For more than a half century, Kool & The Gang have been synonymous with a special, ever-changing kind of soul music - blending rhythm and blues, disco, jazz and funk, with a few decades of hits as a result. Edsel will celebrate Kool's legacy with a series of box sets starting with The Albums Vol. 1, a 13CD set including the group's studio and live output from the majority of their time together during the '70s.

Formed by a troupe of high school friends in Jersey City, NJ (including brothers Robert "Kool" and Ronald Bell on bass and keyboards, trumpeter Robert "Spike" Mickens, and Dennis "D.T." Thomas on trombone), Kool & The Gang signed to manager Gene Redd's De-Lite label, recording a bevy of diverse albums that defied easy pigeonholing. As a result, success was slow to find them for a few years. Things changed with 1973's Wild and Peaceful, a Top 40 pop album and Top 10 soul album that spun off two stone-cold dance classics: "Jungle Boogie" and "Hollywood Swinging," both of which became Top 10 pop hits.

A myriad of songs from this era would take hold of dance floors as disco began to take hold of the public imagination, including the instrumental "Summer Madness" and the title track to 1976's Open Sesame, featured a year later on the best-selling soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever. "Madness" and "N.T.," the opening track to the group's second concert album Live At PJ's (1971), also became killer texts for hip-hop acts, with the former becoming the backbone of DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's beloved hit "Summertime" and the latter offering a drum break that powered Nas' "It Ain't Hard to Tell."

After the period covered in this box, Kool & The Gang would enter a sustained hot streak on the pop charts, amassing another 10 Top 10 pop hits in disco and soulful vocal styles. But what this box may lack in chart hits, it certainly isn't missing heart; it's the most definitive package on Kool's early years ever assembled. (With the Vol. 1 marker, it's a good bet that Edsel will be covering later periods.) The Gang would continue to record and tour through the decades, releasing an album, Perfect Union, through Omnivore last year. It was the last works of both Ronald Bell (who since took the name Khalis Bayyan after joining The Nation of Islam in the '70s) and Dennis "D.T." Thomas, who passed away in 2020 and 2021.

The Albums Vol. 1 includes Kool & The Gang's first dozen De-Lite LPs as well as a 13th bonus disc, Singles Selection, offering 18 notable single versions and non-LP B-sides from the same period. It'll be available June 17 from Edsel; check out the full track list below!

The Albums Vol. 1 (1970-1978) (Edsel EDSL0102 (U.K.), 2022) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Disc 1: Kool & The Gang (De-Lite DE-2003, 1969/1970)

1. Kool & The Gang
2. Breeze & Soul
3. Chocolate Buttermilk
4. Sea of Tranquility
5. Give It Up
6. Since I Lost My Baby
7. Kool's Back Again
8. The Gang's Back Again
9. Raw Hamburger

Disc 2: Live At The Sex Machine (De-Lite DE-2008, 1971)

1. Medley: What Would the World Be Like Without Music/Let the Music Take Your Mind
2. Walk On By
3. Chocolate Buttermilk
4. Trying to Make a Fool of Me
5. Who's Gonna Take the Weight (Part 1 & 2)
6. Pneumonia
7. Wichita Lineman
8. I Want to Take You Higher
9. Funky Man
10. The Touch of You

Disc 3: Live At P.J.'s (De-Lite DE-2010, 1971)

1. N.T.
2. Ricksonata
3. Sombrero Sam
4. Ronnie's Groove
5. Ike's Mood/You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling
6. Lucky for Me
7. Dujii

Disc 4: Music is the Message (De-Lite DEP-2011, 1972)

1. Music is the Message
2. Electric Frog (Part 1)
3. Electric Frog (Part 2)
4. Soul Vibrations
5. Love the Life You Live (Part 1)
6. Love the Life You Live (Part 2)
7. Stop, Look & Listen
8. Blowing with the Wind
9. Funky Granny

Disc 5: Good Times (De-Lite DEP-2012, 1972)

1. Good Times
2. Country Junky
3. Wild is Love
4. North, East, South, West
5. Making Merry Music
6. I Remember John W. Coltrane
7. Rated X
8. Father, Father

Disc 6: Wild and Peaceful (De-Lite DEP-2013, 1973)

1. Funky Stuff
2. More Funky Stuff
3. Jungle Boogie
4. Heaven At Once
5. Hollywood Swinging
6. This is You, This is Me
7. Life is What You Make It
8. Wild and Peaceful

Disc 7: Light of Worlds (De-Lite DEP-2014, 1974)

1. Street Corner Symphony
2. Fruitman
3. Rhyme Tyme People
4. Light of Worlds
5. Whiting H. & G.
6. You Don't Have to Change
7. Higher Plane
8. Summer Madness
9. Here After

Disc 8: Spirit of the Boogie (De-Lite DEP-2016, 1975)

1. Spirit of the Boogie
2. Ride the Rhythm
3. Jungle Jazz
4. Sunshine and Love
5. Ancestral Ceremony
6. Mother Earth
7. Winter Sadness
8. Caribbean Festival

Disc 9: Love & Understanding (De-Lite DEP-2018, 1976)

1. Love & Understanding
2. Sugar
3. Do It Right Now
4. Cosmic Energy
5. Hollywood Swinging (Live)
6. Summer Madness (Live)
7. Universal Sound (Live)
8. Come Together (Live)

Disc 10: Open Sesame (De-Lite DEP-2023, 1976)

1. Open Sesame
2. Gift of Love
3. Little Children
4. All Night Long
5. Whisper Softly
6. Super Band
7. L-O-V-E
8. Sunshine

Disc 11: The Force (De-Lite DSR-9501, 1977)

1. A Place in Space
2. Slick Superchick
3. Just Be True
4. The Force
5. Mighty Mighty High
6. Oasis
7. Life's a Song
8. Free

Disc 12: Everybody's Dancin' (De-Lite DSR-9509, 1978)

1. Everybody's Dancin'
2. Dancin' Shoes
3. Big Chief Funkum
4. I Like Music
5. You Deserve a Break Today
6. At the Party
7. Stay Awhile
8. It's All You Need
9. Peace to the Universe

Disc 13: Singles Selection

1. Raw Hamburger (7" Version)
2. Let the Music Take Your Mind (Single Version)
3. Can't Stop (Doing It to You)
4. Kool It (Here Comes the Fuzz)
5. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8
6. Who's Gonna Take the Weight (Pt. 1)
7. Pneumonia (Single Version)
8. The Penguin
9. Higher Plane (Single Edit)
10. Spirit of the Boogie (Edit)
11. Caribbean Festival
12. Caribbean Festival (Disco Version)
13. Get Down with the Boogie
14. Open Sesame (Groove with the Genie)
15. Love & Understanding (Come Together) (Single Version)
16. Super Band (7" Version)
17. Slick Superchick (Single Version)
18. Everybody's Dancin' (Single Version)

Track 1 from B-side of "Kool & The Gang" - De-Lite DE-519, 1969
Track 2 from De-Lite single DE-529, 1969
Tracks 3-4 released as De-Lite single DE-525, 1970
Track 5 from B-side of "Funky Man" - De-Lite DE-534, 1970
Track 6 from De-Lite single DE-538, 1971
Track 7 from B-side of "I Want to Take You Higher" - De-Lite DE-540, 1971
Track 8 from De-Lite single DE-543, 1971
Track 9 from De-Lite single DEP-1562, 1974
Track 10 from De-Lite single DEP-1567, 1975
Tracks 11-12 released as De-Lite single DEP-1573, 1975
Track 13 from B-side of "Spirit of the Boogie" U.K. single - Polydor 2001 566, 1975
Track 14 from De-Lite single DEP-1586, 1976
Track 15 from De-Lite single DEP-1579, 1976
Track 16 from De-Lite single DE-1590, 1976
Track 17 from De-Lite single DE-901, 1977
Track 18 from De-Lite single DE-910, 1978