… yet another bout of nostalgia, this is with a tip of the hat to London Lee’s old blog #1 Songs In Heaven – I had to look it up I couldn’t remember the name, aaahh!
Among Evelyn “Champagne” King’s first few releases in the latter half of the Seventies were a couple of real gems – the effortlessly smooth disco classic “Shame” that was soon followed by the sublime “I Don’t Know If It’s Right”, which really swings and is one of my enduring favourites. Those records fixed Evelyn in my mind and I continue to this day to have a soft spot for her. Looking at her singles discography and chart stats it seems I’m by no means alone as an Evelyn loving Brit. She actually managed more chart entries in the UK than she did in the US. Fifteen in all in the period between 1977 and 1992. Considering that, it strikes me that I should come across more of her records in charity shops and boot fairs, but they seem to very rarely appear. Perhaps, like me, everybody who bought her records still cherish them enough to hold onto them.
“Let’s Get Funky Tonight” was one of her singles that didn’t really stand out to me at the time and the chart stats would echo that generally. It was only a minor US R&B and Dance hit, failing to make it on the main chart both sides of the pond. That was maybe due to it being aimed fairly and squarely at the dancefloor and, therefore, less radio friendly.
I guess this song could be summed up as being “an urgent disco boogie mover”. I dug it out of one of my Schweppes boxes yesterday and gave it a spin for the first time in a long time. It really jumped out of the speakers and I think it’s stood the test of time very well.
Clear some space around the kitchen table….
2 comments:
Evelyn is very much of a time and a place for me. I don't think she ever did anything better than her early stuff, the album "Smooth Talk" was constantly on my decks when it came out. I just dug it out and played it again thanks to your post, it's still good. The last track "The Show Is Over" is a nice piece of mid tempo soul music.
I never got around to buying any of Evelyn's albums way back then so thanks Mike for pointing me at "The Show Is Over", it's a beautiful track.
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