RCA Albums: 1977-1985

Combining her diva-level vocal power and teen-next-door effervescence, Evelyn Champagne King scored a trifecta with Shame, a Top Ten hit on Billboards 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, SoulMusics The RCA Albums 1977-1985 presents with loving precision the most convenient and thorough overview of Kings first decade. It doesnt 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 Dont Know if Its Right, Im in Love, and Love Come Down -- Kings four biggest hits -- are among those that are in place. More importantly, across all eight discs, theres 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