Forever is the seventeenth studio album by the funk band Kool & the Gang, released in 1986. The album included two major hits on the US Hot 100 Chart: "Victory" (US #10, R&B #2) and "Stone Love" (US #10, R&B #4). Three additional singles charted, "Holiday" reached the top ten on the R&B Chart, "Special Way" reached #6 on the Adult Contemporary chart. and "Peacemaker" was released in international markets and charted at #20 in New Zealand.
After this album, lead vocalist James "J.T." Taylor left the group to pursue a solo career. He returned in 1996 for the State of Affairs album.
Reception David Quantick of NME said, " two thirds of the time, Kool And The Gang are not terribly interesting. Forever is one of those thirds. It contains some lovely harmonising on the title track, some very vague hopes for peace and love, and about one decent song, a reasonably active affair called "Holiday" which bounces along happily and advises us once more to celebrate. This record is not excessively striking and soon I shall have forgotten it."
Track listing
Personnel
Kool & The Gang James "J.T." Taylor – all vocals (1, 3, 4, 7, 8), lead vocals (2, 5, 6, 9), percussion Khalis Bayyan – keyboards, saxophone Curtis "Fitz" Williams – keyboards Charles Smith – guitars Robert "Kool" Bell – bass George Brown – drums Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas – alto saxophone Clifford Adams – trombone Robert "Spike" Mickens – trumpet Michael Ray – trumpet
Additional musicians Randy Taylor-Weber – synthesizer programming, creative software programming Mark Attalla – instruments Kendal Stubbs – instruments, drum programming, backing vocals (2, 5, 6, 9) Alex Williams – instruments Bert Clardy – backing vocals (2, 5, 6, 9) Jeff Clardy – backing vocals (2, 5, 6, 9) Lisa Foster – backing vocals (2, 5, 6, 9) Barbara Hernandez – backing vocals (2, 5, 6, 9) Starleana Young – backing vocals (2, 5, 6, 9) Kool & the Gang – backing vocals (6)
Production Gabe Vigorito – executive producer Kool & the Gang – producers Khalis Bayyan – producer, mixing I.B.M.C. Group (Khalis Bayyan, Peter Duarte, Meekaaeel Muhammad, Kendal Stubbs and Randy Taylor/Weber) – producers, recording Jay Biolic – recording Alex Williams – recording Craig Vogel – second engineer Peter Duarte – assistant engineer Roger Talkov – assistant engineer Kendal Stubbs – mixing Herb Powers Jr. – mastering at Frankford/Wayne Mastering Labs (New York, NY) Bill Levy – art direction George Corsillo – design Gil Gilbert – cover photography Carl Davis for Lemans Designs – fashions Rosalyn Burns-Brock – make-up
Certifications
References