Lee Michaels recorded organ sound/s

[Mididude]

Hi All, I have the ‘Hello, The Very Best of Lee Michaels’ CD in my car that I often listen to, and for a long time (even when I would hear it on the radio) on his tune ‘Do You Know What I Mean’, I thought he must’ve using some kind of synth with a chorus circuit like maybe a polysynth like Garth Hudson (did) in ‘The Last Waltz’ or something…Basically I didn’t think to investigate it.  Well, I thought I had a memory that Wikipedia said Lee Michaels: pipe organ in the ‘liner notes’ which their term for that, as you probably know is ‘Personnel’ section of any given article about an album but no dice now (Wikipedia is frequently edited so I think they deleted what I’d seen)… BUT, Allmusic.com states in their review that Lee played not only Hammond organ, but pipe organ on it.  It clicked suddenly that that’s what I’d been hearing all along.  That highly animated, tremulant sound.  I suspect that real pipe organ might have been out of tune relative to itself.  All I know is, it sounds cool.  

[Baldwin Funster]

He was known for multiple leslies. Maybe thats what you are hearing.

[linwood]

I think my friend Norm Kinney mixed that record.

[Docbop]

Well you could head to Marina Del Rey CA where Lee started his Killer Shrimp restaurant which is said he still owns, maybe you can catch him there and ask him.   

 

I saw Lee Michaels a couple times back in the day.   First time he had a trio of guitar, drums, and Lee on organ.  Lee was a loud Hard Rock then I think it was the first time I saw a guitarist who had modded the body of his Telecaster.   Then I saw Lee again about a year later and that was the well know duo with Lee and Frosty on drums and a wall of amps behind Lee.  Frosty was so dam good I don't think Lee could of pulled that duo off with any other drummer.    Years after that when I was working in studio I worked on the sessions for a group with Frosty on drums. The band one of those record company bad ideas of taking parts of two groups and combining them to be a new "super group".   One song they just could not get a good take playing as a group or even parts of the group.    So the producer asked Frosty do you think you could play the whole song by yourself, Frosty no hesitation said sure.   Frosty when out and played the entire song, including solo sections for other instruments perfect timing, all the dynamics, breaks you name it in one take.   Everyone was amazed watching him.   Then we recorded all the other parts one by one.    No, the album never came out. 

[SamuelBLupowitz]

3 hours ago, Mididude said:

 I suspect that real pipe organ might have been out of tune relative to itself.  All I know is, it sounds cool.  

I know I've talked about it on the forum before, but one of my favorite recording adventures of my life was when I booked Sage Chapel at Cornell University (where I have my day gig) to record the pipe organ there for a record my band was making. There were just one or two spots that demanded a little bit of grandiosity that stuck out from my usual big Hammond pads, and setting up a stereo pair of condensers and recording that room trembling with sound really got some vibe.

 

When we went back to the studio and loaded the recording into the main Pro Tools session, we found that the pipe organ was not quite at concert pitch, enough that it was a hair distracting. After puzzling over the challenge of using any kind of pitch correction with all those overtones, our engineer had the idea "what if I just pitch shifted the whole stereo track up a few cents and see if that helps it?" So he went "cha-CHUNK" and there it was -- the internal tuning discrepancies were no big deal, it was just that the organ sound as a whole was a hair flat of A440, and shifting it up made it sit in the track perfectly. Every time I go back and listen to that record, I get a huge grin on my face.

[SamuelBLupowitz]

Okay also other than having heard "Do You Know What I Mean?" on WMGK growing up, I knew nothing about Lee Michaels... now I'm checking out this rock piano/organ duo stuff, and how has it been missing all my life?! Definitely going to dig into him some more.

[Reezekeys]

I know we're getting a bit off the specific thread topic, but since it's become a more general Lee Michaels thread...

 

In 1969 I was 13 and Lee's rendition of Stormy Monday was on heavy rotation at my house! That one record gave me the itch to get a Hammond and Leslie, but it was not to be. Thanks to youtube I can relive my past! This track  still sounds good to me -

 

 

[HammondDave]

13 minutes ago, Reezekeys said:

I know we're getting a bit off the specific thread topic, but since it's become a more general Lee Michaels thread...

 

In 1969 I was 13 and Lee's rendition of Stormy Monday was on heavy rotation at my house! That one record gave me the itch to get a Hammond and Leslie, but it was not to be. Thanks to youtube I can relive my past! This track  still sounds good to me -

 

 

Agreed!  Lee was an amazing performer. Saw him and Frosty in the early 70’s at the Hollywood (Fl) Sportatorium. I will never forget the wall of acoustic amps behind the two of them. When he hit that high C at the beginning of stormy Monday my ears distorted from the volume. He drove me and my friend from the arena and we listened to him in the parking lot (believe me, he was plenty loud even out there).  Still a great show. 

[Reezekeys]

Yea I heard his shows were not exactly eardrum-friendly! That's a hell of a lot of sound coming from two people.

[retrokeys]

I heard tell that his stage rig had 16 Leslie 900's.  In those days the most powerful one that they made. I then read somewhere that he decided to switch to electric piano because the organ was making him deaf??!!!  Never got to see him ;live but about wore the records out

 

[mate stubb]

My high school band did Lee's version of "Tell Me How Do You Feel" and turned it into a 20+ minute extravaganza with added triple guitar leads. We must have been completely obnoxious...

[Mididude]

31 minutes ago, retrokeys said:

I heard tell that his stage rig had 16 Leslie 900's.  In those days the most powerful one that they made. I then read somewhere that he decided to switch to electric piano because the organ was making him deaf??!!!  Never got to see him ;live but about wore the records out

 

I watched this clip recently.  So neat that Burt Sugarman and the Midnight Special people uploaded this.  I don’t think there’s like a ton of filmed or videotape footage of him, so I think this is really neat, that it’s available to watch.  Love that distorted tone of his Rhodes through the amp/s.  His playing ‘feel’ is great too.

 

, 

[Baldwin Funster]

Seems like Lee could have gotten a couple more speakers on that stage.

[zukskywalker]

Pretty amazing board here: Lee Michaels?

I saw the two of them at the paramount theater in Downtown Portland Oregon. I guess it was maybe ‘73 or ‘74.

 

as an alternative to the deafening stacks of 900’s and Hammond he took to the stage with what appeared to be a Wurlitzer electric piano running through a no less deafening (to me) stack of Marshall amplifiers.  It was surreally and likely dangerously loud. But they sounded GREAT!

[TommyS]

Owned a terrific restaurant  named Killer Shrimp in Marina del Rey..

[Reezekeys]

His Wikipedia page says he's still running that restaurant.

[HammondDave]

… and he is almost completely deaf. 

[Reezekeys]

I can only imagine. I play jazz, funk & r&b and used to play weddings – and at my last visit to an ENT was told I''m a candidate for hearing aids. That's from doing gigs with Mackie and QSC speakers behind me, not a stack of Marshallls, Sunns or Leslies!

[Baldwin Funster]

So Lee has a new podcast. 

Warning: it is pretty much devoid of any mention or acknowledgement of keyboards or his rockstar past. But for the curious....

 

[SamuelBLupowitz]

16 hours ago, mate stubb said:

My high school band did Lee's version of "Tell Me How Do You Feel" and turned it into a 20+ minute extravaganza with added triple guitar leads. We must have been completely obnoxious...

Back when we were young teenagers in our first band together, one of my longtime guitar player buddies and his family befriended a New Jersey-based band called the Dead Elvi, sort of a horror-themed rockabilly outfit where everyone (hence the name) dressed up like Elvis, but, like, zombies or skeletons and stuff.

 

Anyway, the lead guitarist told my young friend a story of his first band's first big gig: the talent show at their school auditorium. Knowing this was the opportunity to show all of their peers what they were made of, they went for the jugular with a cover of -- before it became a running joke for the whole music world -- Free Bird. The guitarist recounted how when the time came for the solo, he stepped out onto the catwalk that had been constructed for the event, the stage lights shining bright on him as he tore into the solo, closing his eyes and giving it his all.

 

The song ended. The house lights came up. He could see, then, that the audience had gotten bored, and during his long solo, most of them had slipped out the back door of the auditorium.

 

Despite having heard it secondhand twenty years ago, I think about this story... often. 😆

[ProfD]

I realize that folks like Lee Michaels did their thing 50 years ago. 

 

Given the current state of keyboard technology, now seems to be the perfect time for more keyboard player led duos and trios. 

 

Then again, considering the backlash Lachey Doley gets from fellow KB players maybe there's a reason folks are gun shy.😁😎

[Baldwin Funster]

11 minutes ago, ProfD said:

I

 

Then again, considering the backlash Lachey Doley gets from fellow KB players maybe there's a reason folks are gun shy.😁😎

I didn't know Lachey got that much backlash. The web is largely one big jealous hate forum so being criticized just means you are doing something right enough for someone else to vent their jealousy on you.

That said,  I bet no one says that stuff to his face.

[SamuelBLupowitz]

Here's one of the few clips I could find on YouTube of Lee Michaels at the Hammond and Frosty on drums:

 

Ferocious!

[mate stubb]

 

[Dave Weiser]

On 3/6/2024 at 5:22 PM, Mididude said:

I watched this clip recently.  So neat that Burt Sugarman and the Midnight Special people uploaded this.  I don’t think there’s like a ton of filmed or videotape footage of him, so I think this is really neat, that it’s available to watch.  Love that distorted tone of his Rhodes through the amp/s.  His playing ‘feel’ is great too.

 

, 

That Rhodes sound could make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window! Thanks for sharing. My only complaint is that he didn't take a rippin' solo.

[Doug Robinson]

Here's one I've never seen. No organ (or Frosty). But still cool and weird at the same time. You'll see.

I saw Lee and Frosty four times in San Diego--they played the exact same show every single time and I loved it every single time. It always started with the giant THUMP and "Would you feel happy?" etc. The last time they were in the new San Diego Community Concourse which was still partially under construction. I had to pee so bad that before they came out I ran to use the bathroom but the renta-cop told me I had to cross over to the old section so I ran full speed--it seemed like a long way, like almost a city block. I was standing at the urinal hoping I wasn't going to miss the opening of the show and suddenly the whole building shook "THUMP!" and very lightly in the background I heard the opening lyrics!
 

 

[HammondDave]

9 hours ago, Doug Robinson said:

Here's one I've never seen. No organ (or Frosty). But still cool and weird at the same time. You'll see.

I saw Lee and Frosty four times in San Diego--they played the exact same show every single time and I loved it every single time. It always started with the giant THUMP and "Would you feel happy?" etc. The last time they were in the new San Diego Community Concourse which was still partially under construction. I had to pee so bad that before they came out I ran to use the bathroom but the renta-cop told me I had to cross over to the old section so I ran full speed--it seemed like a long way, like almost a city block. I was standing at the urinal hoping I wasn't going to miss the opening of the show and suddenly the whole building shook "THUMP!" and very lightly in the background I heard the opening lyrics!
 

Thanks for posting this.  It was interesting when he said that the “organ thing” was just too powerful.  Personally, I preferred it.  When he released the album “Barrel”, there was a definitive change of style, to what you see and hear in this video.  Still enjoyed the music, but missed the way he used The Beast to rip into our souls.  
 

Every now and then I enjoy watching the reactions of the younger generations when discovering for the first time some exceptional performances from the past.  Here is one of my favorites…

 

 

Thanks for posting this.  It was interesting when he said that the “organ thing” was just too powerful.  Personally, I preferred it.  When he released the album “Barrel”, there was a definitive change of style, to what you see and hear in this video.  Still enjoyed the music, but missed the way he used The Beast to rip into our souls.  

[HammondDave]

Every now and then I enjoy watching and listening to people reacting to music and performances from the past that we all love.  Here is one of my favorites.

 

 

[Shamanzarek]

I first took notice of Lee Michaels when I got his Carnival of Life album in 1968. Recorded in 1967 it was pretty heavy for the time with prominent Hendrix-inspired guitar and drums. There is a lot of fat sounding Hammond that I assumed was played by Lee. In a Keyboard magazine interview years later he said he mostly sang on that record and much of the organ was played by Gary Davis nephew of Richard "Groove" Holmes. 

 

 

Here is a blog that contains some interesting history about Michaels.

 

https://upvhq.blogspot.com/2023/06/lee-michaels-carnival-of-life-1968-us.html

 

Michaels often shared bills with the Steve Miller Band at many of the legendary San Francisco music venues as early as 1967. Lee guested on "Going to Mexico" from Miller's Number 5 album.

 

 

[Mididude]

24 minutes ago, Shamanzarek said:

I first took notice of Lee Michaels when I got his Carnival of Life album in 1968. Recorded in 1967 it was pretty heavy for the time with prominent Hendrix-inspired guitar and drums. There is a lot of fat sounding Hammond that I assumed was played by Lee. In a Keyboard magazine interview years later he said he mostly sang on that record and much of the organ was played by Gary Davis nephew of Richard "Groove" Holmes. 

 

 

Here is a blog that contains some interesting history about Michaels.

 

https://upvhq.blogspot.com/2023/06/lee-michaels-carnival-of-life-1968-us.html

 

Michaels often shared bills with the Steve Miller Band at many of the legendary San Francisco music venues as early as 1967. Lee guested on "Going to Mexico" from Miller's Number 5 album.

 

 

Thanks for the unique historical insights.  Having that Lee Michaels greatest hits cd that I originally mentioned at the beginning of the whole post, my mind has wondered (wandered) about the background of the recordings.  Wikipedia has some info on the albums, but I thought it was somewhat sparse.  His song, 'If I Leave You' interests me big time.  The well-recorded and well-mixed bari sax and other supportive instruments reminds me of Brian Wilson in his 'Pet Sounds' mode circa 1965 or 1966, and the trumpet(s) part reminds me of Sly and the Family Stone.  The cavernous reverb on the distorted elec. guitar sounds great....late 60's vibe (similar to Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin mixes).  Music worth relaxing and enjoying.