Everybody's Dancin'

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Everybody's Dancin'
Everybody's Dancin1978.JPG
Studio album by
Kool & the Gang
ReleasedOctober 1978
Genre Disco, funk
Length35:58
Label De-Lite
Producer Kool and the Gang, Ronald Bell
Kool & the Gang chronology
The Force
(1977)		Everybody's Dancin'
(1978)		 Ladies' Night
(1979)

Everybody's Dancin' is a studio album by the American band Kool & the Gang, released in 1978. It peaked at No. 71 on Billboard's Top Black Albums chart. [1]

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]

In 1978, despite their music's recent feature in Saturday Night Fever , Kool & the Gang were "at a low point" [3] of commercial decline. [4]

The Rolling Stone wrote that the band struggled to maintain its relevance in the disco world, despite a prominent horn section. [3] Speaking of the circa-1978 era, drummer George "Funky" Brown stated, "We tried our version of disco. It didn't work." [3]

The Detroit Free Press opined that "Kool and the Gang have gone bland," noting that "they've joined the disco lemmings...The edge has gone". [5]

Predecessor to commercial success

The year of its release, the band played at a record store to promote Everybody's Dancin'.[ where? ] When nobody showed up for the performance, the band was "humiliated".[ citation needed ] Ronald Bell recalled that a teenager visiting the store told the band "something they all vaguely sensed": that despite the success of "Jungle Boogie" (1973), "Hollywood Swinging" (1974), and "Funky Stuff" (1973), Kool & the Gang was "now...washed up". Bell claimed he took it as a wake-up call to "make something pop" the next time the band was in the studio.

The following year, producer Eumir Deodato arranged for traditional choruses, a front man vocalist (J. T. Taylor) and the band released Ladies' Night. It was their first major success and their first album to go platinum. [3]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Everybody's Dancin'" Ronald Bell 8:02
2."Dancin' Shoes" Claydes Smith 3:54
3."Big Chief Funkum"Ronald Bell4:50
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."I Like Music"Ronald Bell3:37
2."You Deserve a Break Today"Ronald Bell, Deborah Bell3:36
3."At the Party"Ronald Bell3:30
4."Stay Awhile"George Brown, Cynthia Huggins4:43
5."It's All You Need"Claydes Smith3:13
6."Peace to the Universe"Claydes Smith0:33

References

  1. ↑ "Kool & the Gang". Billboard. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
  2. ↑ "Kool & the Gang: Everybody's Dancin’" at AllMusic. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "He Sang Kool & the Gang's Hits. Now He's Headed to Rock Hall of Fame". Rolling Stone . December 5, 2024. Archived from the original on December 5, 2024. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  4. ↑ "WBSS Media-Clifford Adams". October 8, 2022. Archived from the original on October 8, 2022. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  5. ↑ Duffy, Mike (December 31, 1978). "Kool and his gang have gone bland". Detroit Free Press. p. 4B.
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