Rock Archeologia

Lee Michaels -Tailface (1974)

Artist: Lee Michaels
Album: Tailface
Label: Columbia
Catalog#: KC 32846
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: Canada
Released: 1974
Genre: Rock, Classic Rock
Duration: 00:29:23

• One of the most interesting second-division California psychedelic musicians, keyboardist Lee Michaels was one of the most soulful white vocalists of the late '60s and early '70s. Between 1968 and 1972, he released half a dozen accomplished albums on A&M that encompassed baroque psychedelic pop and gritty white (sometimes gospel-ish) R&B with equal facility. A capable songwriter, Michaels was blessed with an astonishing upper range, occasionally letting loose some thrilling funky wails. In 1971, he landed a surprise Top Ten single with "Do You Know What I Mean," one of the best and funkiest AM hits of the early '70s.
• But Michaels was really much more of an album-oriented artist, from the time he began recording in the late '60s. Michaels started playing music in Southern California, where he was in a band with future members of Moby Grape, the Turtles, and Canned Heat. By the time he signed to A&M, however, he'd moved to San Francisco, joining the management stable of Matthew Katz (which also included, at various times, Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, and It's a Beautiful Day). Michaels was unusual for a San Francisco act in that he relied mostly on an organ-based sound, especially after the first pair of albums, when for a time he played (live and in the studio) with the mammoth drummer "Frosty" as his only accompanist.
• "Do You Know What I Mean," ironically, was a throwaway tune that Michaels wrote hurriedly. Though Lee himself didn't think much of it, the song was a first-rate blast of blue-eyed soul; around this time, the gospel influence that had often informed his sound came to the fore. His albums in the mid-'70s for Columbia, however, were both critical and commercial disappointments. Michaels moved to Hawaii for an extended retirement from the music business. In the early '80s he announced the forthcoming independent release of a new solo album entitled Absolute Lee, which finally saw distribution through One Way Records in 1996; however, little has been heard from him since. - Richie Unterberger.

 • Side One:
A1. Met A Toucan 05:20
A2. Politician 03:52
A3. Slow Dancin' Rotunda 04:26
 • Side Two:
B1. Roochie Toochie Loochie 02:48
B2. Drink The Water 04:26
B3. Lovely Lisa 03:38
B4. Garbage Gourmet 04:45

      Manufactured by Columbia Records Of Canada, Ltd.

Personel:
Frank Smith (Rank Frank) - Bass
Bartholemew Eugene Smith-Frost - Drums
George Koch - Engineer
Michael Olson - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Lee Michaels - Producer, Vocals

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