Lakeside – The Definitive Solar Collection
SoulMusic
3CD/DL
Released 17 November 2023
3CD set bringing together the best of Dayton Funk band Lakeside’s stint on the renowned Solar label, including the Billboard hit single Fantastic Voyage. Ian Canty writes…
Although the name Lakeside might conjure up visions of the kind of out of town shopping malls that were briefly in vogue in the early part of the 21st Century, they actually were a durable and lively act that came from Funk’s capital city aka Dayton, Ohio. Lakeside’s roots stretched back into the late 1960s when guitarist Stephen Shockley formed The Young Underground after quitting The Monterreys, another Dayton band. In this new outfit he linked up with The Nomads vocalist Mark Wood. They hit on the moniker Ohio Lakeside Express, derived from a local paper.
A lot of comings and goings went on, but in the end the band solidified into the line up of Shockley and Wood being joined by drummer Fred Alexander, Norman Beavers on keys, bassist Marvin Craig, Fred Lewis on percussion and synths, guitarist Otis Stokes and vocalists Thomas Shelby and Tiemeyer McCain. They also trimmed down their name to just Lakeside. All of the group sang, which proved to be a key weapon in their Funk/Soul arsenal. A brush with Detroit powerhouse label Motown resulted in an unreleased 45, before they moved onto the ABC imprint for their 1977 debut album.
Soul Train’s Dick Griffey became aware of the band’s potential during the mid-1970s and when he launched his own label Solar (previously Soul Train Records), Lakeside were a natural fit. This new set The Definitive Collection cherry picks from Lakeside’s nine albums for Solar, starting off with the 1978 LP Shot Of Love.
The cool handclapping bonanza of the title track of their first Solar album grants this set a wholly agreeable introduction. Indeed, this is a good example of what Lakeside did best, as crunchy guitar work and sparky vocals spar on a rock-solid groove. Hold On Tight follows at mid-pace, a more Soul-inclined offering that has a real catchy potential. I could metaphorically scratch by bonce here, because this tune was for some reason not considered for a single release. Could it haven given Lakeside the breakthrough they sadly never managed? But after a high rolling One Minute After Midnight, the 45s from the Shot Of Love LP i.e. a very danceable It’s All The Way Live (a big record on the US R&B charts) and dreamy ballad Given In To Love, show their quality.
Moving forward we next come to selections from 1980 and the Rough Rider LP, beginning with the upbeat and flowing Rough Rider itself. As invitations to cut a rug go, If You Like Our Music (Get Up And Dance) might be straightforward but it is pretty much irresistible and a powerful Pull My Strings was unlucky when released on 45 not to have crossed over from another good showing on the R&B lists to Pop success.
Fantastic Voyage, from the 1980 LP of the same name, was Lakeside’s biggest single. A deserved US R&B number one with a brilliant bassline and a Rap vocal style, the 45 hit just the right spot. A golden guitar jangle heralds Your Love Is The One, the follow up 7 inch that unfortunately did not fare so well as its predecessor and an insistent Strung Out is impressive. Slowie I Need You rounds off a disc full of vigour, prime street level rhythms and sturdy Dance moves.
1981 was a strange year for Lakeside, as record company wrangling meant they issued two albums at roughly the same time. Solar was moving distributors and to make good on their contract, Dick Griffey had to delve into the archive. As a result of the switch from RCA to Elektra, Keep On Moving Straight Ahead was issued from Lakeside’s leftovers. Your Wish Is My Command was in contrast a brand new Lakeside offering and the easy Electrofunk charm of its title track kicks off disc two of this set.
You can hear the influence of Chic on the slinky rhythm of Something About That Woman, which was extracted from the LP as a single. Although Lakeside’s band members wrote the songs for the bulk of their material, they dipped into the Lennon/McCartney songbook for another 45. A radically rejigged I Want To Hold Your Hand was cast in the Soul ballad mode. It scored high on the R&B charts, but again failed to crossover. This was sadly to be Lakeside’s lot, regardless of the quality of their work.
Album track Special gets the band back on the Dance path and The Urban Man also has a steady Street Funk appeal. We then come to the Keep Moving Straight Ahead selections, starting logically enough with the smooth grooving tune of that name. It’s You is a fresh, very danceable sound with a racing tempo and electronic warps sat out front, but We Want You (On The Floor) was the sole 45 drawn from the LP. This number ends with extended soloing from Shockley, bringing it close to Prince’s oeuvre. A playful All For You concludes the efforts drawn from Lakeside’s back pages.
1982 was a quieter time for Lakeside, but they returned the next year with Untouchables album. This set found the band kitted out in FBI garb on their trademark cartoon sleeve and big single Raid continued the theme and returned them to the upper reaches of the US R&B lists. Its party atmosphere and heavy Funk vibe show its success was well deserved. A tight beat endows Turn The Music Up with a propulsive, engaging energy that finishes off disc two of this set. The selections from Untouchables continue on the early section of disc three, with Real Love appearing not being quite distinctive enough, which must have hampered any aspirations towards the Pop charts. The more upbeat and driving Funker Untouchable is rather better and the electronic percussion on Tinsel Town Theory pointed to the band’s future.
Keeping up with a prodigious work-rate, Lakeside’s Outrageous album arrived a year on in 1984. Here they firmly embraced new technology for the full-on Electrofunk collection hinted at above. The spacey zooms and tough rhythms of the LP’s title track is a cutting edge sound that was the band’s last US R&B top ten single, but Make My Day’s Hip Hop beats couldn’t repeat the trick when issued on 45 as a follow up. Percussion-led album track Worn & Torn is a good one though and Show You The Way bolts their mellow love song essentials to the new tech fairly well.
Outrageous and its singles were modest commercial successes, but it wouldn’t be until three years on in 1987 that a new Lakeside LP hit the streets. Power was trailed by a single Relationship that was written by one time Prince cohort Mark Brown. It is the kind of ultra-modern Dance number that was de rigueur at the time, but isn’t quite memorable enough to make it the big hit the band really required at this stage. Power’s title track sets the scene with Pinky & Perky voices meeting an icy chill and slow number Bullseye was another 45 that didn’t really have what it takes for a Pop hit. Still Feeling Good was arguably a better option, as it is quite catchy.
The album was their least successful so far, reaching number 35 in the R&B lists. However, this was somewhat better than their final Solar collection Party Patrol, which missed the chart entirely. Money was the LP’s single and the last Lakeside record to chart, albeit only at 62 on the US R&B list. This was a pretty good effort, but one that was miles away from what Lakeside started out with, the upfront drilled-in beats and restless tempo being much in the stylised form of the early 90s Swing Beat sound. The Definitive Solar Collection is concluded by the album’s Rap title track and lively but indistinctive U Got It Goin’ On.
The evidence provided by The Definitive Solar Collection reveals Lakeside as a vibrant outfit that could spin out high quality Dance tunes at will. As time went on they did lose a little of their individuality by closely following the changes in Funk toward a more electronic sound, but one can hardly berate them for moving with the times. At their best it is difficult not to arrive at the conclusion that they were simply very unlucky, in that they did not gain the mainstream success in the US and Europe that their work arguably warranted. Lakeside as heard here provided a good measure of fun and finesse, plus a few wonderous grooves.
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slicing through the static 