The late '70s was a time of experimentation in rock music. Genres collided. Instrumentation was evolving as the synthesizer was introduced (even synthetic drums, which sounded nothing like real drums, but still). Holdovers from earlier in the decade came into their own (Chicago, Elton John, ELO, etc.), and others were just happening (The Police, Alan Parsons, Genesis, etc.). Oh, and Disco was King. More on that in subsequent posts.
It was a heady time, and interspersed with the big guys were little guys who made great music for one or two records. One of those is my destination for today. 40 years after the fact it's probable that almost nobody remembers the German/British band Lake. They were unabashed popsters, with a straight ahead musical sound that was familiar but still unique.
They made two records before falling off my (and probably everybody else in North America's) radar. They made 10 more records, but almost all of them were European releases. I'm sure they enjoyed a strong revival in the '90s and early 2000s. It was very consumable music. But every now and then they slipped in something "different".
"Welcome to the West" was the leadoff track from Lake II. It was one of those mashups between "rock" and "prog". It was a ballad, with some very different meter changes from the verses to the chorus. And the lyric was very political--it referenced the appeal of the West to those living in East Germany in the late '70s. I grew up with two Germanys--one a democracy, the other a Soviet acolyte.
It's uplifting while also being very satirical. A sample:
Every Friday we'll give you some pay
Enough to survive
We'll keep you alive
Here in the West
A very catchy tune with a sly dig at how much "better" things were in the West. Of course, things WERE better in the West at that time. So was the music...
More later.
Pete
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