Kool & The Gang

Artist : Kool & The Gang Album : The Hits Reloaded (PT Aquarius Musikindo)

Featuring almost two dozen of Kool & The Gang's remade classics and about the same number of collaborators, from Ashanti, Li'l Kim, Angie Stone to Sean Paul and Blackstreet.

That means there should be something a fan can savor from this compilation album, right? Well, not really.

Most of the new musical arrangements turn out to be merely cosmetic, with no trace of the soul and punch which made the song an outstanding hit.

Get Down On It, with Blue and Lil' Kim, for instance, is slower and without the campiness of the original song. Ditto with the seminal yet sweet Cherish, which becomes soulless.

Jungle Boogie and Funky Stuff, meanwhile, are too typical and generic hip hop/R&B numbers.

Not all of them are disappointing, though. For instance, singer Jamelia gives freshness to Straight Ahead, while Jimmy Clift & Bounty Killer are groovin' on (Oh Lalala) Let's Go Dancin', and Youssou N'Dour gives new color to Summer Madness.

But it seems that the conventional hit compilation is the way this album should have been recorded. -- Hera Diani