being unfair, as my friend Jeff who is a walking encyclopedia of pointless trivia, said it was no better or worse than anything else by the band. Nope, "Boogie Shoes" was not at the same level as their other songs, and I'll stand by that.

I suspect that if I found the KC and the Sunshine Band album and heard the song again after getting to hear "That's the Way (I Like It)" and "Get Down Tonight" those two would serve as a pretty solid lead in to "Boogie Shoes" but I may never know. Besides I'm not listening to that album, I've got Part Three spinning, and as I've been puttering around and meanderambling about, the album has been flipped a couple of times, and I've been having a pretty good time. It's not a Tom Cruise in my underwear singing into my pen good time, but it's making my neck sore with all the head bobbing ... it's also made it hard to focus on the screen as I keep losing my focus.

As an aside, I looked up their certifications on the RIAA site, and I suspected to find a shit tonne (which is a lot) of singles listen and maybe an album or two like the Bee Gees ... and all I could find were a a few things, and mostly from the Rhino reissues.  That was weird ... maybe the band had a lot of radio hits that didn't translate into sales. Who knows. I'm a bit perplexed by this, so I'm going to just ignore it as an anomaly. I suspect the issue is with me not knowing how to use their database ... yeah, it's me not you.

The album is short, just an a half hour with four songs a side. There's no wasted time though, and although it would have been nice to have the standard ten track album, if it was two songs of filler it would have changed the whole experience. The first three songs on the first side were pretty decent boogie funky disco tunes and by the time the first side closes out with their classic "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty" you're actually ready for a little breather. The second side kicks of with a two more very serviceable songs and then the album changes gears and launches into "I'm Your Boogie Man" and then the song transitions into "Keep it Comin' Love" and brings the album home. I'd actually forgotten about these last two songs, as when I found the record it was mainly to hear the shake shake song, and everything else was gravy baby, or a disco soup ... not sure where to go with this, but I feel somewhat committed to trying to see this through to some sort of conclusion. I kind of want to try and work in a gazpacho soup reference, but I can't quite figure out how to work in a Red Dwarf reference where Rimmer liked disco. 

Yeah time to cut my losses.

Almost.

I have to ask, by show of hands. When you hear the "boogie" do you think of dancing or boogers? 

"(Flick, Flick, Flick) Flick Your Boogers" How about now? I'll leave that with you.

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