Chart entered : 21 March 1987
Chart peak : 45
Since their 1979 breakthrough Kool and the Gang had been one of the most consistent R & B acts in chart terms. Slipping into the yawning gap left by Chic's retreat from making their own records, the boys churned out a string of lightweight funk tunes usually marked by exactly the sort of lyrical inanity the likes of Spandau Ballet and Linx made it their mission to avoid. While many of their contemporaries met the challenge of electro-funk by investing in new synths and drum machines, Kool and the Gang went in the opposite direction and started doing ballads, one of which "Joanna" became their biggest hit in 1984. Although commercially successful, it did encumber them with a rather staid image. Kool had also done well in keeping his Gang together. Keyboard player Earl Toon had been replaced by Curtis Williams in 1982 and Michael Ray ( trumpet ) and Cliff Adams ( trombone ) had been added to the brass section but otherwise the "Ladies Night" line up was intact. .
"Stone Love" was the second single from their 1986 album "Forever" , the previous one "Emergency", having reached number 30. The album didn't chart in the UK so they would have had an inkling that their popularity was on the wane. The song was mainly written by singer James Taylor and guitarist Claydes Smith although the latter's instrument isn't very prominent in the mix and the brass section are discarded in favour of the Fairlight. It's a pleasant enough , synth-led, pop funk number with James as smooth as ever , not strong enough to turn their fortunes around but not evidence for their decline either.
Both singles did significantly better in the U.S. reaching number 10 in both cases. In the US the album yielded two more hits that don't seem to have been released in the UK. "Holiday" is a harder-edged funk track with some outre sax work while "Special Way" is the now-obligatory ballad , an ultra-wet wallow in Lionel Ritchie territory. A fifth single "Peacemaker" , an over-produced, synth-led, AOR number with woolly liberal lyrics , was released in Europe and made number 20 in the Netherlands. At the end of the year the band were told at a business meeting that they were effectively bankrupt and their homes were at risk.
James then decided to leave the group to pursue a solo career, declaring himself bankrupt at the same time. Trumpeter Robert Mickens who was in poor health also departed around this time . Just as James's arrival had sparked a huge upswing in their popularity, so his departure saw their fortunes nosedive. In 1988 they recorded some new tracks for a compilation LP with vocalist Skip Martin who'd previously worked with The Dazz Band. The lead single "Rags To Riches " ( again I'm not sure it was released here ) is a competent urban soul number but with Martin's Larry Blackman snarl and a couple of screaming rock guitar solos it doesn't really sound like them at all. The second single " Strong" featured a different singer, the sweet voiced Gary Brown, is a straight AOR ballad and not bad if you like that sort of thing. Both songs were hits in Germany but nowhere else. Here, where the album didn't chart , we preferred a re-mix of "Celebration" which got to number 56.
Another blow followed in 1989 when saxophonist Ronald Bell decided to sit out their next LP, "Sweat" in 1989. Apart from a couple of syrupy ballads like second single "Never Give Up" , it sees the band dive head first into the prevalent New Jack Swing style but without any strong songs it could be anybody. The lead singles "Raindrops" doesn't stand out from the pack. Only Germany was still interested , the album making number 28 there . "Raindrops" made number 42 their last new song to chart anywhere.
In 1991 a remix of "Get Down On It" was a minor hit in the UK.
The following year they released another album "Unite" with Ronald back on board. They also had another new singer in Odeen Mays. The album was a sprawling affair clocking in at over an hour and seems less concerned with being right up to the minute than its predecessor. There are diversions into old school rap on "Brown", politics with the inserts of sampled speech and reggae on the title track while some of their old melodic assurance is evident on the single "Rhythm and Ride" but there was little interest in the band now . Even in Germany it only scraped a number 94 placing.
In the mid-nineties the band persuaded James to put his misfiring solo career on hold and make another album with them , 1996's "State of Affairs". They were much the stronger for his return and the album is far better than the two made without him. They stick with the modern production techniques and some politics in "Color Line" and "Life In The 90s" but James's way with a tune harks back to previous triumphs. The closing track , the cloying "Reunited" is best avoided though. Alas the album was completely ignored and the band turned away from recording new material.
In 2001 , by which time James had left once more, they released "Gangland" an album featuring unknown rappers on remakes of their old songs. It didn't find a market. In 2003 they guested on Atomic Kitten's cover of "Ladies Night" which reached number 8 in the UK. The following year they had a number 29 hit in Germany assisting Blue and Lil Kim on a cover of "Get Down On It". A third such collaboration, with Jamiroquai re-making "Hollywood Swinging" made no impact anywhere.
At the beginning of 2006 Claydes quit touring due to health and six months later he was dead. Later that year they released a new single "Steppin' Into Love " a snoozy mellow groove which they promoted with an appearance on the Home Shopping Network. It appeared on their next LP "Still Kool" . You can perhaps forgive them for sounding subdued by Claydes's death but the whole album is terribly lacklustre culminating in a Kenny G-style cover of Christopher Cross's already ultra-bland "Sailing".
Still they toiled on . In 2010 they backed a new singer Towanna on "Miss Lead" , a cover of their 1985 hit "Misled". That was hardly their finest hour anyway but re-worked as clumpy electronica with a singer of uncertain talent it sounds much worse. In 2013 they released a Christmas album "Kool for the Holidays"
In 2015 they lost another member when Clifford died.
Still the band refuse to die and just two months ago released a new single "Sexy", an attempt to recapture some of their old funky vibe but it never really catches fire and given the ages of the original band members comes across as a bit Benny Hill. The band went out on tour with other funk veterans like Bootsy Collins and Morris Day last month and promise that a new LP is in the offing.
Earl founded Y.M.O. Enterprises LLC. He was active as a writer and producer in the eighties working with forgotten funk acts like Candela and Motivation and Miami Vice actor Philip Michael Thomas. He later concentrated on working to promote charitable organisations particularly those concerned with children. Last year he released a version of the hymn "The Old Rugged Cross".
Robert continued to be dogged by ill health and died in a nursing home in 2010.
That leaves James. As the voice on all those hits James had no problems getting a solo deal with MCA ( once he'd fought off Polygram who'd opposed his bankruptcy ) and he cut his teeth with a couple of tracks for soundtrack albums. "The Promised Land" for Ghostbusters 2 is a decent moody pop funk number although it's hard to see how its sentiments of political disillusion tie in with the film. The other , "All I Want Is Forever" was from dancing movie Tap and is a stupendously dull duet with Regina Belle written by queen of the glutinous power ballad Dine Warren. It was released as a single but with the film a turkey it wasn't a hit.
Both songs appeared on James' first album "Master of the Game" in 1989 , most of the other tracks being written by James himself. Perhaps unsurprisingly it displays a surer commercial grasp than his ex-bandmates' effort that year but only half of it's any good with the rest being vacuous songs drowning in 80s production cliches. The first single "Sister Rosa" ( nothing to do with Ms Parks ) is a creditable attempt at steamy Michael Jackson pop funk and follow-up " 8 Days A Week " adopts the New Jack Swing style more adeptly than his old band but neither made any impression. James's biggest problem was that people knew the voice but not the name. During the band's heyday, many listeners had assumed he was "Kool" but of course it wasn't his to take with him. Without hit singles the album didn't get out of the R & B chart and even there it didn't perform particularly well.
His second album "Feel The Need" , released under the name JT Taylor in 1991 couldn't manage even that but it did manage to spawn three minor hits in the UK, "Long Hot Summer Night" with its embarrassingly obvious erotic lyrics, "Feel The Need" and "Follow Me". All see James moving to a smooth soul sound; my wife thought it was Simply Red .
His third album "Baby I'm Back " in 1993 featured a couple of writing collaborations with Ronald but made no impact whatsoever and MCA ran out of patience , hence his willingness to re-join the Gang.
He resumed his solo career on Interscope in 1999 with a single "Sex on the Beach" a passable pop R & B number. The following year he released the album "A Brand New Me". James partially makes good on the promise with ventures into electronica and hip hop supervised by producer Marcus Quintanilla who co-wrote most of the tracks. None of it's bad - "New Millennium" is trying a bit too hard to be a party anthem for the moment but it's still listenable - but he just couldn't persuade enough people to listen to him anymore.
Since then James has been touring the oldies separately from the band in the U.S.. He's never performed in Europe as promoters prefer to stick with the group. A couple of years ago he was trailing a new politically motivated album but it's yet to see the light of day.
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