Kool & The Gang – Summer Madness (1974)

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Now that I’ve recovered from missing the whole weekend of sun to some pesky lectures, I am ready to mark the joyous mix of today’s commute and searing heat. ‘Summer Madness’ was off Kool & The Gang’s 1974 album Light of Worlds. In 1969, they’d started their own record label, De-lite, without a lead singer. It was to spawn a purple patch of jazz funk instrumentals throughout the early 1970s: ‘Give It Up’, ‘Dujii’, ‘N.T.’ and ‘Funky Stuff’. I mean who hasn’t sampled those last two? DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince preferred ‘Summer Madness’ in 1991.