SACD KC & The Sunshine Band

KC & The Sunshine Band as a hybrid stereo SACD from Analogue Productions’ Acoustic Sounds 40th Anniversary Series, mastered to DSD from the original analogue master tape. All nine tracks play in one sequence – from “Let It Go (Part One)” to “Let It Go (Part Two)”.

An album behind the hits

“Get Down Tonight”, “That’s The Way (I Like It)” and “Boogie Shoes” are so familiar that they sound like the contents of a greatest-hits collection. Here they share their original home: KC and the Sunshine Band’s self-titled second studio album from 1975. According to the publisher, “Get Down Tonight” and “That’s The Way (I Like It)” both became number-one hits, and “Boogie Shoes” reached the Top 40. The nine tracks form a programme of their own.

At the centre stand Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch. They produced the album and share the writing credits throughout; on “I’m So Crazy (’Bout You)”, Willie Clarke joins them. Casey sings and plays keyboards, Finch adds bass and further rhythm instruments. That link between writing, producing and playing in the rhythm section themselves is a wonderful way into this album.

More than a steady beat

Jerome Smith plays guitar, Robert Johnson drums. Ken Faulk and Vinnie Tanno bring trumpets, Mike Lewis tenor and Whit Sidener baritone saxophone. Percussion and the backing voices of Beverly Champion, Margaret Reynolds and Jeanette Williams add even more. Behind the compact punch of a dance song stands a band with many shades of emphasis.

Try pulling those roles apart as you listen. What does the guitar do between the vocal lines? When does a horn accent hit, and which voice answers? Recognising a song instantly doesn’t mean you know every detail of how it is built – and these familiar hits reward another, closer listen.

A frame in two parts

“Let It Go” frames the album in two separate sections. In between, the hits sit beside “Ain’t Nothin’ Wrong”, “What Makes You Happy” and “I Get Lifted”. The sequence gives the album its own beginning and ending – even though some of its songs have long since lived a life of their own.

“Boogie Shoes” shows it best: the song was already on this 1975 album before the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack carried it to a much wider audience. Back in its original surroundings, it becomes one part of the band’s work from those years – a chance to hear well-known music where it first appeared.

The hybrid stereo SACD from Analogue Productions

CAPR 014 SA is a hybrid stereo SACD from Analogue Productions’ Acoustic Sounds 40th Anniversary Series. According to the publisher, it was mastered to DSD from the original analogue master tape. The SACD layer plays on SACD-capable players, the CD layer on any conventional CD player. The disc contains the nine tracks of the original album, without later bonus tracks.

You order from Michael 45 in Germany. We arrange the US import and ship from Hilden.

More from the series: Acoustic Sounds 40th Anniversary Series

Also in another edition: KC & The Sunshine Band

Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe

Musicians

Documented selection of participating musicians. Personnel may vary by track; this list does not claim to be complete.