Rock Your Baby
The Sunshine Band
The Sound of Sunshine, 1975
This isn’t the deepest song i’ve ever posted but i think it delivers on the album’s promise: “the sound of sunshine” and that’s perfect weather we’ve been having here in NYC. Yes, this is the same band Sunshine Band as KC and the Sunshine Band and this album actually came out the same year as the biggest KC album. I’ve yet to track down the story on the two names; if someone knows it, please leave a comment.
KC and Sunshine Band get a bad rap, but don’t sleep on them. My friend Ben calls them the “white Kool & The Gang,” as in they got known while doing some really funky, good stuff but ended up being remembered for their cheesiest songs. In Kool & The Gang’s case, the commercial stuff came much later. In the case of KC and the Sunshine Band, it all seems to be mixed together.
One tidbit that I love to share about them: on Biggie’s Ready To Die album, the sample for “Respect” is incorrectly listed as George McCrae’s version of “I Get Lifted.” It’s actually KC…’s version. (compare for yourself: 1st: Respect, 2nd: George McCrae, 3rd: KC and the Sunshine band - keep in mind, Poke slowed it down a lot when he sampled it).
George McCrae also did the most well-known version of “Rock Your Baby.” It guess T.K. Records (which they were both on) like to keep it all in the family.
>> songs are available for two weeks [5.4 MB]
