Kool and the Gang are without peers in the jazz-tinged funk genre. Less self-conscious than the Blackbyrds, more versatile than the rest of the competition, the Gang includes a first-class saxophonist and an original arranger/composer in Ronald Bell. His "Street Corner Symphony" fuses energy sax a la Coltrane and Ayler and a taste of Junior Walker with a rhythm track that means business. It fades on Coltrane's rephrasing of "My Favorite Things," transformed into a monster funk riff, and why not? "Higher Plane," the album's big single, is another Bell arrangement, and again his tenor sax soars over the top of tight, post-Sly playing by the rest of the band, with brother Robert "Kool" Bell's deliberate bass and George "Funky" Brown's fatback drums prominent. The rest of the LP is lighter, more open textured and lyrical; group vocals and Rick West's shimmering keyboards are featured. It isn't as spectacular as "Symphony" and "Plane" but it's much better than the filler we've come to expect on hit-centered funk LPs. Kool and company are at present the most musical and resourceful band in a genre plagued by artifice and lack of subtlety, and are to be congratulated for maintaining their exemplary level of musicianship, combining creative arrangements with a supremely heavy bottom, and consistently placing their singles in the Top Ten. (RS 179)

BOB PALMER