Michaelangelo - One Voice Many (LP)

All Music Guide

Michaelangelo's sole album is in most respects average, if pleasant, folkrockpsychedelia with malefemale vocal harmonies/lead tradeoffs 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 cl...assical melodies and dynamics are combined in a fashion that avoids the bombast and pretension afflicting many British and European attempts at a rockclassical fusion within the progressive rock format. An engagingly light if somewhat slight oddity, it's odd that a majorlabel 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 Read more Less