Customer Reviews

Hello: Very Best of

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this CD & was extremely disappointed to hear the Medley of "Tell Me How Do You Feel" "Don't Want No Woman" & "My Friends" was cut short. Frosty does a fantastic drum solo & then Lee does some amazing stuff on the B-3 to close out the song & it's all gone! I had the original recording of this from the Lee Michaels album but the cassette broke & I haven't been able to find it anywhere. The rest of the album is fantastic but I sure wish they hadn't cut what I feel was some of Lee's best organ playing.

I have a rating system for all music I purchase and this CD received the highest overall rating from me.It is an outstanding early to mid 70's rock recording featuring Lee Michaels on keyboard with fantastic vocals! While his earlier material is better than the older it holds up well enough for 5 stars. My only compaint is me.......why did I not know this artist growing up in the musical 70's era?Buy,Buy,Buy. You won't be disappointed.

I am one of the lucky few who got to see and hear Lee Michaels (and Frosty) perform live at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium back in the 1960's. And even to this day, after having been at live performances by Genesis, The Cars, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Creedance Clearwater Revival, .38 Special, Clover, The Youngbloods, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Joe Cocker, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airman, Canned Heat, Buffalo Springfield, Ike & Tina Turner, The Righteous Brothers, Wang Chung, The Who, B.B. King, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Jethro Tull and more...Lee Michaels & Frosty STILL stand out as one of the most cell-exploding live acts ever! It was absolutely impossible to feel down at a Lee Michaels & Frosty concert! The dynamic, envigorating and mind blowing combination of Lee Michaels voice (with it's incredible range), his musicianship on his Hammond Organ and Frosty's perfectly meshed drum playing blended into one of the all-time best evenings of my life (no kidding!) And not only were they great live, they sound almost as good on their recordings. Buy this CD, get to know these magnificent performers. You'll become a Lee Michaels & Frosty fan forever.

Strange, let me explain. Here I am an American ex-Patriot, pushing 70 and living in Sweden. The other nite was kicked-back watching a TV movie with Mark Wahlberg, called "Invincible", and my head picked-up when I heard a background song... that I knew so well... but, couldn't place it. So, I waited to view the movie credits and track down the song that had caught my interest. And then, my response... "Oh Yeah", it was Lee Michaels' "Do You Know What I Mean"... it blew me away. Being from San Francisco, and seing Lee & Frosty perform at Bill Graham's Filmore West in the late 1960's, and even recalled owing an 8-track of his album "Fifth", wonder what ever happened to it? Anyway, my next move was a visit to Amazon.com and have since downloaded two of his albums "Hello" and "Live", and even though spliced n' diced, the blow-back in my mind by listening once again to this talented artist from another time brings back wonderful memories of what was the era of Vietnam, but it was a better time for music and politics. Too bad we had to grow-up and face the real world, a similar time exists today with the US at war in the Middle East, but today's music isn't coming through, and frankly, neither is the politics, being the reason I today reside in Sweden.

With Frosty not performing on his last album "Lee Michaels - Live", and in hindsight wondering "WHY" he was never heard from again and how much more music he had to offer, and never even knew Frosty's real name, and I am left wondering -- "What Ever Happened to Lee Michaels & Frosty?" If, anyone knows would be pleased to learn. Now get their albums, they are still fantastic and emotional listening.

Lots of good vintage Lee Michaels cuts on this one, but cutting the "Tell Me How Do You Feel" medley in half was unforgivable. It's not as if Frosty's solo was the greatest thing since Buddy Rich - editing that down would have been perfectly okay. But LM's entrance after the solo, and the finale of "My Friends", was arguably the best moment on the entire "Lee Michaels" LP.

Very disappointing.

LEE MICHAELS WAS SOMETHING ELSE IN THOSE EARLY SEVENTIES...BUT WHAT A SOMETHING ELSE....THOSE ORGAN RIFFS WHICH REPLACED THE USUAL SCREAMING GUITAR RIFFS OF THE TIME, AND WITH HIS SIDEKICK DRUMMER KEEPING TIME, IT MAKES FOR A WONDERFUL REMINISCING OF YEARS LONG AGO. THE ONLY THING MISSING IS HIS VERSION OF "WILLIE AND THE HAND JIVE". OTHER THAN THAT, YOU "KNOW WHAT I MEAN"...

Lee Michaels was an overlooked multi-instrumentalist who was a ballsy rollicking keyboard player with a great voice. This disk captures a feel of what he left us, in his short career. I like the cross section of material here, and only wish that more of his work was still available. I find it very hard to get my hands on additional material.

It's a great shame truly unique artists like Lee Michaels are now an almost extinct genre-replaced by a load of "radio friendly" "hey Chuck, this'll sell a million" cookie cutter rubbish. A very good collection of rock/soul music. Recommended.

I have been a fan of Lee Michaels since the late 60's and I am finding his music now just as exciting and exilerating as I did then. The selection covered a wide spectrum of his incredible talents and abilities. Simply wonderful.

I listened often to some of Lee Michaels' LP's when they were initially issued.

While this compilation does not convey the same 'mood' the original album track orders managed to do, it was nevertheless enjoyable to be able to listen again to some fondly remembered songs, especially "Do You Know What I Mean". Especially nice too to be able to hear a clean sound without the scratchy sounds of old vinyl!