Friday Forgotten Song: Summer Madness by Kool & the Gang

Sampled years later by Will Smith for the background in his ‘Summertime’ ditty, among others, Summer Madness had to be one of the unforeseen strains to come out of the Light of World LP on its release in ’74. I think I flattened every groove on my copy of the album back then before the year was out, the deepest for this track. Likely one of the most successful B-side numbers from the days where the 45 was still king, it did make quite a mark on radio air. An instrumental that played across R&B, jazz, and pop stations, at least around SoCal for sure.