Combining her diva-level vocal power and teen-next-door effervescence,
Evelyn "Champagne" King scored a trifecta with "Shame," a Top Ten hit on Billboard's club, R&B, and pop charts across 1977 and 1978. The definitive disco classic was merely the start of a long run with
RCA Victor highlighted by 19 additional charting singles and a trio of Top Ten R&B LPs through 1986. Commercial R&B evolved rapidly during this period.
King was in on virtually all of the developments, including but not limited to funky disco (backed by members of
Instant Funk, whose underappreciated
T. Life discovered and first produced her) and pop-flavored post-disco (assisted most prominently by innovators
Morrie Brown,
Kashif, and
Paul Laurence Jones). Following individual expanded reissues of the albums by the
Big Break and
Funkytowngrooves labels, and a trio of double-disc (or 30-track digital) anthologies from
Big Break,
Real Gone, and
Legacy,
SoulMusic's
The RCA Albums 1977-1985 presents with loving precision the most convenient and thorough overview of
King's first decade. It doesn't contain the totality of the 7" and 12" tracks gathered on the individual 2010s reissues, but the crucial disco and extended mixes of "Shame," "I Don't Know if It's Right," "I'm in Love," and "Love Come Down" --
King's four biggest hits -- are among those that are in place. More importantly, across all eight discs, there's a wealth of second-tier singles and fine album cuts that match or surpass contemporaneous rarities that have exchanged hands for triple-digit sums and have appeared on specialist compilations. (Start with the oft-sampled ballad "The Show Is Over" and the boogie gem "If You Want My Lovin'," among other notables created with the likes of
Leon Sylvers,
the System,
Rene & Angela, and
Andre Cymone.) Each album is in a sleeve with images of the original artwork, and the accompanying booklet, rich with photos and text, is engrossing. ~ Andy Kellman
![Surface [Bonus Tracks]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0851903003953_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Surface [Bonus Tracks]")
![Saturday Night Fever [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0042282538925_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Saturday Night Fever [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]")
