"Spirit of the Boogie" is the highly successful 6th studio album released in 1975 by Kool & the Gang. It can be seen as a follow-up to Wild and Peaceful (1973); The instrumental "Jungle Jazz" uses the same basic rhythm track heard in "Jungle Boogie", but lets the players improvise on their instruments (saxophone, trumpet and flute). References to earlier works can be noticed ("Ancestral Ceremony" contains the line: "making merry music...", which was the name of a song from their 1972 album, Good Times). "Spirit of the Boogie" features Donal Boyce, who was rapping on "Jungle Boogie". Some African influence can be felt, and the band even play in a West-Indian style on "Caribbean Festival", another instrumental track, with once more lots of room for improvisation. The LP cover mistakenly lists "Cosmic Energy" as track 4 instead of "Sunshine and Love". "Cosmic Energy" was actually released on the next album, Love & Understanding. In one of the songs in the album, entitled "Jungle Jazz", the repetitive drum beat that is heard after the drum fill at the beginning has been sampled in over 50 songs, including "Don't Walk Away" by Jade and "Pump Up The Volume" by M/A/R/R/S; it can also be found as a sample in FL Studio's files.
~Wikipedia
Discussing Kool & the Gang in the early '70s, James Brown enthused, "They're the second-baddest out there...They make such bad records that you got to be careful when you play a new tape on the way home from the record store. Their groove is so strong you could wreck." And that really says it all. Kool & the Gang were funk's kings in 1975, and Spirit of the Boogie was the finest album they ever recorded the staggering climax of their development thus far. The record-buying public thought so too the album gave the band their first Top Five R&B hit. Spirit of the Boogie may have been first and foremost a funk masterpiece, but it was also so much more. From the African art on the foldout sleeve to the spiritual and musical purity of many of the songs, this album not only bound the band's reverence for their roots to a blistering, street-smart funk, but also demonstrated a keen awareness of their own role in their musical odyssey. "Ancestral Ceremony" pays homage by quoting from Kool's earlier songs, while "Jungle Jazz" tracks back to the original pounding jams that imbibed 1973's "Jungle Boogie." The title track, meanwhile, is quintessential Kool & the Gang fiery funk which is kept in check by rhythm and chant. It gave the band a springtime number one on the R&B charts their third. This is a phenomenal set, a superlative album. And because the grooves are so strong, it's easy to forgive weak moments most especially the mawkish "Sunshine and Love." Kool & the Gang were outstanding during this period, before they caught the disco bug. Spirit of the Boogie remains a proud achievement.
Release of this album: 1975, August [LP De-Lite Records, Cat.# DEP-2016, USA]
Release of this CD: 2018, May, 16 [CD Mercury Records/Universal Music (Japan), Cat.# UICY-78724, EAN: 4988031275344]
A Mercury Records release. ℗© 1975 UMG Recordings, Inc.
USM Japan, a Universal Music Company
Marketed & Distributed by Universal Music LLC, Japan

Note: Remastered Reissue, a part of 'Disco Fever 40' Series.

Credits:

Alto Saxophone, Flute, Vocals, Percussion - Dennis D.T. Thomas
Backing Vocals - Something Sweet (tracks: 4 to 6)
Bass, Vocals - Robert Kool Bell
Drums, Piano, Vocals - George Brown
Engineer - Harvey Goldberg
Guitar - Amir Bayyan (tracks: 2, 4, 6), Claydes Smith
Keyboards [Clavinet], Saxophone [Tenor], Synthesizer [Arp], Vocals, Piano, Bass - Khalis Bayyan
Producer - Kool & The Gang
Trombone, Vocals - Otha Nash (tracks: 1, 2, 4 to 6)
Trumpet, Vocals - Robert Spike Mickens
Vocals, Keyboards [Clavinet], Synthesizer [Moog], Piano - Ricky West

Tracklist:

01. Spirit Of The Boogie (04:53)
02. Ride The Rhythm (02:56)
03. Jungle Jazz (04:50)
04. Sunshine And Love (03:49)
05. Ancestral Ceremony (03:38)
06. Mother Earth (05:41)
07. Winter Sadness (05:07)
08. Caribbean Festival (07:33)
password: BlondStyle