GIMME SOME: THE BEST OF THE TK YEARS, 1975-85, JIMMY "BO" HORNE
Release Date: 1998
CD Availability: Can be found at larger record stores, online, or on Ebay.
Becky Rating: 9 Suns (out of 10)

2 GOOD 2 BE 4 GOT 10

At Motown Records in the 60s, every artist at one time or another worked with others signed to the company. The Supremes sang backup for Marvin Gaye. Smokey Robinson wrote for the Temptations. The house band played on almost every single, and company founder Berry Gordy was involved in producing and songwriting.

A similar model was followed at Miami's TK Records in the 70s. KC and Rick Finch (and other members of the Sunshine Band, to be fair) wrote, produced, and played on songs for many artists, including Betty Wright, George McCrae, Blowfly, and Fire. Jimmy "Bo" Horne also benefitted from this collaboration, releasing several albums worth of Casey-Finch songs in the late 70s. This CD, Gimme Some! The Best of the TK Years, 1975-85, is the best available compilation of his music.

Essentially, this is a KC and the Sunshine Band cd with a different singer. Horne is a fine singer who reminds me a little of Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops, and his voice is perfectly suited to the material.

Thirteen of the nineteen songs are Casey-Finch productions. Presumably, Sunshine Band musicians play on these tracks as well. The opener, "Spank," was written by Ronnie Smith, brother of Sunshine Band guitarist Jerome, and "Music To Make Love By" is a Clarence Reid/Willie Clark song, two names every Sunshine Band fan will recognize.

Horne's one Top 40 single is an amazing example of the Casey-Finch sound and is one of my all-time favorite songs. "Dance Across The Floor" starts out with a major-key horn riff, but it soon takes on the pair's trademark minor key, with KC pounding the organ as if he's back in Pentecostal church and Finch adding the grace notes that propel the song forward. The lyrics are typical Casey, the topic being "let's dance across the floor" with a nod to his "Shake Your Booty" in the middle. This song is so powerful that the first time I ever heard it, I had to listen several times in a row. I could not take it off the turntable. And who's that singing backup? You'll recognize him.

You might also recognize the underlying riff to "Let Me (Let Me Be Your Lover)," which was sampled by Stereo MC's for their "Connected" in the 90s. If you're familiar with KC's Part 3 album, you'll recognize "You Get Me Hot;" it's a virtual re-write of that album's opener, "Baby I Love You (Yes I Do)" even down to the nonsense syllables. And you might not recognize "I Get Lifted" at first as it's in a slightly different arrangement than you'd expect. "I Get Lifted" is the only song recorded by the Sunshine Band, Horne, and George McCrae.

Casey and Finch rarely wrote in major keys for the Sunshine Band, giving their brighter songs away to other artists. Horne has fun with "Gimme Some," "Ask the Birds and the Bees," "It's Your Sweet Love" and "I Wanna Go Home With You," any of which I think could have been hit singles.

I particularly love "I Wanna Go Home With You," which mixes a cute lyric with a (shotgun?) shuffle beat and gives KC another chance to pound on the piano. It sounds like they were having so much fun. Another sweet song is "Don't Worry About It," with lyrics by Clarence Reid; I played that song a lot during my six-month stint on the unemployment rolls in 2002. Thanks, guys.

The compilation also includes a few songs without the direct KC connection, and these tend to be a little weaker. (At least I think so.) "Rocket in the Pocket" is from 1985 and sounds like it, and "You're So Good to Me" doesn't do anything for me. To his credit, though, Horne manages to get a decent performance out of the hackneyed "(They Long to Be) Close to You."

Why Jimmy "Bo" Horne is forgotten today is beyond me. Every fan of KC and the Sunshine Band or of the Miami Sound should stop what they're doing and go order this CD right now!

(c) 2003 Becky Banfield for Dos Gardenias Productions