Promise

“Promise” reunites two former Kool & The Gang bandmates working outside the group: producer Curtis “Fitz” Williams, the band’s keyboardist since 1982, wrote and built the track’s arrangement - playing keyboards, programming the drums, and adding saxophone - while Gary Brown, who himself sang lead for Kool & The Gang before going solo, co-wrote the song with Steve Cullo and co-produced it through his own G.V.B. Productions, Inc., with Williams producing for Willpower Productions.

Stretching to nearly seven minutes, it’s the longest track on Rhythm Or Romance and one of its most atmospheric, with Brown layering his own backing vocals over Williams’ slow-burning groove and David Koenig engineering. It’s a quintessential slow jam - the same instinct that earns it a place in the archive’s Midnight Hour Slow Jams selection - and a rare credited reunion between two members of Kool & The Gang’s 1980s lineup working together outside the group.