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.

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.