KOOL & GANG - Still Kool NEW CD Parliament JAMES TAYLOR

This great, very rare CD is brand new sealed! Same day shipping upon payment! This is a great CD.  7

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 Formed as a jazz ensemble in the mid-'60s, Kool the Gang became one of the most inspired and influential funk units during the '70s, and one of the most popular RB groups of the '80s after their breakout hit "Celebration" in 1979. Just as funky as James Brown or Parliament (and sampled almost as frequently), Kool the Gang relied on their jazz backgrounds and long friendship to form a tightly knit group with the interplay and improvisation of a jazz outfit, plus the energy and spark of a band with equal ties to soul, RB and funk.

• Title: Still Kool *
• Artist: Kool & The Gang
• Format: CD

List Price: $16.98

Bol prijs: EUR 20,99

Track Listing No track list available 1. Dave 2. Steppin' Into Love 3. America 4. What's Happening Brother 5. It is What It is 6. Everything's Gonna Change 7. Too Low For Zero 8. Bang Bang With the Gang 9. Made For Love 10. Give It Up 11. Trust Me 12. Miracles 13. Livin' In the 21 14. Sorry 15. Someone Like You 16. Sailing Details Distributor: Universal Distribution Recording Type: Studio Recording Mode: Stereo

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Kool & the Gang Biography

Formed as a jazz ensemble in the mid-'60s, Kool the Gang became one of the most inspired and influential funk units during the '70s, and one of the most popular RB groups of the '80s after their breakout hit "Celebration" in 1979.

Robert "Kool" Bell and his brother Ronald (or Khalis Bayyan) grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey, and picked up the music bug from their father. A professional boxer, he was also a serious jazz lover and a close friend of Thelonious Monk. With Robert on bass and Ronald picking up an array of horns, the duo formed the Jazziacs in 1964 with several neighborhood friends: trombone player Clifford Adams, guitarists Charles Smith and Woody Sparrow, trumpeter Robert "Spike" Michens, alto saxophonist Dennis Thomas, keyboard player Ricky West and drummer Funky George Brown (all of whom, except Michens and West, still remained in the group more than 30 years later).

The growing earthiness of soul inspired the Jazziacs to temper their jazz sensibilites with rhythms more akin to RB, and the newly renamed Soul Town Band began playing clubs in Greenwich Village. After a mix-up with a club owner resulted in the group being billed Kool the Flames, they moderated the title to Kool the Gang and found a leg up with the tiny De-Lite Records. Three singles from their self-titled debut album hit the pop charts, and although the position wasn't incredibly high, Kool the Gang became a quick success on the RB charts. Always a staple of their appeal, the group's live act was documented on two 1971 LPs, Live at the Sex Machine and Live at P.J.'s, including left-field covers of "Walk on By" and "Wichita Lineman" (as well as the not so unusual "I Want to Take You Higher").

Studio albums followed in 1972 and 1973, but it was with Kool the Gang's sixth LP, Wild and Peaceful, that they hit the big time. "Funky Stuff" became their first Top 40 hit at the end of 1973. Then both "Jungle Boogie" and "Hollywood Swinging" reached the pop Top Ten. During the next four years, however, Kool the Gang could only manage an occasional Top 40 hit ("Higher Plane," "Spirit of the Boogie"), and though they did win a Grammy award for "Open Sesame" (from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack), the rise of disco -- a movement centered around producers and vocalists, in direct contrast to the group's focus on instrumentalists -- had appeared to end their popularity.

Then, in 1979, the group added two new vocalists, Earl Toon, Jr. and, more importantly, James "J.T." Taylor, a former Jersey nightclub singer. Kool the Gang also began working with jazz fusion arranger Eumir Deodato, who produced their records from 1979 to 1982. The first such album, Ladies Night, was their biggest hit yet, the first of three consecutive platinum albums, with the Top Ten singles "Too Hot" and the title track. Celebrate, released in 1980, spawned Kool the Gang's only number one hit, "Celebration," an anthem favored by innumerable wedding receptions since. With Deodato, the group produced several more hits, including the singles "Take My Heart (You Can Have It If You Want It)," "Get Down on It" and "Big Fun," and the albums Something Special in 1981 and As One a year later. After Deodato left the fold in late 1982, Kool the Gang proved their success wasn't solely due to him; they had two immense hits during 1984-85 ("Joanna" and "Cherish"), as well as two more Top Tens, "Misled" and "Fresh." The group's string of seven gold or platinum records continued until 1986's Forever, after which James "J.T." Taylor amicably left the group for a solo career.

Although Taylor did reasonably well with his solo recordings (many of which were produced by Ronald Bell), Kool the Gang quickly sank without him. They replaced Taylor with three vocalists, Skip Martin (formerly of the Dazz Band), Odeen Mays and Gary Brown, but failed to chart their albums Sweat (1989) and Unite (1993). Taylor finally returned to the group in 1995 for the release of a new album, State of Affairs.

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As 2006 rolled along, with hip-hop beginning its slow decline and emo-rock moving up the popular charts, about the last act anyone expected to land a hit on the pop and urban charts was Kool and the Gang.  Sure, they were cool in their first incarnation in the 70s, playing hot funk and jazz and singing cuts like "Hollywood Swinging" and "Jungle Boogie," but by the time they were releasing late 80s drivel such as "Fresh" and "Victory," the Gang was sounding about as soulful as Abba.  Their fall from grace was swift, and urban fans still weren't ready to re-embrace the Gang years later when they reunited with James "JT" Taylor for the underrated State of Affairs album.  So it was a shock when, 20+ years after their peak, there was Kool & the Gang rising up the major charts with the very enjoyable adult dance cut "Steppin' Into Love." 

It took nearly a year after "Steppin'" for the release the accompanying album, but it has finally arrived in the form of Still Kool on the Universal-affiliated New Door Records.  With original group members Robert "Kool" Bell, Khalis Bayyan, George Brown and Dennis Thomas teaming with 23-year old guest vocalist Jirmad Gordon, Still Kool is the Gang's attempt at an amazing third incarnation.  And the good news is that Still Kool finds this legendary band sounding relevant and very enjoyable in its fifth decade of existence.  If the 80s brought a somewhat poppified, dumbed down version of Kool's 70s funk, Still Kool brings a more mature sound that keeps the grooves tight but also allows the band to show more of its jazz roots, especially on cuts like "Bang Bang With the Gang" and "Too Low For Zero."  And while a couple of ill-advised hip-hop cuts litter the album, they are more than outweighed by a plethora of enjoyable mid- and up-tempo cuts such as "Dave," "Give It Up" and "Too Low For Zero" and blue-lights-in-the-basement slow jams like "Everything's Gonna Change," "Sorry" and "Made For Love."

Perhaps the Gang's biggest development here is lyrical, with much of the silliness of earlier work from "Jungle Boogie" to "Get Down On It" replaced on a number of tracks with more thoughtful, if somewhat idealistic, poetry focused on universal human relationships.  There are still songs about dancing and romancing, but the lyrical variety certainly makes for a more interesting overall package.

It's a shame that for nearly two decades Kool & the Gang has been relegated to the oldies section, known more for "Celebration" than for the great tracks they had created before or for the music that they still had in them.  So it is particularly satisfying to hear them having fun again and sounding wonderful two decades after being written off by radio.  Still Kool is solid front-to-back and is the very welcome return of a great band.

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