🎵 AotW AOTW: Lee Michaels FIFTH (A&M SP 4302)

[LPJim]

Lee Michaels
FIFTH
A&M SP 4302

Lee Michaels' FIFTH contains his only two Top 40 singles, "Do You Know What I Mean" (#6) and "Can I Get a Witness (# 39). FIFTH entered the Billboard Top 200 on June 5, 1971, charted for 36 weeks and peaked at # 16, making it the keyboardist/vocalist's best selling album.

Side One: Keep the Circle Turning (Joel Christie) Irving Music Inc. - Circle Publishing BMI 2:41 - vocal by Merry Clayton, courtesy of Ode Records/
You Are What You Do (Lee Michaels) La Brea Music - Sattwa Music ASCAP 2:58/ Willie & the Hand Jive (Johnny Otis) Eldorado Music Co. BMI 3:02/ Didn't Have to Happen (Lee Michaels) La Brea Music- Sattwa Music ASCAP 2:32/ Rock Me Baby (Riley King & Joe Josea) Modern Music Pubishing Co. BMI 2:28.

Side Two: Do You Know What I Mean (Lee Michaels) La Brea Music - Sattwa Music ASCAP 3:11/ Ya Ya (Morris Levy & Clarence Lewis) Frost Music Corp. BMI 2:19/ Can I Get a Witness (Brian Holland - Lamont Dozier - Eddie Holland) Jobete Music Co. Inc. BMI 3:02/ Oak Fire (Lee Michaels) La Brea Music- Sattwa Music ASCAP 2:53/ I Don't Want Her (Lee Michaels) La Brea Music- Sattwa Music ASCAP 2:25.

Produced by Lee Michaels/ Engineers: Richard Madrid, Norm Kinney and Henry Lewy/ Percussion: Joel Larson/ Sax: Jackie Kelso/ Art Direction: Roland Young/ Photography: Jim McCrary.

Reissued on CD by One-Way Records (OW 33644) in 1996.

JB

Top 200 chart information source: Joel Whitburn's 'Top Pop Albums'

 

[W.B.]

I've noticed LaBrea Music was mostly associated with Mr. Michaels' compositions. Was that an offshoot of the Almo/Irving/Rondor publishing house (after all, LaBrea was the name of A&M's then-address), or something else altogether? I'm curious . . .

And I noticed something else: On the 45 of "Do You Know What I Mean" (AM-1262), its matrix number was shown as 2125 on the label, while its flip "Keep The Circle Turning" was designated 2124. Might this have had to do with the fact that the latter led off Side 1 of 5th while the former (and the hit) started Side 2 of said LP?

 

[LPJim]

LaBrea also was joint publisher (with Thirty Four Music) for the tunes on THE MERRY-GO-ROUND (A&M SP 4132). Percussionist Joel Larson, featured on 5TH, also played drums on the MGR album.
JB

 

[Steven J. Gross]

Great album- real catchy tunes- and it seems Lee put A LOT of energy into it. His best album, IMHO.

 

[Uncle Dave Lewis]

I worked for, and was a friend to, Lee Michaels in the 90s. I haven't heard from Lee in a long time, but I can sort of half -answer some of these questions based on what he said about it from time to time.

5th was the fifth album on a five-album contract. By the time it was made relations between Lee and A&M were already past the point of no return. Lee recalled that it was "made in no more than a day-and-a-half" as he was anxious to fulfill the terms of his contract so he could go to CBS. The song "Do You Know What I Mean?" was "written in fifteen minutes right there in the studio. We'd been doing acid all night and came in tired at 6:15 am. It was the first song I wrote when I got there. From writing to recording it that song took all of ninety minutes." Most of the rest of 5th was done that way too. Lee isn't terribly proud of the album as a whole, but doesn't knock the fact that two of the songs became hits either.

I don't know the name of Lee's publishing company. But some time after he left A&M he took the company to court and won back his songwriting, master tapes, everything.

My guess on the single is that the A&M single order doesn't follow the album order. A recording matrix is supposed to identify the part from which a record is pressed, and I suspect the single matrices are unique to the singles and not the same as those devised for LPs or master tapes. Of course this is not true for every label, but it may be so for A&M.

I have no guess on the relationship between Lee and this other band that is mentioned. But the drummer referred to as "Joel" (we called him "Frosty") is Lee's drummer. At some point in the mid-90s I had the pleasure of mixing sound for a private rehearsal with Lee & Frosty at the Warner Grand Theater in San Pedro. Lee keeps his miscellaneous keyboards and mixers in a shopping cart - he just rolls it onto the stage and you plug right into it. He starts a riff, and Frosty picks it up and away they go. Sooner or later Lee will think of something to sing and he'll start singing - usually nonsensical lyrics that are picked more for their rhythm than their meaning. Lee and Frosty played the equivalent of about 7 or 8 songs in thirty minutes without stopping or running into a wall. None of the material they played that day was "old" - it was all newly improvised, and they hadn't played together in 20 years. Folks, it was truly amazing - and only me and two or three others in the theater heard it.

I understand that they did play at least one date in the city not long after that, but there was ultimately a falling out between Lee & Frosty and that was the end of it. He may have picked up the thread of his music since then, but I don't know as I haven't heard from Lee since I left California (in 1998).