As 1986 rolled around, Kool & The Gang would deliver Forever. It would bring with it several charting singles but be their last certified selling album until 2007. David Quantick of NME would sum up his review by saying, "two thirds of the time, Kool And The Gang are not terribly interesting. Forever is one of those thirds." Ouch, David. I mean, I won't say you're wrong.
Five singles would race up the various charts, including the Billboard Hot 100. These included Victory, and Stone Love, which both peaked at number ten on the Billboard. This was followed by Holiday, which reached the top ten on the R&B charts, Special Way, which peaked at number six on the Adult Contemporary charts, and Peacemaker, which was an international success, reaching number twenty in New Zealand.
What I noticed right away was their departure from funk R&B, adopting a more synth pop sound. In my book, that's not a bad thing, and keeps in line with 1984's Emergency, not only their biggest selling album to date, but which contains my favorites from The Gang.
When I initially was listening to Victory, I had to scoff at it for what I felt was a blatant rip off, or perhaps better stated, capitalization of The Jackson's 1984 album title. However, I suppose it's worth noting that by this time in 1986, Kool & The Gang actually had more charting hits than Michael Jackson. Oh well, Bad was just around the corner. Once I got over my personal hangup, Victory is a solid tune.
Other standout tracks include I.B.M.C., Stone Love, and Peace Maker. I was also quite surprised to find myself enjoying the ballad, Broadway. However, with that said, I don't understand why within the last three of four tracks of their albums that they take such a steep nosedive. Every time this has happened. It's as if they run out of material, know this, but have another fifteen minutes to fill. Candidly, it would be refreshing for an album that had hit after hit for twenty minutes, and when you flip it over, the band just says, "Sorry, we're out of material, but thanks for buying our record. See you next time." I guess that's called an E.P., but hopefully you get what I mean. Stop throwing filler on an album just for the sake of extending the runtime.
After completing a fifty-city tour in 1987, Kool & The Gang were at a crossroads. They had been talking about pursuing solo projects or even breaking off into two or three sub-groups, but perhaps what nobody expected was that singer, James "J.T." Taylor, would announce his departure to go solo. Poor health would also see original trumpet player, Robert "Spike" Mickens, stepping away from the band.
Despite the loss of two key members, the band would refocus, and return in 1989 with Sweat, featuring new vocalists, Sennie "Skip" Martin, Odeen Mays, and Gary Brown. It would contain minor hits but fail to sell enough units to be certified. In fact, it wouldn't be until their 2007 album, Still Kool, that the band would finally achieve this again, but not in the US.
Taylor would return in 1996 for what was hailed as the band's comeback album, State Of Affairs. Unfortunately, as most comeback albums faired during the era of grunge, it was mostly overlooked. Taylor would depart again in 1999.
In between that, and since then, the lineup of the band would continue to change, but they'd continue to release albums, and tour. Their most recent being 2023's People Just Wanna Have Fun.
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