MICHAELANGELO - ONE VOICE MANY 1971

Michaelangelo's sole album is in most respects average, if pleasant, folk-rock-psychedelia with male-female vocal harmonies/lead trade-offs that sounds as if it might have been recorded a couple of years or so prior to its 1971 release date. There is, however, one factor that makes it distinguishable from many similar LPs of the era: the Autoharp of Angel Autoharp, as she's billed on the record, who also wrote the group's material. There's no other rock album of the period, quite possibly, that uses the Autoharp so prominently, almost as though it is, in effect, a lead guitar (or an important rhythm guitar) within the rock instrumentation. Angel also sings some of the material, which largely has a bittersweet and haunting (if basically upbeat) flavor, though male vocals also take the lead on some tracks. The vocal numbers are OK (though not special), but the real standouts are the instrumentals. In those, the harpsichord really steps forward as a featured instrument, and rock, folk, and classical melodies and dynamics are combined in a fashion that avoids the bombast and pretension afflicting many British and European attempts at a rock-classical fusion within the progressive rock format. An engagingly light if somewhat slight oddity, it's odd that a major-label album such as this had (as of 35 years after its release) escaped CD reissue, a situation that probably won't endure forever. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide

Tracks :

West

Come to Me

This Bird

Son (We've Kept the Room Just the Way You Left It)

Medley

It's Crying Outside

300 Watt Music Box

Okay

Half a Top

One Voice Many

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Artwork Included