2 March 2017, No. 241, KC and the Sunshine Band, ‘Wrap Your Arms Around Me’

It’s difficult to guess from the title, but KC and the Sunshine Band’s Part 3 was their third full-length LP, and the second cut is the 241st disco jam in the record show. “Wrap Your Arms Around Me” also appears as the B side of a lot of the “I’m Your Boogie Man” 45s and on an outrageously overvalued twelve-inch promo containing not a remix but the album version. Which doesn’t mean I don’t want it; I do.

A relentless groove like krautrock but funkier, horn riffs like a phone booth full of college kids, and Harry Wayne Casey’s nasal vocal delivery are an unmistakable combo, and if you doubt the importance of the Sunshine Band’s role, take KC’s 1981 solo effort, the Space Cadet Solo Flight LP, for a spin. It has its moments, but the magic’s absence is palpable.

We can bring it back, though. Just wrap your arms around me. Come on, come on.