Lemon – Lemon

It didn't take Chic very long to become influential. The group enjoyed its first major hit with "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" in 1977, and the Nile Rodgers/Bernard Edwards sound was so darn appealing that the disco and R&B markets were soon flooded with Chic-minded artists. One of the first disco acts to be heavily influenced by the Chic sound was Lemon, which, unlike Chic, wasn't a group in the true sense of the word. Lemon was a studio project that was put together by flute player/composer Kenny Lehman, who produced this 1978 LP and did much of the writing with fellow disco composer Steve Boston. Lemon didn't have a regular full-time lineup and didn't perform live at all, Lehman simply brought a bunch of studio musicians and session vocalists together and told them what to do. The Chic influence is impossible to miss on catchy and infectious, if unremarkable, cuts like "Hot Hands," "A-Freak-A," and "Chance to Dance," and not surprisingly, Chic's Diva Gray is among the vocalists. Also on board is Luther Vandross, who was three years away from becoming a full-time solo artist but was keeping busy as a background singer. This vinyl LP, which was Lemon's only album, isn't mind-blowing and won't win any prizes for originality, but it's a generally decent record that some dance clubs found useful in the late '70s. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide