POP MUSIC REVIEW : KOOL & THE GANG RELIABLY BLENDS ROCK, REGGAE, JAZZ

Kool & the Gang is a pop-funk-rock band that has miraculously passed from the ‘70s into the late ‘80s relatively untouched by the influence of the Minneapolis sound and/or the advent of the Linn drum. For that alone, the Gang deserves credit, but Saturday’s sold-out Universal Amphitheatre show demonstrated the group deserves praise for more than these welcome acts of omission.

The versatile outfit still manages to work bits of rock, reggae and jazz into the show, even though the R&B; sound has become more streamlined over the years and the balladic funk has become a bit perfunctory on record as of late. There was silly (but highly enjoyable) choreography among the nine road members, a la the Jacksons; Charles Smith’s fine (and under-used) solo guitar playing even brought to mind Funkadelic’s unbashful intermingling of rock and funk. Older associations, but not bad ones, any of ‘em.

Still, it’s hard to maintain great faith in a group--even one as outrightly show-bizzy from the start as this one--when commercialism is allowed to run so crassly rampant. A large neon sign advertising a major soft drink stayed lit behind the band nearly all evening. Just who or what is the “real thing” here?