Published on Apr 19, 1999
There are times when I’m listening to some albums that I wonder
just how ignorant I am about music. Up until the moment I first
listened to
Galactic Grooves: The Best Of Lakeside, I would have sworn
up and down that I had never heard of these guys before.
All it took were about 30 seconds of the disc’s leadoff track
(and the band’s biggest hit) “Fantastic Voyage” for things to click
in my head. Had the rapper Coolio not done a song of the same title
and used samples from this track, I’d still be swearing on copies
of
The Rolling Stone Record Guide that I had never heard of
Tiemeyer McCain, Tomas Oliver Shelby and crew.
For the better part of a decade, this Ohio-based band made their
presence felt on the rhythm-&-blues charts with such tracks as
“Fantastic Voyage,” “It’s All The Way Live” and Outrageous” – but
they never made a major dent on the pop charts, only getting as
high as number 55 with “Fantastic Voyage”. But their influence is
felt even today, and Lakeside are still a musical force to deal
with.
Musically, their chops are above other bands in the same genre
I’ve listened to in the last year or so (from the same time
period); they’re not afraid to put variety into the beats they lay
down on songs like “Raid” (which I remember from a parody song
called “Roaches” – anyone remember who did that cut?) and “Your
Love Is On The One”. Moreso than other bands, they’re a truly fun
band to listen to on occasion, as heard on “From 9:00 Until” and
“Pull My Strings”.
Lakeside did have their weaknesses as well. Their slow-jams
cover of The Beatles’ “I Want To Hold Your Hand” ends up sounding
self-serving, and one is left wondering why they chose such a song
to give the mood-music treatment to. Thankfully, these slips are
rare and minor.
The biggest weakness I can find with
Galactic Grooves is that it is, at times, a difficult album
to listen to. I’m freely admitting this is possibly because I’m a
28-year-old white male who was brought up on a steady diet of rock
in the ’70s, and that I never gained a true appreciation for
r&b of all styles and flavors. But the first time I sat down to
listen to
Galactic Grooves, I found it hard to get through even a
half-hour of these jams, so I put it back on the shelf for a while.
(On my most recent listen, I was able to get through the whole
album in one sitting, and enjoy it as well.)
The only explanation I can give is that you really have to be in
the right frame of mind for the kind of funk that Lakeside lays
down – a real “happy” funk, I’d call it. If you’re not having the
greatest of days, I doubt that
Galactic Grooves is going to be the first albun you want to
listen to. However, if you’re in a real happy-go-party mood, then
this will be the first disc in the CD player – in fact, it might
not leave the player.