Customer Reviews

Kool and the Gang - Gold

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This cd has everything you would from Kool & The Gang from the great 70's material to the 80's with JT Taylor starting with Celebration.

What can be said about this collection well 1st things 1st they get wrongfully lumped into the cheesy 80's sound as "a great 70's band that tried to stay relevant in the 80's".....WRONG!!!

starting with the 80's material you had Ladies Night which i would like someone to find me a women around the country that doesn't like this song. Has a great hook & it showcases what made them of the premier bands in the 70's

then you have Too Hot, Celebration & Get Down On It all of which can be heard in any club venturing out any weekend in America.

These 3 songs put together are better & have more substance than any so called r & b act coming out today with the exception of a few (Alicia Keys & a few others)

NOW to the bone crushing slamming rock hard FUNK of the 70's Jungle Boogie, Hollywood Swinging, Funky Stuff, Open Sesame all these do is show bands today how it needs to be done.

Anybody out there that reads this review & who is a musician don't sample, PLAY THE ACTUAL INSTRUMENTS!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!

There is a reason these guys are still kicking in the business listen to this & you will find out why!!!!

Now to all of the people who say there is stuff missing from this collection well prepare to see the light!!!!

all you have to do is buy this cd & get CELEBRATION: THE BEST OF KOOL & THE GANG 79-87 & 69-76 & if you own a cd burner to steal a line from Emeril BAM!!!! YOU TOOK IT UP A NOTCH!!!!

burn the songs form GOLD & the 2 previous collections & you have the Ultimate Kool Collection the full length version of Cherish & a ton of other material!!!

Believe me buy this you won't be disappointed!!!!!

P.S. DON'T FAKE THE FUNK OR YOUR NOSE WILL GROW!

Kool & The Gang were undoubtedly one of the biggest and best acts of the 1970s' funk / dance movement, and their success continued well into the 1980s'. With hits like "Jungle Boogie", "Ladies Night", the classic "Celebration", "Get Down On It", "Joanna", "Fresh", "Cherish" and many others, Kool & The Gang set the charts as well as dance floors ablaze during their peak years.

"Gold" a 2 cd, 31 song collection of the group's biggest hits, is the ideal Kool & The Gang Collection. Every Top 10 hit they ever had is included (including their last big hit, 1987's "Stone Love", which is often left off most compilations of the band for some reason), as well as some minor hits that may have been forgotten about by those who are only familliar with the popular songs by the group.

The sound quality is fantastic, and the packaging and liner notes are excellent as well. Iff you only want one Kool & The Gang cd for your collection, than "Gold" is by far your best bet.

Finally! A domestically released Kool & the Gang collection, with great liner notes and most of the hits from both phases of their career. Disc 1 is the jazz/funk Kool & the Gang of the late 1960s and 1970s, and Disc 2 is the Pop/R&B/rock Kool & the Gang of the 1980s, with JT Taylor on vocals. Both discs are drastically different and serve to highlight the different phases of the band, similar to Fleetwood Mac. My only complaint is that there was enough time on both CDs to include certain songs that were left out, to have made the collection perfect. Those songs are "Jones Vs. Jones," a bona-fide top 40 hit which was criminally neglected, and "Holiday" and "Special Way," their last two hits, and perhaps even "Steppin' Out," another minor hit. To have ended the CD with "Holiday" would have been awesome. Also, I wish they would have included the impossible-to-find single/radio mix of "Cherish," which was the hit version...but other than that, it's great to finally have this.

What a set! One disc of hardcore funk, and one disc of great 80s pop. Kool and the Gang's transformation is just as radical as Fleetwood Mac's was when Lindsey and Stevie joined, or when Talking Heads went from new wave to funk.
Disc one brought back a lot of memories for me; songs I had completely forgotten about, "Funky Stuff", "Hollywood Swingin'", "Higher Plane", "Summer Madness", and "Love and Understanding".
Allegedly the early stuff kept James Brown awake at night; the Gang was THAT funky. Proof's on disc one. The songs are mostly instrumental with a smattering of call/response. Their M.O. is simple, establish the groove and WORK IT.
And then James JT Taylor joined in 1979 and, thus disc two. The Gang is now a hit machine, cranking out the music like Ford turned out Thunderbirds: "Ladies Night", "Too Hot", "Celebration" (which will live long after you and I are gone), and on and on and on. Even in this phase they still etablish the groove and work it, as displayed on the almost 7 minute "Let's Go Dancing"... even that's too short!
Whoever put this together at Universal deserves a raise or something. The songs are chronological, well written band essay, ample credits. This two disc best of should be the standard to which other record companies strive.
Get yours today!

From their earliest sounds, to their latest, Kool and the Gang are
still the GREATEST !!!!

Love it!!! some of these songs (like "Funky Man") i've been trying to find for years---friends never heard them and didn't believe they existed. overall, great CD---I love it.

Kool and the Gang is most definitely one of the tightest and funkiest groups of the last 35 plus years. They exemplify what musicians should be like and about. These collection of tracks are self evident. I copped this one about a year ago and i already have most of the albums at home. I'm still going to go out and cop some more of the self titled ones though.

can someone post the timings of the songs on here as Amazon did not.
I would like to know the lengths of the songs before purchasing this CD
collection. I want to know I am getting the full length versions or just
settle with what I have from Kool and The Gang. Example: There is the
album version of Ladies Night that is about 6:36 that is on a Polygram
12" versions CD.

I love Kool and the Gang..I remember in the 70's wow they were the bomb. And I just had to purchase their CD for the memories...However its too bad Kool wont forgive JT and let it go and the Gang can get back together...Now that would be a great reunion....Come on Kool...please forgive and move on...your fans would like no love to see the Gang back together...BangieB625@aol.com

Recognition of a musical group's successful accomplishments normally arrives in a compendium covering their history. In the old days, we called them Greatest Hits albums. Thus "Kool & the Gang - Gold" represents such a prized collection. Because I was around when these guys released their earlier recordings, Robert "Kool" Bell, the leader of this ever-smiling, energetic bunch of music makers, landed on R&B/POP like a big rock. Along with a tight, rock-solid group: brother Ronald Bell (sax), George Brown (drums), Robert Mickens (trumpet), Dennis "DT" Thomas (alto), C. Charles Smith (guitar), Rick Westfield (keyboards), and Kool on bass, they had no problem getting audiences excited with big sound dynamics.
Most people don't know about their roots in jazz: in high school Kool formed the "Jazziacs" in Jersey City and family acquaintances with Thelonius Monk and their relationship with jazz singer, Leon Thomas to name a few. These experiences served them well in the music business where survival, sustainability and success are needed.
You know their earliest hits, "Jungle Boogie" and "Hollywood Swinging", their transition to disco and rebirthing with the addition of James "JT" Taylor in the late 70s who ushered in "Ladies Night." Well, "Kool and the Gang - Gold" chronicles it all including the world wide hit, "Celebration."
During their chart-topping tenure, I was hoping they would have followed the mysteriously fluid hit, "Summer Madness" with a cool album of what has now become cool jazz. But this hit and several others have lived beyond the Gang's originals in numerous samplings by artists and soundtracks to movies over the years.
Finally, while in LA in the 80s working on a commercial project, I bumped into the group at the hotel. We met when I was in radio years ago, and quick exchanges took place. No camera to chronicle that association, but the word "amazing" was still in order as they played to a standing room audience that night. Still Kool.
Investment in the CD is a must for your collection.