1.Love & Understanding - 7:53 (Claydes Smith-Ronald Bell-Kool & The Gang)
2.Sugar - 5:37 (George Brown-Kool & The Gang)
3.Do It Right Now - 3:56 (Otha Nash-Kool & The Gang)
4.Sunshine And Love - 3:46 (Ronald Bell-Kool & The Gang)
5.Hollywood Swinging [live] - 5:43 (Ricky West-Kool & The Gang)
6.Summer Madness [live] - 8:02 (Robert Mickens-Alton Taylor-Kool & The Gang)
7.Universal Sound - 4:06 (Ronald Bell-Kool & The Gang)
8.Come Together - 2:38 (Claydes Smith-Ronald Bell-Kool & The Gang)
Another year another album but unlike the previous years this album was released a great deal earlier - in March, 1976 to be exact.
This album charted #9 R&B and #66 Pop and once again is unsurprisingly unique - it is the only album to my knowledge in "Kool & The Gang's" career to contain studio and live tracks.
The releases from this album were "Love & Understanding (Come Together)". I have information on two types one is a two part track the other has "Sunshine And Love" as the B-side but both are definitely U.S. releases (the reissue liner notes from 1998 onwards do not give chart placements but I know it reached #8 R&B #77 Pop), "Universal Sound" with the B-side being "Ancestral Ceremony" (it reached #71 R&B, #101 Pop) and some others that I don't know but would guess "Do It Right Now" as one.
The theme I have observed in this album is - well it's in the title.
Robert "Kool" Bell - Bass/Vocals
Ronald "Captain" Bell - Tenor Saxophone/Arp/Piano/Alto Flute/Moog/Vocals
Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas - Alto Saxophone/Flute/Congas/Vocals
Robert "Spike" Mickens - Trumpet/Flugelhorn
Claydes "X-Man" Smith - Guitar
Richard Westfield (Ricky "Hollywood Rick" West) - Piano/Clavinet
George "Funky" Brown - Drums/Percussion/Vocals
[Caldwell "Mach 1" Macmillan - Keyboards]
Larry "Wonder Horn" Gittens - Trumpet/Flugelhorn/Vocals
Otha "Other" Nash [Osman Handani] - Trombone/Vocals
and also
The Kay Gees (Kevin Bell - Guitar, Dennis White - Tenor Saxophone, Peter Duarte - Alto Saxophone, Ray Wright - Trombone)
Royal Bayyan - Vocals
Tomorrow�s Edition (Jerome Gourdine, William Jones, Aaron Mathis and Wesley Thomas) - Vocals
Something Sweet (Renee Conley, Cynthia Huggins, Joan (Simiyah) Motley and Beverly Owens) - Vocals
Now continue to Open Sesame.