H.P. LOVECRAFT

I can't understand why H. P. LOVECRAFT is catalogued as Proto Prog, IMHO the band never really came near to Progressive Rock, they were one of the most outstanding and iconic Psychedelic bands with hints of the British Invasion, so I believe they should be in Psyche/Space Rock, but this is a matter of opinions.

Their self titled debut starts with Wayfaring Stranger, a typical product of early Psychedelia, the vocal work is privileged over the jamming and trippy solos, and this is more evident in Let's Get Together, closer to HERMAN HERMITS than to any real Proto Prog band as PROCOL HARUM or to ARTHUR BROWN, solid sound, coherent melody and nice vocals but little exploration.

I've Been Wrong Before is an advance, even when there is a clear Country element,. the keyboards begin to get up with the music of the late 60's, reminds me a bit of Rick Wright's style but with some Country Troubadour in the vocals, interesting song with a terrible ending.

In Drifter, the band continues with the same formula, late British Invasion with early Psyche elements, this proves that they were not as advanced as people tend to believe, I think Dave Michaels would had done a better work on another band, this guys seemed too attached to the past and not ready to embrace the radical changes of their era.

The same comment goes for hat's the bag I'm Inand I White Ship, musically impeccable but nothing new, as a fact I believe they were years behind their peers, but on the other hand Country Boy and Bleeker Street is a very pleasant surprise, H. P. LOVECRAFT start to be really explorative, now not only the trippy organ but also the aggressive guitar a la Hendrix make us notice this guys had the ability to be part of the Psychedelic Experimental scenario, a great leap for them.

My initial impression of The Time Machine was of disappointment, if ELP included this vaudeville tracks consider fillers, but they had enough strong material to balance the album, something I honestly can't find in H. P. LOVECRAFT, but around the minute, there is a short but radical change, an obscure organ with some interesting vocals add a special interest to the track, sadly too short and soon they return to the boring filler, but at least they proved they were able to make some weird experiments.

I can just describe That's How Much I Love You, Baby (More or Less) as boring, predictable and years behind what they should be doing, the vocal work reminds me of backup singers for crooners, had to press the skip button to maintain my mental sanity. The album is closed with Gloria Patria a short Gregorian style track sung in Latin, I don't know if this 31 seconds will satisfy anybody, but they were doing something unexpected and imaginative and that's a great advance.

Until a few weeks ago I had a not so good impression of this band, but I kept saying that I required to listen their debut album to have a valid opinion, well I have done it repeatedly during the last month and I'm absolutely unimpressed, a good band, skilled musicians but who didn't dared to be different or to give the extra step required to be great.

Never before rating an album had been so hard, the guys of H. P. LOVECRAFT are very skilled and have a good sense of melody, but their music leaves me cold, they take almost no risks and the final product is disappointing, no inspiration, no passionate solos or brilliant jamming sessions, just good Rock, Country and early but conservative Psyche, good for 1964 maybe but not for 1967, so I can't go with more than 2 stars that could be 2.5 in the best scenario.