Kool & The Gang a New Jersey-based Funk and Disco band, who often went into Soul and Jazz at times. The band found fame from the point when they dropped their debut in 1970, but it wasn’t really until later (by about their sixth album in 1973) when they really made an impact as the Funk sound had really formed itself and they were able to come up with material to act as anthems of the time. The height of success for them was in fact once they had watered-down the Funk later on as Kool led the band to more Disco-sounding by the eighties. Their last album came as recently as 2007.
=The Album
= This is a 1993 compilation release for Kool & The Gang. It was one of many which they brought, but in this case they chose to break down their material and rather than picking a few from over 20 years of music, they brought together music which spans from their debut, self-entitled 1970 album, up to “Open Sesame” from 1976.
====Track listing====
1. “Funky Stuff”
Album: “Wild And Peaceful” Year: 1973
This is a fly cut from the album and it sees that they get right down to things in an extremely funky manner by throwing down one which has them just jamming with it and showing what exactly their instruments are able to come out with as Koo is seen to led the pack by chanting initially (with a call of “Paaaaar-taaaaay”, before he lays down a few raps about how he can’t do without with kind of material. It is a banger and does it job of hyping up the listeners and representing what they have to offer.
With this, you get the band showing the variety that they have to offer in their music by calming the pace somewhat and getting into a much more gentle one where they address big issues and talk about who needs to take responsibilities for all the wrongs which are occurring in society at the time. It is a fly groove and the funky drumming and
accompanying bass riff pulls out the energy of a tune which starts as if it is to be a Soul recording.
This is killer jam from them and it shows them pulling out a recording which you are bound to enjoy if you are familiar with “Hollywood Swingin” as it takes on a very similar structure and gets them laying down some of the most engaging material to get people moving to their killer compositions. There is lots of brass and percussion used here and I felt that was constructed in the perfect way to support the freakiness of the guitaring which is brought through with extensive wah-wah usage to make it such a fun tune.
**Five Stars**
4. “Hollywood Swinging”
Album: “Wild And Peaceful” Year: 1973
Sampled by the likes of Puff Daddy (for a breakthrough tune for Mase), as well as DJ Kool, this is a song which assisted in the big mainstream break for this band as you get them pulling out a tune where they show what they can come up with as they take it towards the West Coast and get down to the funky Swing sound for out there to come out with one of the most impressive displays you could have possibly heard back then.
**Five Stars**
5. “Love The Life You Live”
Album: “Music Is The Message” Year: 1972
Opening to wah-wahs which made the seventies what is was, you get a tune which seems to be perfectly on-trend for the time as you find that in this one they pull together all of the most exciting elements of their music to come up with what you have here. it is a fast-paced one, and with such an energetic drumming display from George Born, you simply cannot help but feel the band as they blaze out a killer feel-good jam.
**Five Stars**
6. “Give It Up”
Album: “Kool & The Gang” Year: 1970
This is one which really takes things to another place as you find that with it they get into one where they show that in spite of the fact the pace is prevented from getting overly-excited, they can ‘give up the Funk’ by keeping the most engaging elements to the drummer’s breaks and the seductive sounds of the Brass work to hold the thing together as they do a vocal-less track which is filled with energy. This one was sampled extensive for Eric B. & Rakim’s “Juice” (Know The Ledge) and is bound to have improved my enjoyment for it. **Five Stars**
7. “Chocolate Buttermilk”
Album: “Kool & The Gang” Year: 1970
With this one they show that although many Funk band at the time were still taking from the Psychedelic years which had just preceded them (acts such as Sly & The Family Stone, Funkadelic, and Parliament), these Jersey boys were ready to take the Funk and push it forward by advancing with alternative jazzy influences to come up with a banger of a tune such as this one where you can help but feel each and every turn in the music.
**Five Stars**
8. “Jungle Boogie”
Album: “Wild And Peaceful” Year: 1973
This was another which acted as a major influence upon them making it big in the game at the time as for this one they show exactly what the music of the time should be concentrated on as they come up with their own themed music to rival the sort of things which big Funk forces were bringing as they kept to the Psychedelic sounds which had managed to seep their way through from the sixties.
**Five Stars**
9. “Let The Music Take Your Mind”
Album: “Kool & The Gang” Year: 1970
Here you have a track which really does reflect what the title first puts across to you as you actually get taken over by the complexities of this song and feel all of what went into making the fly composition were they just have fun with it. You here people in the background calling out to the instrumentalists to lay down their own improvisational offerings, such as a heavy bass lick form Kool and freaky percussion form George Brown.
**Five Stars**
10. “Open Sesame” (Part 2)
Album: “Open Sesame” Year: 1976
The energy which you get from this track is something which really takes you by complete surprise as it seems to come out of nowhere as you go from calm, directly into a blaze of exciting music where they all come together to get into a tune which reflects the time where everyone was experimenting on what the music could use to take as inspiration, and in this case you get Kool leading them into a mystical atmosphere filled with lots of mythical references.
**Five Stars**
11. “Kool It”
Album: “Live At The Sex Machine” Year: 1971
This is a track on here which forces you to really calm down in a way which you probably don’t expect to be with their music as they actually take things down to a very gentle place and concentrate on just mellowing things out without having to make much of an effort to really get you moving (as it comes naturally through the bass which they lay down n spite of the general pace or mood of the music). The quality remains high here, and I can’t see how you can be put off by this change.
Used extensive for DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince’s “Summertime”, this is a Jazz composition from the band which has them moving away from the expected music from them in order to lay down a calming song which reflect the laid-back atmosphere which you would tend to associate with the Summer as they light grooves are lifted by an ascending synthesizer to show how they were experimenting further, and were able to come up with great results whilst trying out new things.
**Five Stars**
13. “N.T.”
Album: “Live At The PJ’s” Year: 1971
This is one of the most sampled works in the Hip Hop world, and I felt that with such a funky offering, it would be hard to resist this early Kool & The Gang work as they show how they can build up tunes up on some the most exciting drum creations, which is complemented by the way that Kool gets down to the deep bass work to assist it in the best way he can. It is a fly groove and does its job well.
**Five Stars**
14. “Pneumonia”
Album: “Live At The Sex Machine” Year: 1971
I have to say that this was a pretty unmemorable one here and one which needs a little more time to get into as although it sees the band getting down to the same sorts of stuff which made them so big in the game, it wasn’t really until I heard the funky George Brown breaks in the drumming where I really took notice and once that fell into place, the rest of the track seemed to make more sense as they make a song which takes from the Funk of the late sixties.
**Four Stars**
15. “Love & Understanding”
Album: “Love & Understanding” Year: 1976
With this epic (near eight minute-long) track you have the band getting down to one where they attempt to bring much more of the up-beat and attractive music where they attempt to bring people together with music which seems to range a fair bit in the sort of key genres which is based upon. Although the lyrics to it may be rather repetitive and pointless, the rest of what you get from it makes up for this.
**Five Stars**
16. “Spirit Of The Boogie”
Album: “Spirit Of The Boogie” Year: 1975
Here you have them getting down to a track which you would have to liken to the sort of music which you get in “Jungle Boogie” as they get down to one where the thing seems to take on a very similar structure as they feel the Funk through the deep, mid-tempo grooves in the melodies in the bass and Brass work as they take on clear inspiration from what George Clinton was bringing for Parliament and Funkadelic at this time.
**Five Stars**
=Conclusion
=
This is a big album from the band, and for anyone who liked the band as they did the music in a pure manner (before choosing to move towards the Disco style) then you are bound to enjoy what you get here as all of the best work is brought together to the point where you question whether they could have made a weak one at all.
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The acid-jazzers of the 1990s could learn a thing or five from the pre-"Ladies Night" Kool ... more
and the Gang. They were one of the tightest funk acts around, and this best-of finds them leaping from highlight to highlight. While their lyrics are sometimes j...
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