Spirit of the Boogie
Spirit of the Boogie is the sixth studio album by Kool & the Gang, released in 1975. It can be seen as a follow-up to Wild and Peaceful ; the instrumental "Jungle Jazz" uses the same basic rhythm track heard in "Jungle Boogie", but lets the players improvise on their instruments. References to earlier works can be noticed. "Spirit of the Boogie" features Donald 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 much 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 (Jade song)|Don't Walk Away]" by Jade and "Pump Up [the Volume (song)|Pump Up the Volume]" by M/A/R/R/S; it can also be found as a sample in FL Studio's files.
Track listing
Personnel
;Kool & the Gang- Ronald Bell – arrangements, vocals, acoustic piano, clavinet, ARP synth bass, tenor saxophone, percussion, ARP synthesizer, kalimba, alto flute
- Ricky West – vocals, clavinet, acoustic piano, Moog synthesizer
- Claydes Charles Smith – guitar, arrangements
- Kevin Bell – guitar, arrangements
- Robert "Kool" Bell – bass guitar, vocals, arrangements
- George "Funky" Brown – drums, vocals, percussion, acoustic piano, arrangements
- Dennis "D.T." Thomas – alto saxophone, vocals, flute, percussion, arrangements
- Otha Nash – trombone, vocals, arrangements
- Robert "Spike" Mickens – trumpet, vocals, percussion, arrangements
- Don Boyce – vocals
- Something Sweet – backing vocals
- Producers – Kool & the Gang
- Recorded and Mixed by Harvey Goldberg
- Overdub Engineers – Godfrey Diamond, Alec Head, Ray Janos, Terry Rosiello and Ron St. Germain.
- Mixed at Record Plant.
- Artwork – Frank Daniel and Diane Nelson
- Photography – Henry Arvinger
Charts