(H.P.) Lovecraft - Valley of the Moon (1970/2008 Remastered Edition)
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Album: Lovecraft - Valley of the Moon
Released: 1970 (2008)
Genre: Psychedelic Rock
Gnosis Rating: Not rated
Wounded Bird - WOU 6411
...This is pure psychedelia offering wild vocals and lyrics with solid musicanship. This music is not for the weak at heart but for those deeply into the pschy scene this is a must. - James Unger
Lovecraft was a spin-off group from the original H.P. Lovecraft, who released two albums for Philips Records, of the original line-up, only drummer Michael Tegza remained, though George Edwards was with the group briefly, the remaining members were former Aorta guitarist Jim Donlinger, ex-Buckinghams' multi-instrumentalist Marty Grebb, and future leader of the Call, Michael Been.
The lp bears little resemblance to the the original H.P.Lovecraft, but that doesn't mean this album isn't entertaining, "with a tighter sound that blends hard driving drums and guitars with more delicate, harmony vocal accented songcraft! It's a far cry from the psychedelic experimentation of HP Lovecraft -- but it's actually a pretty impressive rock record in its own right -- prefiguring the later 70s rock sounds long before the better known giants of the decade!" (Dusty Groove America)
The group would release one other album, 1975's "We Love You Whoever You Are" but by this time, they had resorted to playing Funk. -
Drummer Michael Tegza is the only original from two years prior when the band was H.P. Lovecraft on Phillips Records. For this 1970 Reprise release they are dubbed Lovecraft and have abandoned the psychedelic Jefferson Airplane sound for a progressive Crosby, Stills and Nash meets Uriah Heep. In 1975 drummer Tegza reformed the band again and separated the two words, their Love Craft album, We Love You Whoever You Are took things into an almost Santana goes soul direction. The lineup here of Tegza, Jim Donlinger, Michael Been and Marty Grebb are more than competent, maintaining the strong vocal presence of the original band, but the direction is too studied and not as much fun as the previous incarnation. "We Can All Have It Together" sounds like Seatrain's "13 Questions" meets Lighthouse's "One Fine Morning." "Brother I Wonder" delves right into that Crosby, Stills & Nash territory, while "Love Has Come" IS "Carry On" by Graham Nash and company. Michael Tegza's drums are big, and perhaps a bit out of place for what was a psychedelic band. Even on this he tends to overplay, the rolling thunder of the percussion interfering with the acoustics on "The Dawn," which is an otherwise interesting piece. "Never Gonna Go Back" is The Doors Soft Parade by way of Rare Earth - not a good combination. The worst excesses of the group are bared here when they should've blended The Doors with Roxy Music, the saxophone on this song not as outrageous and wild as it could be. "Dear" is one of the stronger tracks, with British flavors and exquisite harmony vocals and piano. There are no qualms with the musicianship, it's just that the promise of early H.P.Lovecraft has dissolved into very mainstream and somewhat uninteresting material. "Hopefully We'll All Remain Together" also almost makes it, but the preaching gets in the way of sounds that are in transition. This is a strange one, for sure. Interesting Jack London poem hidden on the bottom right of the front cover espousing the philosophy Neil Young sang about on "My My Hey Hey." The album just doesn't have the intensity this poem describes. - Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
Often considered as folk rock this Chicago-origined group is most surely one of the prime examples of intelligent and adventurous psychedelic rock (as opposed to the more conventional Garage rock groups discussed in the Nuggets box-sets compilations) and shows that late 60's in new world were also a fertile ground for progressive psych rock. Comparable groups of the era would be JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, SPIRIT and LOVE.
Folkie guitarist-singer George Edwards had recorded a few folk tracks, before playing with jazzman Will Mercier, where Edwards met KB man Dave Michaels, before heading back to his next solo single which will become the first HP LOVECRAFT recording - they took the name from their collective love of the writer's oeuvre to which they asked his estate for permission to use the name. Guitarist Cavalleri, bassist McGeorge and drummer Tegsa completed the line-up. Their first album is a mostly-covers (albeit completely rearranged) album that can be compared to a much more subtle VANILLA FUDGE album.
They relocated to the San Francisco region following a few high-profile shows at the Fillmore West opening for PROCOL HARUM, DONOVAN, PINK FLOYD, TRAFFIC as well as all the local San Fran Flower Power groups and were on the brink of wide success. Around this time HP Lovecraft was at its peak touring almost constantly and a stupendous show was recoded on May 11, 1968, (but not released before 91), showing just how great and progressive they were.
Their second album had everything to achieve that goal (including a change of bassist) but they seemed to lack confidence in their own songwriting skills (it is formidably underrated) and again concentrated on covers. The album is incredibly strong and still nowadays quite impressive. However, just after its release, KB man Michaels will leave (exhaustion and loos of musical direction) prompting the group to implode soon after, causing the label to pull its promotional effort.
They tried to reform early 70, but failed (even as they had found anew record deal), but this effort prompted a group with no link to the original line-up (except for drummer Tegza) to record an album as LOVECRAFT (but bearing no resemblance to the first album) and a second album in 75, this time a funky affair. Most of the original members still dabble in music nowadays, around the Chicago area with Edwards and Michaels still playing together in folk circuits. - ProgArchives.com
1 We Can All Have It Together (03:55)
2 Brother I Wonder (02:27)
3 Love Has Come to Me (03:13)
4 Will I Know When My Time Has Come (03:00)
5 Two Step Tussle (03:42)
6 Take Me by the Hand (03:09)
7 Lady Come Softly (02:35)
8 Dawn (04:55)
9 Never Gonna Go Back (03:41)
10 Dear (03:09)
11 Hopefully We'll All Remain Together (04:16)
George Edwards - rhythm guitar, lead guitar, bass, lead vocals
David Michaels - keyboards, clarinet, recorder, lead vocals
Jerry McGeorge - bass, vocals
Tony Cavallari - lead guitar, vocals
Michael Tegza - drums, vocals
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