H.P. LOVECRAFT II

4,5 Stars really!!!!

Again relying on covers and obviously and inexplicably lacking confidence in their songwriting (although IMHO, their original tracks are more interesting then the covers they chose), this second album is the logical continuity of their debut. Apparently, with the band out on the road almost constantly and nearing exhaustion, this album was winged and partly improvised, but if that was the case, this is an incredible tour de force. They seemed to lack material, but whatever they came with is truly impressive still nowadays.

Starting with two Terry Callier tracks - the Spin, Spin, Spin with its superb strings arrangements and the moody/haunting It's About Time where clearly they had heard the vocal prowesses of Tim Buckley - the album is reaching perfection with newboy bassist Boyan's Blue Jack Of Diamond (and a haunting oboe) the centrepiece Electrollentando where the band is experimenting with their producer Chris Huston (ex-The Undertakers) and provides some flabbergasting ambiances - these guys were ahead of almost everybody in July 68 -.

Then comes another outstanding track with its Lovecraft-ian intro and outro At The Mountains Of The Madness, followed by the chilling Moebius Trip. By now you are just waiting for the final nails to your coffin, and there is more to come in the form of the superb and aptly-titled High Flying Bird (actually the band is not flying anymore, they are soaring) and the hugely advanced sound collage Nothing's Boy. The finale Keeper Of The Keys is cross of Tim Buckley's vocals mixed with Pearls Before Swine's Tom Rapp-like arrangements on his Balakavalla album.

Outstanding and a pure marvel. Not often are words failing me to describe how I feel, but here, this record killed and buried me sixty feet under. However, soon after the release, one of the main members Dave Michaels will leave (and still to this day not regretting it) citing loss of musical direction and exhaustion - the band was touring 11 months a year - prompting, the rest of the group to implodes: a real waste. The record label was set to promote the album, but upon hearing this news, withdrew its support and the album went sadly unnoticed.

The sophomore studio album release from these creative proto-proggers. Rumor has it that the busy band, fresh off of an extensive touring spell to promote their acclaimed debut album, came into the studio with little or no prepared material and thus had to improvise the foundations for most of the music here. Also, the legend goes that much of this studio time was performed by the whole band while using LSD. (This would definitely help account for the very different, very trippy songs created for this album.) Obviously, multi-track recording techniques used enabled the band and producers to doctor up the songs with plenty of embellishing sounds and effects--all equally representative of the psychedelic path the band was attracted and adhering to. Also, the record label's employment of British-born audio engineer Chris Huston brought in the creativity to embellish all of the songs with the extraordinary psychedelic sound effects. The band actually give Chris great credit for the album even happening saying that they were too fried from touring to get their creative juices going. The result, however, was not commercially successful with no hits or album sales reaching Billboard's charts, but the band's reputation on the "psychedelic tour" continued to grow.

1. "Spin, Spin, Spin" (3:26) one of two songs that the band used that came from George Edwards' friend folk singer Terry Callier, it's a simple yet engaging song with a very catchy chorus and excellent use of piano, harmony vocals, Mellotron and strings! The pairing of the two very-different voices of lead singer George Edwards with the background/harmony vocals of Dave Michaels is quite striking but works! (9/10)

2. "It's About Time" (5:20) opens a little too Americana-like (it's the other song borrowed from folk singer Terry Callier) but then it launches into a great train ride of Southern rock after the 45-second mark. But then, less than 25 seconds later, everything comes to a halt: a spacious field of simple and singular offerings populates the music from bass, drums, organ, piano, percussion as the train moves slowly along. At the three minute mark the iron horse picks back up its speed until the strings turn our attention back to the interior of the train, then releasing in a powerful vocal and a "Long Train Running"-like motif. (In fact, I would not be surprised to hear that The Doobie Brother's Tom Johnston got his inspiration for the aforementioned song from this one here.) This song also sees more use of the effective-yet-peculiar pairing of George and Dave's voices. There are definitely loads of proggy elements, sounds and effects integrated creatively into this song. Too bad it's a little too disjointed. (9/10)

3. "Blue Jack of Diamonds" (2:55) though this opens with some oddly-effected reverse piano chords, it soon becomes a nice acoustic guitar-based song with a very pleasant lead vocal and beautiful clarinet support. (8.875/10)

4. "Electrallentando" (6:27) percussion wind chimes start out this song before odd organ, bass drum, and guitar picking join in. It makes for such an ethereal, feathery musical listening experience. For me, it's a real pleasure for to listen to. (I would think it would be for all prog lovers.) (9/10)

5. "At the Mountains of Madness" (4:48) a song that seems to bridge the worlds of JEFFERSON STARSHIP, THE MAMAS & THE PAPAS, and the wildest of the psychedelic movement. (9/10)

6. "Mobius Trip "(2:46) a very cool song that feels like the birth of the mid-1980s version of XTC. Definitely my favorite song on the album. (9.75/10)

7. "High Flying Bird" (3:15) funk?! With George's great DAVID CLAYON THOMAS-like vocal performance supported by some interesting organ play and unusual choral vocal arrangements. Rated up for the lead vocal performance: it's amazing! (9/10)

8. "Nothing's Boy" (0:40) creepy heavily-effected voice speaking "zero-zero-zero" into infinity while other cult voices and spoken poetry by commanding voice of guest Ken Nordine over the top.

9. "Keeper of the Keys" (3:06) a near-operatic vocal performance (from Dave Michaels?) over piano, bass and drums. One of the more straightforward pieces that is, of course, enriched by bowed bass and effects throughout and especially at the end. Sounds a bit like something by Puddles' Pitty Party. (8.875/10)

Total Time: 32:43

A-/five stars; an album that, thanks to studio engineer Chris Hutson, definitely meets all of the requirements of being cited for being one of the first representatives of the new progressive rock music movement. For the best album by this band I'd recommend their live album from 1968.

3.5 stars. I have such a hard time with Proto-Prog albums and giving this 3.5 stars is a compliment for sure. I am very impressed with the vocals on this album for the most part and that they do get experimental at times instrumentally. Not so impressed with all the folky stuff or that they cover several songs here even though that was a "thing" back in the day. There's two tracks on here that I'm very glad I got to spend some time with and the fact this their second record was released in 1968 makes those two songs even more incredible. I'll get to those later.

A five piece out of Chicago with all five singing. They would eventually move down to California where all the action was and proceeded to burn themselves out with all the live shows. All five were big H.P. Lovecraft fans and they asked his estate for permission to use his name. Most of the music here just isn't my thing but "Electrallentando" is different with the creative sounds, and the vocals make this even better. And fairly long at 6 1/2 minutes, in fact the longest on the album.

And while the intro and outro for "At The Mountains Of Madness" shine bright the rest of the song is not my thing mostly because of the vocals this time. My other favourite though is "High Flying Bird" a song I liked right from the start. The lyrics and vocals and it's catchy. Not big on "Mobius Trip" just too folky for my tastes with harmonies. The closer might be my third favourite because of the passionate vocals. The 40 second track before it is funny, very psychedelic. Not into "Blue Jack Of Diamonds" again for being too folky and ballad-like. The opener "Spin, Spin, Spin" is very dated and the followup "It's About Time" has these expressive vocals that I like.

Hugues gave this 4.5 stars so keep that in mind, this just isn't my scene.

A major leap in quality from the debut release, H.P. LOVECRAFT evolved more as a band unit on its 1968 sophomore release simply titled II and eschewed the series of sessions musicians and focused more on tightening up its unique mix of folk rock with 60s psychedelic rock. The increase on the psychedelic features (including the eye-catching album cover) has been accompanied by the legendary claim that H.P. LOVECRAFT II was the very first major label release to have been recorded by musicians who were completely under the influence of LSD. And that's not so hard to believe really, because in June 1968 when the band finally had a chance to go to the studio to begin recording it's second album the members were lacking enough finished material to bring to the worktable which means that a great chunk of of H.P. LOVECRAFT II was totally improvised in the studio and the results were that the album is clearly much more psychedelic than its predecessor as was it more based on the more pacifying sounds of folk music.

The band also lost Jerry McGeorge and was replaced by former Saturday's Children bassist Jeffrey Boyan. The album sounded a lot more in line with the subject matter of its moniker this time around with a trippy lysergic delivery system and lyrics in some tracks such as "At The Mountains of Madness" which thematically narrated the works LOVECRAFT, this particular track focusing on the 1931 novella of the same name. H.P. LOVECRAFT II is also chock filled with psychedelic sound effects and odd drifting into trance-like states. The track "Electrallentando" for example displays a very drugged out display of psychedelic folk that culminates into a hypnotizing period of total escapism and freaky sound effects with only a tribal drum operating as a life to any sort of musical "normalcy." It's moments like this why it's clear H.P. LOVECRAFT were deemed the perfect opening act for Pink Floyd of that era. Even the opening track "Spin Spin Spin" displays a more detached and less commercial sound in relation to the mainstream psych rock that was dominating the charts of the era. Don't get me wrong, the track features an instantly lovable hook however the atmospheres are more on the dark side and the serious tones offer more of an introspective melancholy than any other act of the day.

"It's About Time" is probably the closest thing to what could be called straight forward psychedelic rock on the album starting in a bluesy rock sort of way but then doesn't take too long to melt down into a strangely timed slice of psychedelia with oscillating keyboard effects in the backdrop and a weird time signature that slowly resurrects with a piano and bass groove accompanied by a military march drumbeat until the track finds its footing back to where it becomes a hi-brow classically orchestrated chamber pop number! It then returns back to the blues rock number that soar due to the harmonic excellence team of George Edwards and Dave Michaels. A wild ride for a mere 5 minutes and 20 seconds and it's only the second song! The band's reputation of delivering a spooky and mysterious vibe was probably too much for anyone having a bad trip in the day! This was obviously music for the big boys and girls who could keep their crap together and enjoy the wild and uninhibited explorative nature of H.P. LOVECRAFT's brilliance.

The album only gets trippier as it progresses with the thematically on target "At The Mountains Of Madness" showcasing the band's propensity of delivering strong rock beats while saturating the guitar, bass and drums in extremely eerie atmospheres and this point even the vocal harmonies have gotten stranger. With strange pitch bends and keyboard tricks, H.P. LOVECRAFT simply mastered the art of making a musical representation of its author namesake. The use of studio techniques such as back masking echoed reverse tape effects, swirling keyboard techniques and chaotic acrobatic vocal interplay conspired to make some of the freakiest music the entire 60s could conjure up. The short "Mobius Trip" exists more on in the world of simple folk music but fortified with psychedelic echoes, vocal production reverb and abstruse contemplative lyrics. "High Flying Bird" is perhaps the most uplifting track on board and although heavily dipped in LSD and provides a lyrical optimism of anything is possible if you set your mind to it. It was an early folk rock classic recorded by Judy Henske and Jefferson Airplane. "Naughty Boy" offers a 40 second spoken word narrative with nothing but processed vocals as a backdrop repeating "zero, zero, zero, zero?" The closing "Keeper Of The Keys' offered one last mind melting experience with a stentorian pseudo-operatic vocal performance and a cover of Brewer & Shipley's song.

H.P. LOVECRAFT was as equally revered as a live act as it was for its amazing studio albums. With a repertoire that included aspects of pop, rock, jazz, folk, classical all dipped into the largest cauldron of psychedelia the late 60s had to offer, H.P. LOVECRAFT saw the band peak in its creative prowess making this album one of the absolute unabashed masterpieces of the entire psychedelic era. Light years beyond the mere psychedelic pop of many of its contemporaries unfortunately the band was a bit too far ahead of its time and soon found the band collapsing due to diminishing returns and members pursuing other academic endeavors. Although George Edwards and Michael Tegza tried to resurrect the band under the name Lovecraft, this version would have zero resemblance to these wild and unrestricted psychedelic days and primarily focused on watered down country rock and little interest for true fans of the brilliant early albums. I'm always surprised in how i've heard about a band all my life and think yeah that's interesting and never get to them but when i finally do i'm blown away by the artistic ingenuity around every corner. H.P. LOVECRAFT was one of those band's that really delivered on all front's and this second album H.P. LOVECRAFT II was as good as it got leaving it as the band's legacy.