Carnival of Life

by Lee Michaels

Overview

Lee Michaels, a veteran of the Los Angeles and San Francisco bar-band scene in the mid-'60s, struck out on his own in 1967 after fronting bands with such illustrious alumni as Joel Scott Hill, Bob Mosley, and John Barbata. Michaels' music was characterized by his soulful vocals and equally soulful organ playing. These awesome talents would be polished on his second and third albums, but his debut, while interesting, falls a bit short. The main problem is that A&M saw Michaels as sort of a psychedelic singer/songwriter/rocker. In reality, he was sort of a California version of Steve Winwood. Carnival of Life has some excellent performances by Michaels and especially drummer Eddie Hoh. Both rock hard on the album's nine cuts, but the material is a bit dated and tends to end up in some hard-rock cliches of the period. Still, it's a promising if quirky start of what would be a fine career. ~ Matthew Greenwald

Product Details

Release Date:	02/26/2016
Label:	Manifesto / Manifesto Records
UPC:	0767004580128
Rank:	34686

Tracks

1. Hello
2. Another One
3. Streetcar
4. Love
5. Carnival of Life
6. Why
7. Tomorrow
8. Sounding the Sleeping
9. My Friends

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Lee Michaels   Primary Artist,Piano,Vocals,Keyboards,Harpsichord,Bass,Organ
Fast Eddie Hoh   Drums
Hamilton Wesley Watt   Guitar
John Keski   Bass
Rev. Gary Davis   Bass,Organ

Technical Credits

Larry Marks   Producer
Lee Michaels   Composer
Guy Webster   Photography
Tom Wilkes   Art Direction
Danyil Goodwin   Remastering
Paul Antonell   Remastering