(The guitar in particular harmonizes incredibly with the Rhodes, to the point where the reverb on the former instrument sounds like an element of the latter.) The ghostly Mellotron strings and gleaming Fender Rhodes underpin the groove well before the ARP comes in set the scene, but it’s that interplay between Robert “Kool” Bell’s dynamic, miles-deep, fret-clanging bassline and Claydes Charles Smith’s jazz-schooled guitar that grab your attention and keep it. It’d also be a damn shame if I didn’t mention every other element that makes “Summer Madness” so amazing, though - after all, that solo’s just the climactic run-up to the end of the song, and the musicians that get us there put in major work themselves. That Bayyan isn’t namechecked along with Stevie, Junie, Bernie, and any other number of synth-soul masters of the ’70s just off this performance alone is a damn shame. Khalis Bayyan’s performance whirring out spaceship-takeoff noises on the ARP is what turns the most heads, especially since he lays out that solo in the song’s second half that pulls off the rare feat of sounding delicate yet intense: the synth tone is this airy, chirping squeal that Bayyan turns from a breezy glide into this nimbly emphatic ascension worthy of their most cosmic ECM space-jazz contemporaries. #35 Billboard Hot 100 #36 Hot Soul Singles.Ībove everything else, “Summer Madness” is a song that, like the best Stevie Wonder and Westbound-era Ohio Players classics, proved in the early-mid ’70s that synthesizers could be soulful. The Original: Kool & The Gang, “Summer Madness” (from Light Of Worlds, De-Lite, 1974). And once producers figured out how best to use its evocative tones for their own purposes, whether they were barbecue-soundtracking celebrations or slow-driving late-night rumination sessions, every summer of the last 30 years has passed with a new way to experience it. It’s an emotionally versatile song - euphoric from one angle, mournful from another, contemplative and deeply alive all at once. And I mean “well-loved” in both the “widely revered” and “often used” senses.īetween people who’ve played Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, saw You Got Served and Girls Trip and Rocky, and listened to just about any major hip-hop act over the last 30 years, it’s safe to say that it’s one of the most well-traveled R&B instrumentals ever recorded. There’s not necessarily a go-to soundtrack for this particular moment - yeah, I know the Doors gave it a shot - but for times when the sun’s going down earlier than you’d like, and daytime 70s recede to evening 50s, zoning out to a good song that sneaks some autumnal wistfulness underneath its effortlessly sunny summer vibe is a solid prescription.Īnd few songs really capture that feeling without words like “Summer Madness,” the Kool & The Gang instrumental that’s become one of their most well-loved signature songs. I know it probably doesn’t feel like it where you are, but the calendar doesn’t lie: It really is the last week of summer, and at some point soon, daylight’s going to feel precious and scarce even if it’s still shorts weather.Īnd if you’re anything like me, this time of year feels like the ideal state of summer, when the heat’s no longer oppressive and all the residual malaise of school-age end-of-summer-vacation anxiety has finally receded from your subconscious. Breaks With Tradition is a new Stereogum column that examines a certain song that’s been frequently sampled and how that song has been used through the years.
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