Reviewed by Jim Coursey
Released: June 3 1981 Lake Ouch! Genre: Jazz Rock Rating: 2 out of 5 Highlights: Come On Home Amigo “Ouch” was the fourth album by Lake, an German-English band, based in Germany. Produced by James William Guercio, who had worked on a string of Chicago albums previously, “Ouch” has notes of Steely Dan, Supertramp, Michael McDonald, and Journey. It’s almost like the 70s never ended here, and this one skews polite and polished like contemporaries who spanned into the early 80s. The songs are often funky, with jazzy harmonics, alternately tense and breezy and slightly more complex than your average pop, and totally serviceable if not terribly memorable. There’s a few mild surprises therein. “Amigo” had me expecting something more like Fairport Convention with its haunting folky intro, but quickly cheeses it thanks to the unnecessary addition of Rhodes piano. “Jamaica High”, their take on reggae, is more lighthearted, but would be better served in an ad for a travel company than a rock album. Any goodwill I had for the band disappeared when I got to “Hit Your Mama”, whose absurdly dated lyrics are about as deplorable as the title implies. Hit your mama, hit her again til she say ‘I love you’ Hit your mama, hit her again and again Do… cause she’s counting on you. The singer is giving advice to his friend, whose girlfriend - the “mama” in question – is insufficiently doting. Now imagine that gleefully sung to a perky 70s pop rock tune. While Lake aren’t my thing by any stretch, musically they deserve a higher rating. It’s just hard to overlook the awfulness of that one track.
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