Just when you think that this is just another Kool & the Gang disco compilation - you'd be wrong. Sure, some of the bands greatest hits from the late seventies and early eighties are featured here such as 'Funky Stuff' 'Ladies Night' 'Get Down On It' and 'Celebration' but to name a few, which are all well and truly established pieces of soul music history and helped define the meaning of disco and dance music as we know it today.

It is not these songs that make this new double CD so special, but a number of other lesser known tunes from the band that are finding themselves on CD for the very first time. It is disc two that this review concentrates on which is a mix of gentle jazz influenced workouts and listeners for the first time to this side of the group could be fooled into thinking they were in fact listening to another band. Many of the great records from the group are in fact instrumentals and the opening track 'Breeze and Soul' is a perfect example of excellent keyboard arrangements so typical of the likes of Spyro Gyra, fully complemented by a nice horn and brass arrangement almost giving it a latin flavour. 'Sea Of Tranquility' follows in the same suit and would make perfect late night radio listening before moving onto a live performance of Glen Campbell's hit song from 1968 'Wichita Lineman' - a gentle yet lazy jazzy jam that picks up in tempo before dropping back to a gorgeous trumpet led chorus line - a most unusual choice for this band yet delivered perfectly.

I particularly like the live track 'Lucky For Me' because of its incessant use of the flute much in the same way that Jethro Tull did with his hit 'Living In The Past' and again sees another instrumental that has hints in places of Isaac Hayes' work on 'Shaft' and believe me listening to this track through a quality set of headphones takes you on a magical trip around the world as your mind runs wild with the groove. Track 7 was tailor made for those Blaxploitation movie soundtracks with an effective use of wah wah effects, and a chanting vocal line 'Sugar' followed by a tight groove that the Fatback Band would have been proud of.

I particularly love the next track 'Summer Madness' a lazy weird yet wonderful use of psychedelic keyboard skills to the max, and having recently picked up a video of a US Soul Train performance performing this it really is the ultimate jazz groove and no wonder this track is so popular. Disc 2 does drop back into a couple of hits from the early eighties with 'Jones VS Jones' and the dancer 'Take My Heart' which was, and still is, a good floor filler for me at my live gigs to this day. 'Too Hot' was another hit for the group and fits in nicely amongst those wishing to play something mid way between a ballad and a mid tempo groove.

Kool and the Gang have been around for a long time and have certainly paid their dues over the years. Their early output seemed to be based around the harder side of funk until the late seventies where they found their fame and fortune around the disco groove of the likes of 'Celebration' and 'Get Down On It' - from which thereon they could do no wrong and remained on a roll for a number of years thereafter.

Apart from being a great live act the band were visually brilliant, colourful, and very very talented and the superb vocals of their lead singer James JT Taylor was the perfect blend for a perfect group. Kool and the Gang will go down in history as being one of the all time soul groups of the last forty years and Gangthology is a perfect CD to add to any collection giving the listener a choice of popular dance hits mixed in with some fabulous jazzy instrumental grooves. Please don't class this disc as just another 'Kool' hits package - far from it.

Well recommended.

Rating 8/10