I've been waiting YEARS for these albums to get the remastered treatment.There will be bonus tracks,12" extended versions,liner notes,rare photos....the works! BBR does a wonderful job with remastering classic albums.I'm thrilled!

Shoot, I got excited when I saw the title of this thread but I was hoping for reissues of the early stuff.

SoulAlive said:

Ladies Night is a disco classic.It's the soundtrack to a night of partying and dancing in 1979....a non-stop groovefest that doesn't slow down until the very end ("Too Hot").

Something Special is the best Kool & The Gang album of the J.T. years.Every song is excellent!

I'm not Hatin'!

I got mad respect for Kool & The Gang, but they were always a bit of a turnoff for me, because they were too pop sounding.

It was watered down R&B, so much you couldn't recognize the flavor.

White folks love them some Kool & The Gang!!

SoulAlive said:

Ladies Night is a disco classic.It's the soundtrack to a night of partying and dancing in 1979....a non-stop groovefest that doesn't slow down until the very end ("Too Hot").

Something Special is the best Kool & The Gang album of the J.T. years.Every song is excellent!

Ladies Night never gets old because of that killer bassline. I never bought the album.

I do agree that Something Special was a great album from beginning to end. I used

to play the first side of that album to death. I like As One about as much too. I know

it doesn't get as much love as some of the other KTG albums because the leadoff

single Big Fun didn't get a lot of exposure but it still was a nice groovin jam. Ooh La La

Let's Go Dancin was the biggest hit from the album and it was great live. My favorites

were the funky Street Kids(very underrated KTG jam) and Hi De Hi Hi De Ho.

I won't be gettin the remasters but you just gave me the motivation to go ahead

and convert my KTG albums to MP3's.

G3000 said:

I'm not Hatin'!

I got mad respect for Kool & The Gang, but they were always a bit of a turnoff for me, because they were too pop sounding.

It was watered down R&B, so much you couldn't recognize the flavor.

White folks love them some Kool & The Gang!!

I kind of agree with you if you are referring to the later version of the group but for much of the seventies they were very funky and not at all pop. There's a reason that George Clinton name checked them in "Let's Take It to the Stage." Unfortunately most of those albums are out of print.

To hear the funkier side of the band try this:

[img:$uid]http://www.victoraudio.hu/files/imagecache/product_full/3_168.jpg[/img:$uid]

And I happen to be a white folk who does not love himself some (later) Kool and the Gang.

rialb said:

G3000 said:

I'm not Hatin'!

I got mad respect for Kool & The Gang, but they were always a bit of a turnoff for me, because they were too pop sounding.

It was watered down R&B, so much you couldn't recognize the flavor.

White folks love them some Kool & The Gang!!

I kind of agree with you if you are referring to the later version of the group but for much of the seventies they were very funky and not at all pop. There's a reason that George Clinton name checked them in "Let's Take It to the Stage." Unfortunately most of those albums are out of print.

To hear the funkier side of the band try this:

[img:$uid]http://www.victoraudio.hu/files/imagecache/product_full/3_168.jpg[/img:$uid]

And I happen to be a white folk who does not love himself some (later) Kool and the Gang.

Ah quit frontin. I know you sway from side to side with your hand in the air dancin

to Cherish. Seriously though i knew these guys had pop appeal during the JT

years but i didn't know how huge it was until i saw these guys at a music festival in

2001. When these guys took the stage as the headliner it looked like a damn stadium

concert at Wembley. People were still coming well after they took the stage. I guess

they have the old funk/jazz fans as well as the pop era fans.

YES! i should have been more specific! The 70's K&TG are way funky, the 80's version...well that's just a whole other thing. They made more money, that's for sure! It's sad they had to change their sound to make the money!

And I happen to be a white folk who does not love himself some (later) Kool and the Gang.

I see these albums in the used record store all the time for about $2.

phunkdaddy said:

SoulAlive said:

Ladies Night is a disco classic.It's the soundtrack to a night of partying and dancing in 1979....a non-stop groovefest that doesn't slow down until the very end ("Too Hot").

Something Special is the best Kool & The Gang album of the J.T. years.Every song is excellent!

Ladies Night never gets old because of that killer bassline. I never bought the album.

I do agree that Something Special was a great album from beginning to end. I used

to play the first side of that album to death. I like As One about as much too. I know

it doesn't get as much love as some of the other KTG albums because the leadoff

single Big Fun didn't get a lot of exposure but it still was a nice groovin jam. Ooh La La

Let's Go Dancin was the biggest hit from the album and it was great live. My favorites

were the funky Street Kids(very underrated KTG jam) and Hi De Hi Hi De Ho.

I won't be gettin the remasters but you just gave me the motivation to go ahead

and convert my KTG albums to MP3's.

I have As One on CD but haven't played it in years.Compared to their other albums from the 80s,it was a bomb.The guys spent most of 1982 on the road and didn't have enough time to record a great album.The lead single "Big Fun" was very formulaic and unispired,and was quickly forgotten.

G3000 said:

YES! i should have been more specific! The 70's K&TG are way funky, the 80's version...well that's just a whole other thing. They made more money, that's for sure! It's sad they had to change their sound to make the money!

I think it's cool that they have two different "sounds".....there's the gritty,hardcore jazz/funk of the 70s,plus the commercial,smoothed out R&B/pop of the 80s.I like their music from both periods.Many funk bands began tinkering with their sound in the early 80s (Cameo,Bar Kays,Earth Wind and Fire,The Commodores),it's what they had to do to survive.

SoulAlive said:

G3000 said:

YES! i should have been more specific! The 70's K&TG are way funky, the 80's version...well that's just a whole other thing. They made more money, that's for sure! It's sad they had to change their sound to make the money!

I think it's cool that they have two different "sounds".....there's the gritty,hardcore jazz/funk of the 70s,plus the commercial,smoothed out R&B/pop of the 80s.I like their music from both periods.Many funk bands began tinkering with their sound in the early 80s (Cameo,Bar Kays,Earth Wind and Fire,The Commodores),it's what they had to do to survive.

yup

SoulAlive said:

G3000 said:

YES! i should have been more specific! The 70's K&TG are way funky, the 80's version...well that's just a whole other thing. They made more money, that's for sure! It's sad they had to change their sound to make the money!

I think it's cool that they have two different "sounds".....there's the gritty,hardcore jazz/funk of the 70s,plus the commercial,smoothed out R&B/pop of the 80s.I like their music from both periods.Many funk bands began tinkering with their sound in the early 80s (Cameo,Bar Kays,Earth Wind and Fire,The Commodores),it's what they had to do to survive.

While I am not a fan of their more poppish sound I will give them credit for being able to make the transition from seventies funk to eighties pop. Had they stuck with their old sound they would not have had anywhere near the level of success that they did. It's not an easy thing to do. My only beef is that the old albums are somewhat scarce.

rialb said:

SoulAlive said:

I think it's cool that they have two different "sounds".....there's the gritty,hardcore jazz/funk of the 70s,plus the commercial,smoothed out R&B/pop of the 80s.I like their music from both periods.Many funk bands began tinkering with their sound in the early 80s (Cameo,Bar Kays,Earth Wind and Fire,The Commodores),it's what they had to do to survive.

While I am not a fan of their more poppish sound I will give them credit for being able to make the transition from seventies funk to eighties pop. Had they stuck with their old sound they would not have had anywhere near the level of success that they did. It's not an easy thing to do. My only beef is that the old albums are somewhat scarce.

if they had stuck with their original sound,they would have never survived into the 80s.They would have been 'over' by the end of the 70s.

MickyDolenz said:

I see these albums in the used record store all the time for about $2.

I recently bought mint copies of Ladies Night and Something Special on vinyl.

SoulAlive said:

phunkdaddy said:

Ladies Night never gets old because of that killer bassline. I never bought the album.

I do agree that Something Special was a great album from beginning to end. I used

to play the first side of that album to death. I like As One about as much too. I know

it doesn't get as much love as some of the other KTG albums because the leadoff

single Big Fun didn't get a lot of exposure but it still was a nice groovin jam. Ooh La La

Let's Go Dancin was the biggest hit from the album and it was great live. My favorites

were the funky Street Kids(very underrated KTG jam) and Hi De Hi Hi De Ho.

I won't be gettin the remasters but you just gave me the motivation to go ahead

and convert my KTG albums to MP3's.

I have As One on CD but haven't played it in years.Compared to their other albums from the 80s,it was a bomb.The guys spent most of 1982 on the road and didn't have enough time to record a great album.The lead single "Big Fun" was very formulaic and unispired,and was quickly forgotten.

I thought it was better than In The Heart and Forever.

phunkdaddy said:

SoulAlive said:

I have As One on CD but haven't played it in years.Compared to their other albums from the 80s,it was a bomb.The guys spent most of 1982 on the road and didn't have enough time to record a great album.The lead single "Big Fun" was very formulaic and unispired,and was quickly forgotten.

I thought it was better than In The Heart and Forever.

really? but I do agree,it is better than Forever,which is a weak album.

Not saying In the Heart was a total wash but i was just lukeward towards it. I

remember when i first heard Joanna i thought it was a song from an older

Kool album. I was surprised it was a new song. The highlights from that

album for me was the title track, Tonight, and Rollin. They came back in a

big way with Emergency. Forever as a whole was just

phunkdaddy said:

Not saying In the Heart was a total wash but i was just lukewarm towards it. I

remember when i first heard Joanna i thought it was a song from an older

Kool album. I was surprised it was a new song. The highlights from that

album for me was the title track, Tonight, and Rollin. They came back in a

big way with Emergency. Forever as a whole was just

I guess we could say that In The Heart was when they truly ventured into pop? "Joanna" was a pure pop single,and "Tonight" had a rock flavor to it."September Love",which I like alot,is a pure pop/adult contemporary ballad.Still,it's a great album.

The only great song on Forever is the second single "Stone Love" Everything else is mediocore.I barely even remember what it sounds like,lol.That album is forgettable.

I guesss Forever was so mediocre Big Break isn't even remastering it.

I like Victory despite the cheesy lyrics(can't help but like the music), IBMC,

and Stone Love. The rest was total crap.

phunkdaddy said:

I guesss Forever was so mediocre Big Break isn't even remastering it.

I like Victory despite the cheesy lyrics(can't help but like the music), IBMC,

and Stone Love. The rest was total crap.

pretty much