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Behind the recordThe Story Behind Kool & The Gang's Celebrate!
A harsh review called it automated disco music that left the critic untouched. The album still went straight to No. 1.
A Harsh Review
Philip Hall of Record Mirror did not hold back. He called Celebrate! "penthouse-suite disco music," writing that there was "no soul sound on this album, just plenty of precise modern dance music." He admired the light, airy rhythms but said the album left him "feeling untouched," describing it as "highly efficient, automated disco music designed to keep the night clubbers of the world happy."
Straight To No. 1
Released on September 29, 1980, Celebrate! was Kool & the Gang's twelfth studio album. Whatever one critic thought, record buyers disagreed. The album reached No. 1 on the US R&B chart and climbed to No. 10 on the Billboard 200.
It also gave the band its most recognizable hit, "Celebration," which topped the charts and is still played heavily more than four decades later.
Not Every Critic Agreed
Dennis Hunt of the Los Angeles Times took a different view, calling it "the band's mostly excellent new album." Robert Christgau of The Village Voice was more backhanded, noting the band had adapted to disco "painlessly, nay profitably" while suggesting their funk "was as bland as you suspected."
AllMusic's Amy Hanson later wrote that Celebrate! marked the end of an era, as the band moved further from its funk roots into smooth soul and dance grooves, adding, "but what a way to go!"
Made With Deodato
The album was produced by Brazilian musician Eumir Deodato, who also arranged and conducted the orchestra and worked on the mix. Kool & the Gang served as associate producers. Recording took place at House of Music in West Orange, New Jersey.
This partnership with Deodato, alongside singer James "J.T." Taylor joining the group, helped drive the band's second commercial peak between 1979 and 1986.
The Band Behind It
Kool & the Gang formed in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1964, built around brothers Robert "Kool" Bell and Ronald Bell along with Dennis Thomas, Robert Mickens, Charles Smith and George Brown. By the time of Celebrate!, the lineup had grown to include J.T. Taylor on lead vocals, helping carry the band from its funk beginnings into a new, dance-driven chapter.
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