VH-1 BEHIND THE MUSIC: THE KC AND THE SUNSHINE BAND COLLECTION
Release Date: 2001
CD Availability: Available online and in most stores
Becky Rating: Not Rated

DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN

To cash in on the popularity of VH-1's Behind the Music series, Rhino has released several greatest-hits CDs for artists profiled on that show. Harry Chapin, Jim Croce, Julian Lennon, Hall and Oates, and KC and the Sunshine Band all received the BTM CD treatment in 2001.

A fan who already owns either the U.S. greatest hits or the 25th Anniversary collection will find nothing new on this CD. Essentially a one-disc distillation of the 25th anniversary cd, every track on BTM also appears on that more comprehensive collection. It contains all the expected big hits, a few early album tracks, "Blow Your Whistle" and two non-hits "All I Want" and the Spanish version of "Please Don't Go." The inclusion of the latter two is particularly annoying. Wouldn't you rather hear "Do You Feel Allright" or "It's the Same Old Song" or "Shotgun Shuffle" or "Black Water Gold?"

BTM is inferior to the U.S. greatest hits in that it includes neither "Shotgun Shuffle" nor "Give It Up," both of which also occur on the 25th Anniversary cd. The CD is packaged in an extremely unattractive orange and brown sleeve, with undistinguished liner notes and no pictures that a KC fan hasn't seen a million times already.

This is a CD to buy only if you don't want the excesses of the 25th Anniversary cd but still want a few early KC tracks mixed in with the hits, or if you are a KC completist. My copy is significant to me only because I bought it at the gift shop at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland. I've never even played it. I've heard all the songs before.

(c) 2002 Becky Banfield for Dos Gardenias Productions