PART 3
Release Date: 1976
Famous Tracks: Shake Your Booty, I'm Your Boogie Man, Keep It Comin' Love, I Like to Do It, Wrap Your Arms Around Me
CD Availability: "Part 3 And More" on Rhino; original album as a Japanese import
Becky Rating: 10 Suns (out of 10)

A MINOR MASTERPIECE

Part 3 guaranteed KC and the Sunshine Band its place in music history. Released in the fall of 1976, it quickly shot into the Top Twenty. The album's big hits were quite big indeed: "Shake Your Booty" went Number 1 on both the pop and R&B charts; "I'm Your Boogie Man" topped the pop charts and hit Number 3 R&B, it's second half, "Keep It Comin' Love," was Number 1 R&B and Number 2 pop. "I Like to Do It" did it all the way to Number 4 R&B and made the pop Top 40. Even the B-side of "Boogie Man," "Wrap Your Arms Around Me," made the pop Top 50 and the R&B Top 25.

The numbers pale, though, in comparison to the music, which is superb. All elements of the Sunshine Sound are out in full force: bright horn lines, steady percussion, female backup singing, and KC's heartfelt singing.

Let's look at the lesser-known tracks first. The album starts out with Jerome Smith's rhythm guitar scratching out the intro to "Baby I Love You (Yes I Do)." This song allows KC to do some of his famous scat-singing. "Come On In" also starts out with rhythm guitar (this guy was very overlooked, wasn't he?) with a spooky female "oooo" part leading into a chorus with some unusual keyboard sounds for that time. KC also does some word play with "feeling."

I have a special place in my heart for "Let's Go Party." Imagine yourself at a junior high school basketball game, circa 1977. Your team (the now-politically-incorrect Indians) is ahead of the visiting Lions 25-16 in the first half.  You're sitting in the pep section, where you have a great view of the cute guy playing center whom you have a massive crush on. You know all the cheers backwards and forwards, especially that one that goes:

"Let's go/Indians/Let's party/Let's go get down
Let's go/Indians/Let's party/Let's go get down
Let's go/Indians/Let's party/Let's go get down..."

Oh, you get the idea. The song sounds just like a basketball cheer. And I love it!

Now for the biggies. The most misunderstood KCSB song ever is "Shake Your Booty." People can't seem to get past the silly "booty" word and listen to what's being said in the verses - it's an invitation to people who may be a little self-conscious to get out there and dance. The song's enduring appeal partially contributed to the addition of the word "booty" to the Merriam-Webster?s Collegiate Dictionary Tenth Edition at the end of 2001. It also has been the "opener" to all but one live KC show I've seen.

"I Like to Do It" is another upbeat song about, well, pretty much what the title sounds like. It really warms you up. "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" has one of the loudest, brightest trumpet fanfares I've ever heard in a pop song. You expect to hear someone yell "Hail Caesar!" rather than sing the lyrics.

The final two songs are linked together. The first, "I'm Your Boogie Man," has, quite frankly, a scary music track. Beginning with a far-off trumpet part played under a rattlesnake tambourine, with the piano dancing above, the Boogie Man begins his song..."I'm your Boogie Man, that's what I am, I'm here to...jump up at your window and scare you..." No, that's not it, but it sure sounds like it. But never fear, the brass blares in over the chorus and scares away the creepy guy, leaving the friendly Boogie Man to ask "Can we be together, you and me?" This song is finally getting recognized as a Halloween classic. It's also my favorite KC and the Sunshine Band song.

After a few last scary ooooo-aaas at the end, the song runs straight into the bright, major-key "Keep It Comin' Love," again with a great rhythm guitar intro.* Recently popularized again in an Old Navy commercial, this is a straight-ahead rocker with more subtle horns and percussion than the rest of the album. I didn't appreciate it at first, until hearing it live in concert.

There is something slightly unsettling about this album, an underlying spookiness. What is it? Even my trained musical ears didn't realize it until about three years after I first heard the whole thing:

Every single song on Part 3, except "Keep It Comin' Love" and the bridge of "Wrap Your Arms Around Me," is pitched in a minor key.

Minor keys traditionally have been used to evoke feelings of gloom, sadness, and fear. But somehow, every single song on this album leaves the listener happy. Every song makes you want to dance, every song makes you feel better, every song leaves you in an upbeat frame of mind.

THAT, my friends, is the genius of Harry Casey, and that is why Part 3 is my favorite KC and the Sunshine Band album.

*Deadheads will notice a similar pattern in "Help on the Way>Slipknot!>Franklin's Tower" (Help>Slip>Frank) in which two spooky, slightly menacing, minor-key songs suddenly break into major key, with amazing effect.

(c) 2002 Becky Banfield for Dos Gardenias Productions