H.P.Lovercraft (v.good psych west coast)!!!!molto tempo fa ho uppato questo dischi ma mi sono scordato di postarli (anche per colpa della fottutissima connessione internet che latitava), beh poco male mi rifaccio del tempo perduto!si parla ancora di musica Psych con un interessante alternanza maschio/femmina alla voce...le prime 2 tracce sono veramente belle...a voi!
H.P. Lovecraft 1967
A fine artyfact from this Chicago psych troupe. Besides all the spindly organs, HPL's biggest guns were George Edwards and Dave Michaels' dueling lead vocals. They hold notes until they turn real ugly. It's something to hear.
It's a one-two punch with Edwards' arrangement of "Wayfaring Stranger" and a cover of "Let's Get Together" that's profoundly more moving than the Youngbloods'. But there's also a few ill fits: namely, the campy cod-ragtime of "The Time Machine" and the botched pastoralisms in the lyrics to "Country Boy & Bleeker Street". Fred Neil's "The Bag I'm In" and the trad "The Drifter" take the full-blooded treatment, and "The White Ship" is an unsettling, spooky near-masterpiece. But they're just the best cuts on an above-average record. The San Fran scene is the big referent, yeah, but so is Revolver-era George Harrison (guitar, that is, not vocals).
Link: http://link-protector.com/703576/
H.P. Lovecraft II 1968
After acquiring a new bassist and acquiescing to the obvious (moving to San Francisco), H.P. Lovecraft sounds fractured and spent. Much rarer are the full-throated hippie-rock cuts; the exception is be the expansion: "At the Mountains of Madness" ventures into progressive realms with its vocal repartee, panning chaos, and keyboard freee-flights. But this is a wounded record, plucked and strung. "Mobius Trip" is a bummer in the summer, coming down on a sidewalk, beautiful people all around.
Just like the last record, the first two cuts are covers. The theme this year is Terry Callier tunes (very cool). Both feature string sections, but except for the show-stealing dramatic orchestral interlude in "It's About Time," only the first track is worth writing home about. The most ambitious cut may be "Ellectrollentando," a pretty, slow burn. Fingerpicking, synth twinkles, and only one vocalist (Edwards?). It's a downer of a drug portrait, and it ends like a dying heartbeat.
Richie Unterberger, who wrote the liners to Two Classic Albums From H.P. Lovecraft, has "Keeper of the Keys" pegged as either "stentorian" parody or the sound of a band falling overboard. I guess I'm easier to please/easier to fool, cos I find it simply awesome. H.P. could rock (just check their live disc), but this is actual bombast, complete with cellos and regal piano.
Any record with a Ken Nordine cameo (the fuckin' awesome "Nothing's Boy") is worth attention, I feel. It's a worthy record, nearly cliche-free. But comparing this record to its predecessor is like vetting the merits of Wow versus Oar.
Link: http://link-protector.com/703577/
