There are times when I’m listening to some albums that I wonder
\njust how ignorant I am about music. Up until the moment I first
\nlistened to
\nGalactic Grooves: The Best Of Lakeside<\/i>, I would have sworn
\nup and down that I had never heard of these guys before.<\/p>\n
All it took were about 30 seconds of the disc’s leadoff track
\n(and the band’s biggest hit) “Fantastic Voyage” for things to click
\nin my head. Had the rapper Coolio not done a song of the same title
\nand used samples from this track, I’d still be swearing on copies
\nof
\nThe Rolling Stone Record Guide<\/i> that I had never heard of
\nTiemeyer McCain, Tomas Oliver Shelby and crew.<\/p>\n
For the better part of a decade, this Ohio-based band made their
\npresence felt on the rhythm-&-blues charts with such tracks as
\n“Fantastic Voyage,” “It’s All The Way Live” and Outrageous” – but
\nthey never made a major dent on the pop charts, only getting as
\nhigh as number 55 with “Fantastic Voyage”. But their influence is
\nfelt even today, and Lakeside are still a musical force to deal
\nwith.<\/p>\n
Musically, their chops are above other bands in the same genre
\nI’ve listened to in the last year or so (from the same time
\nperiod); they’re not afraid to put variety into the beats they lay
\ndown on songs like “Raid” (which I remember from a parody song
\ncalled “Roaches” – anyone remember who did that cut?) and “Your
\nLove Is On The One”. Moreso than other bands, they’re a truly fun
\nband to listen to on occasion, as heard on “From 9:00 Until” and
\n“Pull My Strings”.<\/p>\n
Lakeside did have their weaknesses as well. Their slow-jams
\ncover of The Beatles’ “I Want To Hold Your Hand” ends up sounding
\nself-serving, and one is left wondering why they chose such a song
\nto give the mood-music treatment to. Thankfully, these slips are
\nrare and minor.<\/p>\n
The biggest weakness I can find with
\nGalactic Grooves<\/i> is that it is, at times, a difficult album
\nto listen to. I’m freely admitting this is possibly because I’m a
\n28-year-old white male who was brought up on a steady diet of rock
\nin the ’70s, and that I never gained a true appreciation for
\nr&b of all styles and flavors. But the first time I sat down to
\nlisten to
\nGalactic Grooves<\/i>, I found it hard to get through even a
\nhalf-hour of these jams, so I put it back on the shelf for a while.
\n(On my most recent listen, I was able to get through the whole
\nalbum in one sitting, and enjoy it as well.)<\/p>\n
The only explanation I can give is that you really have to be in
\nthe right frame of mind for the kind of funk that Lakeside lays
\ndown – a real “happy” funk, I’d call it. If you’re not having the
\ngreatest of days, I doubt that
\nGalactic Grooves<\/i> is going to be the first albun you want to
\nlisten to. However, if you’re in a real happy-go-party mood, then
\nthis will be the first disc in the CD player – in fact, it might
\nnot leave the player.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7339],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-38848","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-lakeside","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38848"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}