1.Funky Stuff - 2:59 (Kool & The Gang)
2.More Funky Stuff - 2:52 (Kool & The Gang)
3.Jungle Boogie - 3:08 (Kool & The Gang)
4.Heaven At Once - 5:00 (Ronald Bell-Robert Bell-Kool & The Gang)
5.Hollywood Swinging - 4:35 (Ricky West-Kool & The Gang)
6.This Is You, This Is Me - 5:23 (George Brown-Kool & The Gang)
7.Life Is What You Make It - 3:54 (Dennis Thomas-Kool & The Gang)
8.Wild And Peaceful - 9:30 (Ronald Bell-Kool & The Gang)
This is more like it Kool & The Gang's first gold LP and the start of a run of them which is why I call this era "the golden years".
The album it's self was released in September, 1973 (both sources) and it eventually reached #6 R&B #33 Pop and I am wondering if there is anyone reading this who has yet to get this album - if for some reason the answer is yes (I'm sure you have a good reason) get it now.
The tracks released from it are the one's that surely every true Kool & The Gang fan knows "Funky Stuff" reaching #5 R&B #29 Pop (the B-side was "More Funky Stuff"), "Jungle Boogie" (you know, the one on the "Pulp Fiction" soundtrack) reaching #2 R&B #6 Pop (the B-side being that "North, East, South, West") and "Hollywood Swinging" the Ricky West written track that reached #1 R&B (their first) and #6 Pop (the B-side was apparently "Dujii" from "Live At P.J.'s" and also written by Rick West).If there were any other tracks released from this album (unlikely) I don't know about it but you might so e-mail me please.
I get the impression from the liner notes that one side of this album (the first) was meant to be wild and the other to be peaceful but although the ratio of wild:peaceful tracks is 1:1, due to the fact that the peaceful tracks (especially "Wild And Peaceful" it's self) are considerably longer the track ratio became 5:3 with "Heaven At Once" being on the first side instead of the second.
The theme I have observed on this album is urban LA. From now on all explanations of how each track connects to the theme of the album will be on the specific track information when it is up or you can e-mail me using the album title as your subject if you are desperate to know.
Robert "Kool" Bell - (Fender) Bass/Vocals
Ronald "Captain" Bell - Tenor Saxophone/Soprano Saxophone/Vocals
Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas - Alto Saxophone/Flute/Congas/Vocals
Robert "Spike" Mickens - Trumpet/Vocals
Claydes "X-Man" Smith - Guitar
Richard Westfield (Ricky "Hollywood Rick" West) - Electric Piano/Vocals
George "Funky" Brown -Drums/Percussion/Vocals
and
Donal "Boogie Man" Boyce - Vocals
and also
Rory Bell - Vocals
Tomorrow's Edition (Jerome Gourdine, William Jones, Aaron Mathis and Wesley Thomas) - Vocals
Now continue to Kool Jazz or Light Of Worlds.