With KC and The Sunshine Band, the numbers speak for themselves.  The joyful group founded in the Sunshine State of Florida has racked up five U.S. No. 1 singles along with two more No. 2s as well as six charting LPs including their self-titled 1975 album which went top ten across the globe.  Now, Cherry Red's Robinsongs imprint has celebrated the group's 50th anniversary with a new 3-CD anthology, The Ultimate Collection.

After a low-key album debut in 1974 with Do It Good, singer/keyboardist Harry Wayne Casey (KC), bassist/percussionist Richard Finch, and their big band of musicians (recruited from the Miami studio scene) reinvented their group with a self-titled album in 1975 that asked listeners to "Get Down Tonight" in their "Boogie Shoes."  That was clearly the way listeners liked it (uh huh, uh huh), and with three major hits - all on the original album's Side One - KC and The Sunshine Band were off and running.

They bridged pop, disco, funk, and R&B on their era-defining, celebratory anthems which also included "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty," "I'm Your Boogie Man," and the sleek "Keep It Comin' Love" on 1976's Part III and the atypical ballad "Please Don't Go" on 1979's Do You Wanna Go Party.  The band's transition from the feisty Florida indie label TK Records to the CBS-owned Epic Records as of 1981's The Painter reflected a move towards adult contemporary pop in the post-disco days, but the Casey/Finch partnership was dissolving.  1982's All in a Night's Work was the group's second and final Epic record; Casey called it a day after 1983's self-released KC Ten (which is not featured on this collection).  The lead singer would reform the Sunshine Band a decade later; their final album to date was released in 2015.

The Ultimate Collection (presented in loose chronological order) samples each of the group's long-players on the TK and Epic labels between Do It Good and 1982's All in a Night's Work, except for the Sunshine Band-only set The Sound of Sunshine (1975) and the KC solo LP Space Cadet Solo Flight (1981).  Many of the tracks are presented in their original single versions so as to squeeze in as many songs as possible; as a result, the original album versions of "I'm a Pushover," "That's the Way I Like It," "Get Down Tonight," "Keep It Comin' Love," and "Do You Feel All Right" are presented on the third disc out of the chronological sequence of CDs 1 and 2.  (It's not noted on the packaging, though, which tracks are singles and which are album versions, nor is there any discographical annotation in the booklet.)  A handful of extended remixes are included, too, on the third disc.

The three discs are housed in an eight-panel digipak which also includes a 20-page booklet featuring numerous color and B&W photos and an essay by Michael Silvester.  KC and The Sunshine Band's ebullient music remains heavily associated with the disco era today; this collection offers all of those great hits while also sampling the groups' other musical excursions.  It's available now from Cherry Red and Robinsongs.

KC and The Sunshine Band, The Ultimate Collection (Cherry Red/Robinsongs QROBIN61CDT, 2023) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1

1. Sound Your Funky Horn
2. Why Don't We Get Together
3. Blow Your Whistle
4. I'm Gonna Do Something Good to You
5. I'm a Pushover
6. You Don't Know
7. Queen of Clubs
8. Do It Good
9. Get Down Tonight
10. I'm So Crazy ('Bout You)
11. Boogie Shoes
12. That's the Way (I Like It)
13. Ain't Nothin' Wrong
14. I Like to Do It
15. Come on In
16. I'm Your Boogie Man
17. Wrap Your Arms Around Me
18. (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty
19. Keep It Comin' Love
20. Baby I Love You (Yes I Do)
21. Do You Feel Alright (Single Edit)
22. Sho-Nuff
23. I Will Love You Tomorrow

CD 2

1. Who Do Ya Love
2. So Glad
3. I Get Lifted
4. It's the Same Old Song
5. Let's Go Party
6. Do You Wanna Go Party
7. Come to My Island
8. Let's Do Rock and Roll
9. I've Got the Feeling
10. Please Don't Go
11. I Betcha Didn't Know That
12. It Happens Every Night (Single Version)
13. Stand Up
14. Love Me
15. Don't Say No
16. All Through the Night (Single Version)
17. Give It Up
18. It's Too Hard to Say Goodbye
19. Party with Your Body
20. Something's Happening
21. Summer Nights

CD 3

1. I'm a Pushover (Original Album Version)
2. That's the Way (I Like It) (Club Mix)
3. That's the Way (I Like It) (Dubstyle)
4. That's the Way (I Like It) (Re-Master Mix - Extended)
5. That's the Way (I Like It) (New York Style Mix)
6. That's the Way (I Like It) (Original T.K. Mix/Album Version)
7. Get Down Tonight (Original T.K. Mix/Album Version)
8. Keep It Comin' Love (Original Album Version)
9. Do You Feel All Right (Original Album Version)
10. Do You Wanna Go Party (Extended Version/Original Album Version)
11. Do You Wanna Go Party (Special Disco Mix)

CD 1, Tracks 1, 3, 6, 8 & CD 3, Track 1 from Do It Good, TK LP TK-500, 1974
CD 1, Track 2 from TK single 1003, 1973
CD 1, Track 4 from TK single 1001, 1973
CD 1, Track 5 from TK single 1008, 1974
CD 1, Track 7 from TK single 1005, 1974
CD 1, Track 9 from TK single 1009, 1975
CD 1, Tracks 10-11, 13, CD 2, Track 3, and CD 3, Tracks 6-7 from KC & The Sunshine Band, TK LP TK-603, 1975
CD 1, Track 12 from TK single 1015, 1975
CD 1, Tracks 14-15, 17-18, 20, CD 2, Track 5 & CD 3, Track 8 from Part 3, TK LP TK-605, 1976
CD 1, Track 16 from TK single 1020, 1976
CD 1, Track 19 from TK single 1023, 1977
CD 1, Track 21 from TK (U.K.) single S TKR 6050, 1978
CD 1, Tracks 22-23 and CD 2, Tracks 1-2, 4 & CD 3, Track 9 from Who Do Ya (Love), TK LP TK-607, 1978
CD 2, Tracks 6, 9-11 & CD 3, Track 10 from Do You Wanna Go Party, TK LP TK-611, 1979
CD 2, Track 7 from TK single 1033, 1979
CD 2, Track 8 from TK single TKX 1036, 1979
CD 2, Track 12 from Epic single 14-02652, 1981
CD 2, Tracks 13-15 & 20-21 from The Painter, Epic LP FE 37490, 1980
CD 2, Track 16 from Epic (U.K.) single A 1722, 1981
CD 2, Tracks 17-19 from All in a Night's Work, Epic LP FE 38073, 1982
CD 3, Tracks 2-4 & 6 included on Music Factory EP M12FAC2, 1991
CD 3, Tracks 5 & 7 included on Streetheat single STH 547, 1989
CD 3, Tracks 11-12 from Sunshine Sound Disco 12-inch single SSD 207, 1979