Search - Kool & the Gang :: Kool & The Gang - Greatest Hits

This survey is a straight-up greatest-hits package--meaning its confused chronology includes two 1973 funk hits, then skips ahead to 1979, when singer James "J.T." Taylor joined the Gang, and (understandably) skips their post-1984 career. Under Taylor the band devolved from funkateers on the disco bandwagon to slurpy love men, and the rather gooey hits "Joanna" and "Cherish" are here, but they could also kick out the dance-floor jams--the buffed-up grooves "Get Down on It" and "Fresh" prefigured Cali-style hip-hop, and "Celebration" provided a blueprint for lots of imitators, including the Gang themselves. Buyer, be careful: this disc has the original (and mostly edited) single versions of the hits, not the lame rerecordings of several late-'90s Kool "greatest hits" discs. --Douglas Wolk