When I think about Kool & The Gang, I remember that first hit,”Kool and the Gang” (the song) which isn’t on this CD. Maybe that is because at that time they were just a local metro New York City group, and it technically didn’t reach “Number 1’s” status except on the local AM radio soul stations of the late 1960s. “Kool and the Gang” was their signature theme-song jam along with its flip-side “Raw Hamburger. Their first acknowledged hit single, “The Gang’s Back Again” from that same LP, should be included on future compilations. Now there’s an idea for the next anthology CD – “the early years”! (Please remember you heard it here first my dear reader) Having said that, I also think of “Funky” George Brown on drums, Spike on trumpet, DT on sax, and of course the leader of the band, Robert “Kool” Bell as cats who I used to idolize who I now view as my friends; with me on the DJ side of the same industry! They were part of the avant-garde of late ‘60s/early ‘70s northeastern U.S. bands that had to feature a trumpet, alto and tenor saxophone, funky grooves. They also became the face of the De-Lite Records label with props to Ted Eddy.
I recall how as a teenager, my friends and I would go to the RKO and Loews movie theaters in Jamaica, Queens, New York City when they had concerts that featured about eight groups including The Dells, Delfonics, Moments, Five Stairsteps, Creative Source, and the Continental Four to name a few; all headlined by Kool and the Gang out of Jersey City, New Jersey which was right on the other side of the Hudson River (and all for “allowance money mind-you, which back then was less than five dollars!). I last saw them while doing an interview in the dressing room, backstage after they played The Blue Note in Greenwich Village, New York City in the mid-nineties, and just to think of that night fills me with the joy of music, laughter and why I got into this business.
Now back to this CD’s compilation, “Number 1’s” [Mercury B0008837-02] which is a concept from the fine folks at www.ilovethatsong.com . My main issue here, having known the group all of these years, is that they didn’t go back far enough. These are the mass-appeal number ones as opposed to chronicling their total body of work. The oldest hits on here are 1973’s “Jungle Boogie” and “Hollywood Swinging” from the “Wild And Peaceful” LP, and 1974’s “Higher Plane” off of “Light Of Worlds”. Maybe it is the chart-topping criteria that caused such restriction, because using just those two albums alone, they could have also culled, “Funky Stuff” and “Summer Madness” – also number ones in my discography book, as “Bonus Tracks”; there is no questioning the music here, however because these are proven hits.
In retrospect it was a brilliant move, but again, for a purest, like me, they were almost better when they played a kind of funky jazz, and their most danceable record was “The Penguin”, which was an actual dance step we did back in 1971 -1972, or on jams like “Funky Man” that included little amusing spoken words along with the horns and bass.
So, with that unplanned history lesson and retrospection that I’ve just given you said, and there is sooo much more about them that this space doesn’t allow me to cover, including how the U.S. Nation of Islam movement affected all of us back then if you just go to www.koolandthegang.com, but if you are looking for some clean Kool And The Gang cuts that were all chart-toppers, then this is a collection for you. You never know when you’ll be at another wedding reception or like event, and need to play “Celebration” again! Therefore, I can give it four stars.
