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
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
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