OFF: H.P.Lovecraft (the band)

[Paul Mather]

On Tue, 27 May 1997, Tony A. Rowe wrote:

> Hi there, everybody.  I just joined this group for discussing Hawkwind and
> Nik Turner, but I'm now making my first post by talking about H.P. Lovecraft.

Welcome aboard!

[[H.P. Lovecraft album reviews omitted.]]

> That's the limit of my knowledge on the subject, can anyone else chime in
> with more?

I have three H.P. Lovecraft LPs.  Well, two, actually.  One of them is a
double album that is probably the one that Peter mentioned in his original
post.  It is a reissue of their first two albums, _The White Ship_ and _At
the Mountains of Madness_ (so I believe them to be entitled; maybe that's
what the reissues were called?).

I haven't heard it in quite some time.  However, I remember the first
album to be well worth a listen; the second one is rather patchy, IMHO,
but worth it on the whole.  It is late 60s psyche, with something of a
folk-rock feel to it.  A trademark of their sound is the twin vocal
arrangements that work very well.  Kind of like It's A Beautiful Day, but
with two blokes instead (though one was apparently classically trained).
Everything I've heard about H.P. Lovecraft says they went off the rails
after the first two albums, so your predictions about the mid-70s "disco"
album you have are most likely justified.

The other album of I have by them---_Live, May 11, 1968_ is, IMHO,
essential.  If you only buy one album by them, buy this one!  (Hell, buy
it anyway!)  The songs are incredibly dynamic live.  "The White Ship" has
much more atmosphere, with some great droning feedback guitar lending it
the cosmic air it deserves.  Overall, there is superb interplay between
all the musicians. There's not a single dud on this album.  Great jamming
throughout.  It's not what I'd call an acid freakout by any means, but
wonderful nontheless.  I know it got some heavy duty rotation when I
bought it several years ago. I'm glad to hear it's made it to CD: looks
like a special order is in my future...

I hope this helps.

Cheers,

Paul.

PS: I, too, came to them as a H.P. Lovecraft [the author] fan, but stayed
for the music.

obCD: fIREHOSE, _Ragin' Full On_

e-mail: paul at csgrad.cs.vt.edu                    A stranger in a strange land.