Morning Star

That burst of keyboards that kicks off Morning Star isn't just another track on the album Celebrate!; it's the moment when Kool & the Gang's funk takes center stage and refuses to budge. The song shines through its rhythmic construction: a groove that stretches and contracts without ever losing its breath, with a bass line that draws clean contours and a drumbeat that marks the tempo with millimetric precision. It's not the typical eighties party track, where everything boils down to repetition; here, every section breathes differently, as if the song had its own internal pulse. The detail that stands out the most is that dynamic shift in the final minute, where the sound opens up and makes room for the instruments to shine without losing their danceable essence.

The album Celebrate! hit the shelves in late September 1980, and while everyone talked about Celebration for its massive success, Morning Star is the piece that many musicians of the time pointed to as the most innovative. It was recorded in Los Angeles, with Deodato at the helm, and although the entire record has that characteristic shine of the era's studios, this track in particular stands out for how it balances funk energy with jazz touches. Critics at the time, such as Dennis Hunt in the Los Angeles Times, hailed it as one of the album's most solid moments—and not without reason: in under four minutes, the song achieves what many tried and failed to do: sound fresh decades later.