Kool & The Gang Album: “Celebration: The Best of Kool & the Gang (1979-87)”

The CD is a good complilation of the later works of Kool & The Gang. It compliments the Best of Kool & the Gang 1969-76 CD, so I suggest buying the both of them if you want a comlete collection of CDs that cover Kool & the Gang's career with out overlapping and duplicating tracks. Added bonus: the version of "Cherish" on this CD is the extended track.

Ahhh, I just has to write a review because I saw Kool & the Gang live just last week here in Barcelona. I saw them in Chile in '99, with original singer JT Taylor, and now again. You just can't overlook the fact that their songs have become timeless, and I'm not talking celebration here. It's all about simplicity, groove and unpretentiousness. This was, and is, music to dance to and feel good and they sure know how to accomplish it. At the same time, you have to understand that grooves don't hold themeselves up all by themselves, and you need excellent musicians to "Get down on it" in a serious way. What I saw in Barcelona last week was a show of pure professionality and funk. Only three original members remain, bassist "Kool", the guitarrist and the great lead sax player. Singer JT Taylor set a trademark sound that the actual singers just can't emulate, but in any case they did an excellent job. I am lucky enough to have heard JT on stage and I can say a large part of Kool & the Gangs success is thanks to him, not wanting in any way to downplay the rest of the crew or "Kool's" uncanny knack for writing really funky grooves. Many critics state that K&tG were basically a dance / R&B act with no substance, but fail to point out that they were kicking around for ages plaing jazz and deep-down R&B, like Hollywood Swinging, etc. Anyone remember "Summer Madness?". Then you know exactly what I'm talking about.

In any case, you've got to hear them live to understand that the Kool & the Gang sound lives on, the grooves are still "tight", the horns are "phat" and the crowd goes nuts every song. The best thing is that not only are we 20/30/40 year olds in the audience, but a great number of young teenagers looking to see where all those cool samples they hear come from.

For a last thought, I'd like to say that "Too Hot" and "Joanna" are two really underrated songs that deserve more credit. The first for it's subtle message of a love gone wrong, and the second 'cause its a beautiful love song...

Kool & the Gang are still alive and kicking. They are proverbially: "Too Hot".

This is a great party album. If you were around in the 80s, you'll know at least 80% of these songs, and 100% if you listened to R&B music. From upbeat songs like Celebration to all the ballads, just about everything from this period of Kool and the Gang is here. If you're looking to get all the radio hits on one album, you'll get them here.

As a side, the entire "funk essentials" series is great for these type of collections. If you like this style of music, check out the others.

I was very pleased with this collection. Unlike some of the "Greatest Hits" collections I bought in the past, I found this one to be complete... it had everything I wanted to hear from Kool & The Gang... and it didn't cost me an arm and a leg.

Celebration: The Best of Kool & the Gang is the best songs from a great band.

In fact, I NEVER met anyone who did not love Kool & the Gang.