These are the years of Kool & the Gang you may not know as well. They’re just as monumental in shaping Black dance music, hip hop and sampling history as the early or peak years.
Between the release of funk anthems culminating in the gold-certified Wild and Peaceful album and the start of a chart-topping, mainstream run with the platinum-certified Ladies’ Night, the band created some of their most refined, eclectic and inventive self-produced music. Sometimes they innovated; often, they borrowed from their contemporaries or leaned heavily on referencing earlier work, and they began to struggle for traction. Some critics didn’t get it. Throughout, the band’s work remained expertly crafted, soulful, joyous and stanky, with a positive spiritual message, all without a lead singer.
While not easily defined as a style period, the middle years are fully evidenced in the six albums represented here. The band’s sound is saturated with influences, presenting new variations on other styles already in the air, then resolving back to their core jazz and funk roots. Virtually all of the music is driven by Robert “Kool” Bell’s bass, Ronald Bell’s (Khalis Bayyan’s) arrangements, tenor sax and spacy synths, George Brown’s solid, often-sampled drumming, and those signature horns.
Everybody’s Dancin’ (excerpt) | Everybody’s Dancin’ (1978)
L-O-V-E | Open Sesame (1976)
Mighty Mighty High | The Force (1977)
Universal Sound | Love & Understanding (1976)
Ride the Rhythm | Spirit of the Boogie (1975)
I Like Music | Everybody’s Dancin’
Ancestral Ceremony | Spirit of the Boogie
Gift of Love | Open Sesame
Just Be True | The Force
All Night Long | Open Sesame
Summer Madness | Light of Worlds (1974)
Here After | Light of Worlds
Free | The Force
Sunshine | Open Sesame
Peace to the Universe | Everybody’s Dancin’
Love & Understanding (extended version) | Kool & the Gang Spin Their Top Hits (1978)
Spirit of the Boogie | Spirit of the Boogie
All albums released on De-Lite Records
Kool & the Gang: Middle Years 74-78
Compiled 2021-22
Lightly mixed tempos and keys, retaining original long fades
August 2025
Ibrahim El Mahboob
EL MAHBOOB 