Customer Reviews

Recital

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RECITAL is Lee Michaels second album, released on vinyl as A&M SP 4152. There are still some guitar solos, but this time out Lee is in the foreground playing harpsichord, organ and piano while belting out blues vocals with uptempo percussion. "Spare Change" is an instrumental experiment which is fascinating. Other great cuts are "The War," "Grocery Soldier" and "If I Lose You." This one was more of a critical than commercial success, but definitely worthwhile.

I got turned on to the unique sound of this guy with "5th," which contained the big hit: "Do you know what I mean." It was non-stop from there! I eventually called a local record store and discovered his first two albums; "Carnival of Life" and this one: "Recital."
Although these two laid back on the heavy organ sound which predominates his other albums; they were unique, different, fresh. And his voice: What range!
This man is one incredible musician indeed!
Try it, you'll love it!

This is Lee Michael's second album, and while his debut release,Carnival of Life, remains his strongest effort in my book, this second outing runs a close second. It is most notable for Michaels' expressive vocals and his brilliant overdubbing of various keyboards into each song (ie., Hammond organ, pipe organ, electric piano, grand piano, up-right piano, and harpsichord)to create a "keyboard wall of sound", and all of it without guitars, save the opening track of "If I Lose You", and which is notable for Drake Levin, late of Paul Revere and The Raiders, contributing some excellent licks. Like Carnival of Life, Recital's songs are mired in 60's psychedelica and sentiment, commenting on the Vietnam War, panhandling hippies, and altered states of consciousness. The songs still hold up, despite the dated themes, because of Michael's inventive arrangements, multi-layered keyboard treatments, and soulful vocals. Highly recommended, but Carnival of Life remains his opus in my book.

Songs Imclude :

01. If I Lose You 2:24
02. Time Is Over 3:45
03. No Part Of It 2:14
04. Fell In Love Today 1:58
05. Blind 2:54
06. Grocery Soldier 2:28
07. What Can He Do 0:42
08. Basic Knowledge 3:28
09. Gonna Leave 2:22
10. The War 3:12
11. Spare Change

This has moments of being a great Album and then some songs just miss the mark
He added allot of Harpsichord on this Album if you like that then you might love this LP but to me it gets real old quick.
I love his first LP with him on the organ this is a good LP but thats all.

How would you feel if you had to fight the war?
What would you do if they called on You?
For this song I saved up to buy the album in 1968.
Some of the other songs on the album are thoroughly worth the purchase (by themselves)- notably: "If I lose you" & "Basic Knowledge" spring to mind. I have a good friend that still knows all the lyrics of "Grocery Soldier".

Lee's vocals were crystal clear and powerful; the lyrics pushed the edges of what "Pop" dared address and Frosty's drumming was almost unparalelled in that heyday of Rock.

Immensely "Groovable" (if not "Danceable") music.

Amid the brilliance, there are also a few songs that didn't season as well and approach "tedious" in my recollection (I liked them all then, but a few didn't have "staying power"). "Spare Change" notable of those.

Truth be told, this isn't my favorite Lee Michaels production. In fact, it's not even in second or third place. I'd rank Lee's best to be 'Fifth', followed by his self-titled third album, followed by 'Live', a two disc vinyl release. That being said, how many 1960's artists made effective, prolific use of the harpsichord? Only an odd guy named Lurch who sat behind the pearly whites once a week comes to mind. Still, it's the presence of the harpsichord and occasional piano displacing Lee's compelling Hammond B3 organ runs that lowers my opinion of this, Lee's sophomore effort from 1968. When I'm in the mood for some Lee Michaels, I'm in the mood for some thick, solid, boisterous organ propping up Lee's wailing, bluesy vocals.

On the upside, Lee probably hits deeper notes with his lyrics on this release than he typically does. In fact, the flaming anti-Vietnam War rhetoric from 'The War' is some of the most scathing and provoking imagery of the era. Consider "How would you like to spend five years in jail for refusing to fight the war... How would you like to watch a baby burn, could you march on and kill one more?" The second track, 'Time Is Over' presents an appealing chorus of "Look at your wishes, remember they're all that remain, and you will learn to love all of your fantasies". Lee's soulful, overdubbed wails accompany the lyrics over light and fragile harpsichord runs. Another lyrical coup is scored, oddly enough, on the 42 second blip known as 'What Can He Do?', which questions how a plain clothes cop can cope when "the whole world's out on bail"?

There are some oddities and period pieces in the setlist. 'No Part of It' is about a person who only takes photographs rather than being a part of all that is happening around him. 'I Fell In Love Today' somehow juxtaposes jungle imagery, harpsichord runs, synthesized orchestrations, and strange "Oo-oo-ha-ha" backing vocals. 'Blind' is a slow-down, 60's ballad about seeing "the love all around 'ya". 'Grocery Soldier' is a creative, honky-tonk piano piece seemingly about a homeless person "robbin' the store because he's hungry". 'Basic Knowledge' ("...of where she's goin' would bring such joy into her life") and 'Gonna Leave' ("...don't try to reason, it's just a game") give voice to issues of self-identity and strained male-female relationships.

The album opens with a fiesty generic rocker, 'If I Lose You', featuring Paul Revere and the Raiders one-time lead guitarist Nick Drake. Enjoy it while it lasts... it's the only electric guitar on the disc. Some standard lyrics accompany the tuneful beat, such as "If I lose you then I will surely die, all I can do is cry". Another appealing track concludes the disc, the seven and one-half minute, primarily instrumental excursion called 'Spare Change'. Its extended length helps to make up for five tracks that run only 2:27 or less.

All in all, 'Recital' is an interesting but only on-the-cusp of being an essential element of Lee Michael's catalog. It certainly doesn't warrant the current $50 price tag some online entrepreneurs are asking for the CD package, but it is well worth the $7.99 MP3 download. Click, click, click and enjoy!