Lakeside ~ Fantastic Voyage 1980 Funky Soul Purrfection Version

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Coolio made Old School New School in the 90's incorporating Lakeside's classic funk tune and #1 R&B smash "Fantastic Voyage" from their 1980 LP of the same name.

Lakeside was formed from a group of nine friends from Dayton, Ohio. Thomas Shelby and Otis Stokes started working together in a band called Bad Bunch and the duo left them behind in search of a new band. Mark Wood, who was on the lookout for two more members for his band Young Underground and took them on.

The band was signed to a local Chicago label with their newly adopted name as Ohio Lakeside Express which was shortened to Lakeside by 1972. They packed up for the bright lights of Los Angeles and became quite successful on the club circuit when Motown producer Frank Wilson caught their show and signed them to Motown.

The band members of this classic line up were Fred Alexander Jr, Norman Beavers, Marvin Craig, Fred Lewis, Tiemeyer McCain, Thomas Shelby, Stephen Shockley, Otis Stokes and Mark Wood Jr.

The resulting album did not generate much interest and the band moved on to ABC Records for their lone ABC LP "Lakeside" and one single "IF I Didn't Have You" issued just at the time that MCA was getting ready to take over the ownership reins. The band decided to accept an offer to work with Norman Whitfield at Motown, but just before leaving to sign Dick Griffey from Solar Records let them know they were welcome to join the label and they could write their own material.

They continued to be a presence on the R&B charts including a Beatles cover they did in 1982 "I Want To Hold Your Hand" a #5 R&B hit and then their third most successful R&B single came in 1984 with "Outrageous" a #7 R&B.

Their last showing on the chart came with 1990's "Money" a #62 R&B from their Party Patrol album from that same year.

During the early years, Lakeside was a self contained house band for the roster of Solar Record artists which included Shalamar, The Whispers and club favorite Carrie Lucas as well as a host of one shot artist collaborations. They finally had a hit in 1978 with "It's All The Way Live (Part 1) reached #4 R&B.

Lakeside continued to practice and jam in their rehearsal hall and came up with the groove you hear in the completed mix. Then Shelby mentions that he was free associating with lyrics like "I'm the Captain of this vessel We want to take you on a cruise" which sparked a creative writing session. The result was an R&B smash spending two weeks that ended the six week run at #1 by Kool & The Gang's "Celebration".
Category
Funky