''Celebrate!'' is the twelfth studio album by American band

Kool & the Gang Kool & the Gang is an American Rhythm and blues, R&B, soul music, soul, and funk band formed in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1964. Its founding members include brothers Robert "Kool" Bell and Ronald Bell (musician), Ronald Bell (also known as " ...

. Released on September 29, 1980, the album reached No. 1 on the US R&B chart and #10 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The album produced perhaps Kool & the Gang's most recognizable hit song, the #1 chart-topper, "

Celebration Celebration or Celebrations may refer to: Film, television and theatre * ''Celebration'' (musical), by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones, 1969 * ''Celebration'' (play), by Harold Pinter, 2000 * ''Celebration'' (TV series), a Canadian music TV serie ...

", which still receives heavy play today over four decades later.

Critical reception

Dennis Hunt of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' called ''Celebrate!'' "the band's mostly excellent new album."

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' gave a C− grade saying "It says something for these funk pioneers that unlike

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

, George Clinton, and the

Ohio Players Ohio Players are an American funk band, most popular in the 1970s. They are best known for their songs "Fire" and " Love Rollercoaster", and for their erotic album covers that featured nude or nearly nude women. Many of the women were models f ...

they've adapted painlessly, nay profitably, to disco: a number-one single leads their Deodato-produced album into the top ten. What it says is that their funk was as bland as you suspected." Amy Hanson of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

found that "''Celebrate'' itself marked the end of an era for Kool & the Gang, as the band would slip even farther from their funk roots and adopted dance grooves into the realms of smooth soul. But what a way to go!" Philip Hall of ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper published between 1954 and 1991, aimed at pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after ''New Musical Express'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK Album ...

'' gave a 3 out of 5 star rating, saying "Kool's Gang play penthouse-suite disco music. Every song gives off an air of easy affluence. There's no soul sound on this album just plenty of precise modern dance music. Though I admire Kool & The Gang for the way they effortlessly create light and airy dance rhythms, the overall feel of the album left me feeling untouched. This is highly efficient, automated disco music designed to keep the night clubbers of the world happy."

Track listing

Personnel

*Bass –

Robert "Kool" Bell Robert Earl "Kool" Bell (born October 8, 1950), also known by the name Muhammad Bayyan, is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He is the last surviving founding member of the American R&B, soul, funk and disco band Kool & the Gang. ...

*Lead guitar – Charles Smith *Keyboards, saxophone, backing vocals – Ronald Bell *Drums, percussion, backing vocals – George Brown *Lead and backing vocals – James "J.T." Taylor *Alto saxophone – Dennis Thomas *Trumpet, backing vocals – Robert Mickens *Keyboards, backing vocals – Earl Toon, Jr. *Keyboards – Kevin Bell *Additional keyboards – Adam Epolito *Backing vocals – Cedric Toon, Meekaeel Muhammad, Robert Bell, Coffee, Something Sweet *Orchestra arranger and conductor –

Eumir Deodato Eumir Deodato de Almeida (; born 22 June 1943) is a Brazilian pianist, composer, arranger and record producer, primarily in jazz but who has been known for his eclectic melding of genres, such as Pop music, pop, Rock music, rock, disco, rhythm a ...

Production *Recording engineer – Jim Bonnefond *Assistant engineers – Bobby Cohen, Clif Hodsdon, Jeff Kawalex, Joe DeAngelis, Jullian Robertson, Kenny Robb *Mixing – Eumir Deodato, Jim Bonnefond, Gabe Vigorito *Mastering – Tom Coyne *Producer – Eumir Deodato *Associate producer – Kool & the Gang *CD mastering – Joe Gastwirt *CD remastering – Joe Gastwirt

Certifications

References

External links

* {{Authority control Kool & the Gang albums 1980 albums De-Lite Records albums Albums produced by Eumir Deodato