Kool & The Gang - Music Is Message 1972 De-Lite lp OG RARE Groove Jazz Funk NM

$

38

Welcome to our Summer 2026 "Classic / Golden" era Soul/Funk/Rare Groove lp sale Part 2 (no modern reissues!) WE COMBINE SHIPPING! -(Just kindly wait till end of auction for invoice :)

90 lp's all originals , many have soundclips, which are from the actual record :)

This week is about classic Sweet Soul Funk dipping heavily into Cosmic Funk; P. Funk & family, Brick, Coalkitchen, Karen Pree, Undisputed Truth, among others..... Rare Groovers, heavy deep funk, harder to find clean OG staples, the rare, obscure, everything curated, by those that love the music, everything we have up, is something we truly dig, and we hope you find some dope ones :)
***We'd be honored if you'd consider saving us as a favorite seller :)***

* After this week's auction, (In no particular order) we have in the auction pipeline:
Classic Golden Era Soul Funk Part II, nearly 80+ lp's, top shelf stuff.....
2nd Modern Soul / Gospel / Boogie / AOR, Part "II"
More Deep Funk / Soul 45rpm 7", as well as AOR / Power Pop / Rock 45rpm 7"
A giant stash of rare Open Drum Breaks, emanating from a variety of groovy genres, the kind of lps both dope / under the radar sale!
A few more cooking, not to mention our exciting, anticipated:
Part 4 "Giant Jazz"; jazz funk, spiritual, fusion, synth jazz underground, etc. sale lp's

*^(Each are loaded with some of the rarest, high end stuff, plenty that haven't shown up in years, unknown mind-blowers, Grail Pieces, like always, all original editions!)



All soundclips used are unedited directly from the item up for sale :). See below for detailed grading!
***Everything is 100% guaranteed! We've sold over 1,500+ records in the past year alone, with 100% positive feedback, bid with confidence :)

Feel free to message any questions!

*Note: Any Item that does not have a soundclip, feel free to message us, and we can make one for you :) 

**Note: for items with multiple players, the title of track is above each player; the player enables scrolling through!**


Soundclip info: A2 "Electric Frog (Part 1)", B4 "Blowin' With The Wind", b4 begins at 1:29     
Soundclip:  Update your internet browser to latest version in order to play audio clip.

Media Grade:  NM (absolute top copy, peep the soundclips!)   
Sleeve Grade:  EX (very light almost imperceptible rubwear, stunningly crisp for an OG, see photos!)
Year / Label / Catalogue #:   1972  /  De-Lite Records  / DEP-2011 (1st Press, Stereo, "Bell Sound" in deadwax, "Jacksonville Pressing") 
Brief Comments: One of the hardest to find original 1st press of one of the best Kool & The Gang records ever made. They had released their eponymous first lp, two "Live" lp's, and the Gold cover "Best Of Kool & The Gang" compilation lp (one of the best comp's, I lost count of open drum breaks at 7), "Music Is The Message" was meant to take their sound to the next level (it was also the first album to have a "cohesive" album sound), recording began at the end of 1971, coming together in early 1972, incorporating Synthesizer for the first time, also adding Assunta Dell' Aquila on Harp, we see Kool & The Gang moving into a more Psychedelic sound, jazzier, ATCQ fans might recognize "Electric Frog" also Josh Davis for his Lesson 4 mix..... They had been listening to the Ohio Players, Funkadelic, the JB's, Donald Byrd, Ramsey Lewis, Dorothy Ashby, fellow New Jersey groups like The Whatnauts, and completely turbo-charged their sound, adding new dimensions, and layers, retaining their hard driving deep funk groove.... Soon after "Good Times" would be released in November of 1972, and then the commercial breakthrough with 1973 "Wild and Peaceful" -(released almost a full year later in September 1973), Music Is The Message was deleted from catalogue, partially because Good Times alone stocked the shelves, so did "Wild and Peaceful", whereas due to the oil embargo, rising vinyl costs, lack of charting singles, "Music Is The Message" was critically acclaimed, but quickly became scarce.
The only harder to find original first press is of their debut self-titled 1970 release, you almost never see copies of "Music Is The Message", back in the day I'd pick up any De-Lite Kool I could find, I've had them all, and I've seen a ton of 90's represses of this one, but finding a true original is rare as hen's teeth. I would personally say it's their best album of the period, my own personal favorite, (Soul Vibrations is a tribute to Dorothy Ashby! Not a cover version, but a wink, nod, tribute), one of the moodiest deep jazz-funk instrumentals they ever did was "Blowin' With The Wind" on here, and don't forget the title cut, or "Funky Granny".
Beautiful OG true 1st press, 1972. Peep the soundclips :)




*Tariffs aren't going to impact used vinyl records / music media, we wish they were never in place at all, so for international buyers, don't worry on that account! **Note ^That is in regard to EXTRA ordinary tariffs for political reasons, if you are an international buyer we urge you to contact us prior to shipping for clarity!
For our record grading, we stand by the merits outlined in the scale below, anything VG or below will have a detailed explanation in brackets next to the grade.
For sleeves, we will mention anytime there is split, or defect not visible in the photos in brackets next to the grade, otherwise we refer to the photos for the merit of the grade. Of course any questions, concerns, are always welcome :) 
Our media grading scale is as follows: [*Quick note, our VPI is still in storage on the other side of the US, we do brush clean many  items carefully, but we have to prioritize, we won't leave anyone stranded with a filthy record, only "filthy" good! We don't factor dust particles into the grading]
NM = Essentially a pristine album, like new, rarely used.
EX = Under bright light if there is any scuffs or mark, which will be inaudible, most collectors and sellers would tend to consider it closer to NM, EX is also the grade others might call VG++ under the same level of conservative scrutiny.
VG+ = More then a small handful of scuffs, light marks, nothing feelable, will have high-gloss, a thoroughly enjoyable copy that may only have tiny moments of barely perceptible surface noise overpowered by the music. Our VG+ will satisfy the vast majority of collectors as a nice keeper copy, as collector's ourselves for nearly two decades, this grade is aimed to be a great keeper. Note if say the record has a light DNAP warp, but otherwise is NM, we will automatically put it to VG+ and detail that. Another scenario is if a copy plays at a solid EX, but visually is VG, the composite grade will be VG+, and detailed as such.
VG = More hairlines, more marks, maybe a few visible scratches, no more then two feelable scratches (which automatically lowers to VG-), there likely will be surface noise, but will play through, still being an enjoyable copy, the audio quality will satisfy most collector's (the golden rule: if it doesn't satisfy us, it won't be VG), if a record is otherwise EX, but has a slight momentary skip, where 99% of the record is EX, we will note that, and put it at VG. Usually will retain a nice gloss.
VG- = More Scratches than VG, surface noise will jump out more, it be overpowered for longer stretches, or compete with the music in places, it will likely play all the way through on most turntables, a copy that you can still get a decent play enjoyment from.
G+ = Lots of scratches, deeper ones, surface noise now mostly overpowers or competes with the music. It may skip in some places. We don't tend to sell G+ copies, unless the rarity is so great, and that will be precisely detailed.
Thrashed = Pretty much a "Theoretical Grade" for us, it be for all intents & purposes virtually unplayable, it would be for display purposes, or perhaps if you needed the cover but not the record. It's "theoretical" because so far we haven't sold or identified anything intended to sell at this bottom level.
Every item is guaranteed to YOUR satisfaction, no questions asked, 100% refund. We stand by our integrity, our goal is to make sure you are absolutely delighted with your purchase, to deliver a cherished album to your collection :). On the slightest chance of human error, if we make a mistake, we take accountability for that, we don't anyone to have a record they aren't happy with! Bid with confidence :)
If you have multiple items, please wait for us to combine shipping for you! We can combine up to 4 items for the standard shipping rate, and save you $ on additional items. We don't charge a single penny over what the shipping costs, so you are paying only the amount the postal service receives!
Default shipping is USPS media mail, USPS International mail. If you prefer a different carrier, or expedited shipping, please message us before payment, so we can set up the invoice for you :)
We have it set to 5 day shipping / handling time, as a just in case, typically about 98.7% of our orders are shipped out the day of payment (first day the post office is open), with the vast majority being the second day. We'll message on the extraordinary off-chance if doesn't go out on Tuesday (our auctions mostly ending on Saturdays, Sundays), with the reason and day it will go out, so far that's only happened once on a giant order, and all was well.
Thank you from EnfieldVinyl, a family business, and the auction venture of EnfieldRecords :)
Kindly,
-Alec :D
&
-Ellie :)