SHALAMAR
The Ultimate Collection
SOLAR Anniversary Edition
ORDER

AUDIO:

Dead Giveaway real hi | real lo wm hi | wm lo
Dancing In The Sheets real hi | real lo wm hi | wm lo

Shalamar’s fans didn’t just want to buy their albums. They wanted to BE them – traveling the globe, singing, dancing, closing down clubs, shopping, even stopping to ride some dolphins along the way. It takes one-of-a-kind chemistry to effect that kind of ardor, and it can’t be manufactured (as the beginning and end of their story proves). Effervescent but never bubblegum, Shalamar had the priceless ability to make absolutely anyone feel young at heart.

Don Cornelius plucked dancers Jody Watley (Chicago) and Jeffrey Daniel ( Los Angeles ) straight outta “The Soul Train Line” to join studio singer Gary Mumford, who was later replaced by Gerald Brown (who sang the hit Take That To The Bank). However, the real magic happened when Akron, Ohio-native Howard Hewett took over as lead singer just in time for their third album, Big Fun.

Internal issues and creative differences made the making of Shalamar’s seventh SOLAR album, The Look (1983), problematic. Dance music was being overtaken by high-energy new wave. Shalamar didn’t miss a beat, though, clocking in with Dead Giveaway, where blister-popping funk guitar mingles with a groove doing the Valley Girl bop! This potent concoction (promoted with a video that made it onto then-emerging MTV) went to #10 R&B and #22 pop. However, after an overseas promotional tour for The Look, Jody & Jeffrey abandoned ship, bringing the classic incarnation of Shalamar to a close.

SHALAMAR TRACKLISTING

1. Dead Giveaway
2. The Second Time Around
3. Dancing In The Sheets
4. Uptown Festival (Part 1)
5. Games
6. Take That To The Bank
7. A Night To Remember
8. Over And Over
9. Full Of Fire
10. Sweeter As The Days Go By
11. Circumstantial Evidence
12. Make That Move
13. I Can Make You Feel Good
14. My Girl Loves Me
15. Right In The Socket
16. Amnesia
17. This Is For The Lover In You

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

MIDNIGHT STAR
The Ultimate Collection
SOLAR Anniversary Edition
ORDER

AUDIO:

No Parking (On The Dance Floor) real hi | real lo wm hi | wm lo
Operator real hi | real lo wm hi | wm lo
Freak-a-Zoid real hi | wm hi

With a name that conjures visions of the brightest constellation in the galaxy at “high moon,” Midnight Star sent the world on celestial journeys of dancing and romancing across the eight albums they recorded for SOLAR between 1980 and 1990. Patterned after “positive energy” ‘70s soul bands such as Earth Wind & Fire and the Commodores, the group wound up among the last successful acts from that mold.

After introducing member Reggie Calloway at the production helm, Midnight Star went back to the laboratory, re-thought their sound and began incorporating these “fresh/def” new elements into their mix. As summer began in 1983, they came back sounding like a whole new band, putting their own spin on electric boogaloo with a number called Freak-A-Zoid – a playfully sexy slice of sci-fi funk that captured the imaginations of young and old across cultural lines. The throbbing bass line, video game sound effects, electronic beats and percolating synth melodies sent break dancers into a flurry of hyperkinetic activity. It was a phenomenal record that sat at #2 on the R&B chart for four straight weeks, finally giving the band a bona fide, long-coming and hard-earned hit!

Today, members Belinda Lipscomb, Bo Watson, Melvin Gentry, Bobby Lovelace, Kenneth Gant and Bill Simmons still make the midnight magic happen, reuniting in 2000 and self-producing their 2002 album, 15th Avenue. Look for the Midnight Star-ship to throw down some solid rockin’ meteors of the sho’ nuff Tuff stuff in a galaxy near you!

MIDNIGHT STAR TRACKLISTING

1. No Parking (On The Dance Floor)
2. Operator
3. I’ve Been Watching You
4. Snake In The Grass
5. Do It (One More Time)
6. Freak-A-Zoid
7. Headlines
8. Make It Last
9. Luv-U-Up
10. Don’t Rock The Boat
11. Midas Touch
12. Scientific Love
13. Hot Spot
14. Wet My Whistle
15. Engine No. 9
16. Body Snatchers
17. Love Song

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

LAKESIDE
The Ultimate Collection
SOLAR Anniversary Edition
ORDER

AUDIO

Fantastic Voyage real hi | real lo wm hi | wm lo
All The Way Live real hi | real lo wm hi | wm lo

Lakeside was the first full-on band to be signed to SOLAR. Hailing from Dayton, Ohio – a well-documented music breeding ground – the band trekked a long, circuitous path to funk immortality. Lakeside was created from the marriage of two existing groups: a four-piece band called The Young Underground (led by guitarist Stephen Shockley) and a four-member singing group called The Nomads (led by Mark Wood). Lakeside quickly became LARGER THAN LIFE after scoring radio hits with jams like Pull My Strings, Raid and Outrageous, but fans knew they had stellar ballads such as Say Yes and a slowed-down Top 5 reinterpretation of the Beatles’ I Want To Hold Your Hand. Their secret formula: authentic soul vocal harmony atop funk grooves. Towering over all of their hits, however, is the atomic party-starter Fantastic Voyage, which sat at #1 R&B for two weeks in the winter of 1980. It has since been co-opted by rapper Coolio for a Platinum-selling remake in 1994 and tapped for everything from a P. Diddy PEPSI ® TV commercial campaign to comedian Sinbad’s family comedy, First Kid.

From Toronto, to Lagos, Lakeside stomped around the planet reminding people what a truly “on the one” live show was all about! Drummer Fred Alexander, Jr. comments, “Each of us started on this road with the love of music in our heart. Always striving to be innovative, we became ‘the people’s champion’ – adapting to wherever we were in space and time.”

LAKESIDE TRACKLISTING

1. Fantastic Voyage
2. It’s All The Way Live
3. Pull My Strings
4. I Want To Hold Your Hand
5. Raid
6. If You Like Our Music (Get On Up And Move)
7. Your Love Is On The One
8. Real Love
9. From 9:00 Until
10. Turn The Music Up
11. Say Yes
12. Your Wish Is My Command
13. Something About That Woman
14. Given In To Love
15. Make My Day
16. Bullseye
17. Outrageous

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