Lakeside
    In 1969 vocalist Mark Woods, who was a member of the local Dayton Ohio band The Nomads, joined up with Stephen Shockley, Tiemeyer McCain, Thomas Oliver Shelby and Otis Stokes to form a mature-sounding Young Underground. The group initially had a record deal with Curtom Records as a result of winning a talent contest in Chicago. However, Curtom Records temporarily suspended all productions, not returning to the scene until label owner Curtis Mayfield's distribution deal was settled.
     While based in Chicago the group adopted a new moniker from a local newspaper, The Lakeside Express. Playing the Windy City for the next five years the newly christned Lakeside Express enjoyed the local R&B and blues clubs that Chicago featured. Gaining a small bit of notoriety, the group flushed with big city success decide that L.A. was the only way to go big time.
     Dallas-based Liquid Funk had the same notions of success and arrived in L.A. around 1974 just when Lakeside Express hit town. The two groups often found themselves on the same bill and crossing paths frequently in the soul/R&B circuit of the greater Los Angeles area. By 1977 Liquid Funk decided to return to their native Dallas, drummer Fred Alexander Jr. decided that he liked the L.A. scene and choose to stick it out. After two auditions for Lakeside Express he was in.
     Producer Frank Wilson, fresh from a string of hits on Motown, had begun doing work for ABC Records when he happened upon the Lakeside Express. Impressed with their earthy funk he acquired a deal with ABC for them and produced their first and only album for the label. 1977's "Lakeside Express" featured a minor hit with the ballad "If I Didn't Have You" but the album disappeared without much notice.
     When the group met Dick Griffey he was already a successful producer and the head of a budding label. He convinced the group to shorten their name and to sign with his SOLAR Records label. 1978's "Shot Of Love" was the album that made the band well known. Fueling the success of this album was the gutsy funk smoker "It's All The Way Live," the single peaked at number 4 on the Billboard R&B Charts and almost as strong are the infectious title song and the classy soul ballads "Given In To Love" and "Visions Of My Mind." "Shot Of Love" was the first Lakeside release to boast one of its famous thematic covers, this one depicted the funksters as Robin Hood-type archers, whereas on future recordings, they'd be everything from pirates, to jockeys, to genies. The 12" single of "It's All The Way Live" is a collectors item, luckily the album was reissued in 1997 on compact disc by The Right Stuff label which seems dedicated to preserving the rich musical disco history on compact disc.
     1979 was a banner year for Lakeside, besides appearances on label-mates Carrie Lucas and The Whispers albums they released their third album. "Rough Riders" featured releases were "Pull My Strings" and "From 9:00 Until." The former is an aggressively paced funk number. However, it does not retain that vibrant feeling for which the group is known. It peaked on the Billboard R&B charts at #31. The latter is also aggressive, but has a festive atmosphere more in line with the septet's let's-get-this-party-started image. Though it's easily a Top Ten cut, it only managed to peak at #44 on Billboard but fared better in the club playlists. "If You Like Our Music" is a classic Lakeside number and the album also features two beautiful ballads in "I Can't Get You Out Of My Head" and "I'll Never Leave You," and the moderate number "All In My Mind." Altogether an even package that has been reissued on compact disc. This time it featured our heroes as cowboys on the cover. Illustrator Drew Struzan's artwork was becoming as much a trademark for the group as their sound.
     The closest Lakeside came to a great studio session was 1980's "Fantastic Voyage," arguably the band's best album. Some of the songs are superb, including the sweaty title track (which was their biggest hit to date), the intoxicating "Your Love Is On The One" and the unapologetically romantic "I Love Everything You Do." Though best known for hard funk, that and "Say Yes" point to the fact that Lakeside also delivered some memorable soul ballads. This album like the bulk of their catalogue is available on compact disc. Once again artwork was an important factor to the marketing of the album. This release, in particularly "Fantastic Voyage," brought the group as close to the success of labelmates Shalamar and the Whispers as any of their releases would. This year marked a turn for the group who had already produced most of their own material. They branched out and produced an album for funksters 7th Wonder. Unfortunately the magic didn't transend to 7th Wonder's "Thunder" album which was eclipsed by Lakesides own offering.
     By 1981 disco, and music in general, was changing. Lakesides 1981 release "Keep On Moving Straight Ahead" seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. The album produced no noticeable hits and perhaps is the reason it is not available on compact disc. The group however was still a major concert draw, as they had always provided a strong live set.
     The group scored one of its biggest hits ever with an oddball Beatles cover, "I Want To Hold Your Hand" was the standout hit from their 1982 release, "Your Wish Is My Command." While this album wasn't quite as exuberant and delightful as some earlier releases, it was nonetheless well produced, effectively performed, and nicely arranged. It's sales prompted a reissue on compact disc in 1998 and once again the cover features our funksters as genies ready to grant our wishes. The mere fact that a Beatles cover tune was the most popular track on the album proves where music was at in the early 1980's.....lost and confused.
     1983's "Untouchables" was a solid album showcasing the group at their prime. With tracks like "Raid," "Untouchable" and "Alibi" you can readily see that a concept album was the effect that Lakeside was going for. "Turn The Music Up" was a real smoker, though not the Players Association track of a few years earlier. "Tinsel Town Theory" was a story all it's own and the album was bookended by the hauntingly beautiful "So Let's Love." The single "Raid" went top ten on Billboard's R&B charts and proved that Lakeside were a bit smoother than their role models The Ohio Players and Slave, but still had a tougher sound than most of their other labelmates at Solar. The album saw it's compact disc reissue in 1998 complete with their obligatory illustrative artwork. This time the guys were G-Men, perhaps inspired by the wave of Elliot Ness interest or perhaps in hommage to their former hometown of Chicago? Either way the cover art and the tracks within made the album one of their more successful ventures.
     The group's last hit album was 1984's "Outrageous." Lakeside had exhausted the funk formula by the mid-1980's and were doing it strictly by rote. They still did it well, but there wasn't an original arrangement, composition, or lyric on the album, and while the title cut soared into the R&B Top 10 and was a great dance song, it wasn't any different from "Fantastic Voyage."
     A three-year chart hiatus ended in 1987, but that year's album, "Power" produced one single "Bullseye," it remains the group's last chart entry to date.
     A final SOLAR release was 1990's "Party Patrol." An eighteen track retrospective that fortunately featured all their hits, especially the 12" single of their major hits, "All The Way Live," "Fantastic Voyage" and "From 9:00 Until." If you want one Lakeside album then this is the one to have.
     Sadly the group disbanded after their 1987 release and all have gone on to other projects, with varying degrees of success. Their body of work still remains a key component of the disco-era.
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