Lee Michaels: Lee Michaels (A&M)

This article originally appeared on Fusion on October 3rd, 1969

IF YOU liked Al Kooper, you'll love Lee Michaels. I hate most of Kooper's stuff but Michaels is beginning to grow on me.

He's got a lot of the same problems as Kooper though — like not have a style. Michaels (who plays the organ and bass and does the vocals) is accompanied only by Barthalmew Smith-Frost (Frosty) on drums and, according to the liner notes, recorded the album in less than seven hours last June. He would be the best organist that a group could ever have but he has chosen to go it alone and even though the album is very good ("Considering-it-only-has-two-people-on-it") it's got a few weak spots.

I played the second side first and was immediately turned off by his five minute 'Stormy Monday'. It drips with overstatement and Los Angeles overcompensation. (Not that the world needed another version of 'Stormy Monday' anyway.) It is, happily, the worst cut on the album (although I have an uncomfortable feeling that Michaels might like it the best). With the exception of that number there's a lot of good music on the record, particularly on the first side. Michaels is really an excellent organist and Frosty is just as good a drummer. The drum solo, 'Frosty's' is one of the most musical I have ever heard. The instrumental parts of the album are distinctive and together. Unfortunately Michaels decided he has to sing too and it kinda pollutes the music. Not that he doesn't have a good voice. It's just his vocals are obvious (even with only two instruments) and a little embarassing to hear. The only vocal I like is 'Heighty Hi', an obvious choice.

The album has two heads, one of which is vulgar and unoriginal, but the other of which is that of a virtuoso. Not being too familiar with Michael's earlier work I don't know how much of an influence producer Larry Marks had. I'd like to think that the vulgarity was his and the good taste Michaels. I find that if you only play the last cut ('Heighty Hi') on the second side and then switch to the first side, it makes for a-pretty good concerto. If he could only cut out that Al Kooper crap...