LADY LAKE

For true prog lovers there comes a day when that person discovers that the original prog era consisted of many onion layers of bands that enjoyed various degrees of success. Bands like ELP, Yes and Pink Floyd were quite the exception in achieving worldwide fame while still together but there were countless other bands that were well known in small circles but never really found success during their existence. Many of these bands though inspired other bands who in turn inspired others and so forth and so on. This band named LADY LAKE was indeed named after the album from the English band Gnidrolog.

This band was not English at all but Dutch and arose from the city of Deventer after the owner of a local record store solicited the members to create a prog album. The band consisted of Leendert Korstanje (keyboards), Jan Dubbe (drums), Fred Rosenkamp (guitar) and Eddy Baker. After establishing a stylistic approach the band went to the small village of Wijhe to record its sole album of the classic prog era titled NO PICTURES which became the title due to the fact that the photographer who was supposed to do a photo shoot for the local newspaper was a no show and so the joke ended up as the title of the album.

While only initially releasing one albums that resulted in roughly 1200 copies, the band has since reformed and released a second album in 2005 and now a third in 2022. Nice to see these old timer one shots find their way in the modern world! Although the first album was released in 1977, the band formed as early as 1973 with various lineups spending a few years learning the prog ropes so to speak but once NO PICTURES arrived it was received with a better than expected interest and supposedly found copies having been exported to Italy and Scandinavia. Apparently there were still some stalwart prog fans out there keeping the underground humming along. The album was finally released in 1997 on CD with alternate cover art and six unreleased bonus tracks.

NO PICTURES is a mostly instrumental affair sounding nothing like the Gnidrolog album from where the band took its name. This is a mellow album that technically exists in the realms of the symphonic prog world but with its reliance on acoustic guitars and jazzy keyboard runs, it's actually a bit difficult to describe. The band was adept at crafting knotty even angular tunes that were steeped in rich chords and distinct melodies that sounded like distant relatives of Camel, early 70s Genesis and to a lesser extent fellow countrymen Focus. The album actually sounds very unique and nothing is really comparable. Perhaps the album 'Red Queen to Gryphon Three' by the UK band Gryphon comes to mind at times with a light airy folk fueled basis for complex prog.

While the vast majority of the album is instrumental, the track 'You Make Me Feel So Fine' offers a fine vocal track that sounded like the perfect crossover hit in the vein of Kansas, Styx or many other crossover prog acts of the same era. The highlight and most proggy aspect of the album comes with the final three part 'Between Bremen And Hamburg' which offered an interesting array of prog workouts and shifting melodies, tempos and stylistic approaches. 'Part 1' features a bluesy vocal segment followed by acoustic guitar workouts. 'Part 2' features some beautiful piano rolls and arpeggiated guitar sequences. 'Part 3' continues the basic melody with more jazzy chord progressions and a bit more rock heft.

LADY LAKE may not have had the hardcore chops of bands like Yes or the mass appeal of bands like Focus, Camel or Genesis but this band's sole album NO PICTURES from the 1970s showcases an extremely tender fragility that features beautiful melodic constructs fortified with more abstract prog rock attributes. While not as popular as the Gnidrolog album which has found a new found popularity decades after its release, LADY LAKE is still relatively unknown even in prog circles. This can be considered an easy listening prog album with an emphasis on the light and airy most closely associated with bands like Camel, early Genesis and other similarly minded symphonic prog bands. This is an excellent album that needs rediscovering!

The original LADY LAKE were formed in 1973 in the town of Deventer,named after the second album of UK progsters ''Gnidrolog''.This short-lived act suddenly disappeared a year later,but in 1976 keyboardist Leendert Korstanje,coming from a band named ''Delay'' joined forces with original LADY LAKE guitarist Fred Rosenkamp to form a second version of LADY LAKE,recruiting Joop Van Leeuwen on drums and Eddy Baker on bass.The band recorded ''No pictures'' in 1977 and survived until 1982.A later re-formation at the dawn of the 90's was the reason for their debut to re-realesed by Musea Records with a different cover,adding also five new tracks as extra material.

Influenced by the likes of CAMEL and in a lesser extent FOCUS and GENESIS,LADY LAKE offer extremely well-arranged and highly melodic progressive rock with a variety in moods and atmospheres.The ultra-sensitive guitar work of Fred Rosenkamp will definitely remind you of CAMEL's Andy Latimer,presenting a very melodic style with nice harmonies,a slight Canterbury feel and even some bluesy touches.A few pastoral passages with calm guitar playing is very close to early GENESIS,while some jazzier parts remind of JAN AKKERMANN.Keyboards come as an absolutely fascinating element of LADY LAKE's music with superb atmospheric parts and lots of good solos.The original album is finally an excellent addition to any prog collection (if you can find it),but the Musea re-release is even better,offering some bonus tracks, sounding if the band never stopped playing together.Top notch melodic symphonic prog with slight bluesy influnces,ANDY LATIMER-like guitars,a great rhythm section,some groovy passages and tons of memorable melodies.LADY LAKE's return has to be a regarded as a fantastic discovery among the prog fans.Everything in here is amazingly well-crafted and perfectly executed.A future classic maybe?...4 shining stars please!

As I told in an earlier review, I was impressed by seeing this Dutch trio on stage at about two years ago during a Dutch progrock festival (also with Plackband and Knight Area): a professional attitude, very enthousiastic and, last but not least, also crafted musicians.

Very remarkable and pleasant on this CD (mainly re-recorded material from 1979-1981 era) is the frequent interplay between the powerful and varied guitarwork and the distinctive sound of the string-ensemble, very warm in The Hulk and 22 cm ii (both contain a strongly build-up guitar solo) and I Only Wanted A Girdlfriend (featuring fiery guitar play). The keyboardplayer delivers a tasteful and subtle colouring with the sound of the Minimoog (with echoes from Peter Bardens), Fender Rhodes electric piano and the string-ensemble in Tea Time and Jimmy Wakes Up and in the track Lochem he freaks out with a flashy synthesizer solo. I am deleghted about the howling guitar runs in the composition Must Have Been More Than, it reminds me of Andy Latimer (Camel) his emotional guitar sound. The final two (bonus) tracks are entitled Magic Twanger, the first is a demo tape from 1975 (delicate guitar overdubs with rhythm and solo) and the second a live registration from De Nieuwe Pul in Uden (Holland) from 1998, it sounds very dynamic but both songs have a bit mediocre sound quality (no problem to me!).

I am sure that Unearthed by Lady Lake will please a lot of prog fans that love melodic progrock featuring strong guitarwork, tasteful keyboards and fluent drumming!

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A few months ago I witnessed a gig from Lady Lake during a Dutch Triple Concert with Knight Area and Plackband. I knew this band from their album "Pictures" from the Seventies but I was really stunned about new music! The members told me that I had to wait a few months until Musea had released their new album, more than 25 years after their debut LP. This night, after my late shift, I decided to listen to it and then to write this review. Well, I have very good news for you because Lady Lake has delivered a wonderful, very melodic album that will appeal to many progheads. The focus is on the guitar, Fred Rosenkamp has a very melodic and varied style (jazzy, rock, symphonic) with obvious hints from Andy Latimer. The music from Lady Lake often reminds me of Camel (and at some moments Focus), especially the changing climates from mellow to compelling and bombastic featuring sensitive and howling guitar, this man knows how to carry us away to progrock heaven! His interplay with the keyboards from Leender Korstanje (beautiful Hammond organ, piano and some fine Mellotron) is warm, delicate and sometimes very moving and drummer Jan Dubbe does a good job. I use to call this 24- carat symphonic rock, HOLLAND IS BACK ON THE TRACK!!

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