AK Michaels

Barrel wasn't quite Michaels in his most minimalist two-man band format. Drummer Frosty was still the prime accompanist, and Michaels played most of the other instruments, but Drake Levin did help out on guitar. The strengths of the album are the strengths of most of Michaels's early-1970s material: rich funk-rock-gospel vocals and keyboards. The weaknesses are also common to much of Michaels's albums from the period: a lack of truly outstanding songs and a reliance upon slow to mid-tempo bluesy songs that sound too much alike. Some moderate circa-1970 counterculture sentiments surfaced in songs like "What Now America," but the undoubted highlight was his rousing cover of Moby Grape's "Murder in My Heart (For the Judge)."

One of the masterpieces of the period, Lee Michaels was essentially recorded live in the studio by only Michaels (organ/bass pedals) and Frosty on drums. It's a fabulous performance and one of the finest R&B/rock sets of the period. The first side is comprised of a medley of soulful workouts that come out sounding not unlike Led Zeppelin. Here, Michaels pulls out all the stops (literally) and showcases the organ as a bona fide rock instrument. Despite the lengthy drum solo, it's one of the finest sides of Los Angeles rock & roll. Michaels also reprises "My Friends," a song from his first album, to great effect. Lee Michaels is also home to the good-time, pro-drug anthem "Highty Hi," as well as an awesome cover of "Stormy Monday." A true party platter.

Recorded in concert accompanied by drummer Keith Knudsen, Lee Michaels goes through mostly extended versions of various songs from five of his first six albums, interspersed with numbers unique to his concerts, such as "My Lady." Oddly enough, Michaels doesn't perform his biggest hit, "Do You Know What I Mean," preferring numbers such as "Oak Fire" and "Rock Me Baby" from the same album. This is an honest presentation of a Lee Michaels concert, with a raw, un-retouched sound, and he is in excellent form, instrumentally and vocally, on numbers like "Hold on to Freedom," "Stormy Monday," and most of the rest of this album. It might not be the best way to start listening to him, however; Recital and the self-titled third album are better in that connection…