rep>>> H.P. Lovecraft - Dreams In The Witch House (1967-68 us, worderful folk psych rock with baroque tinges, 2005 remastered and expanded)

Nearly 40 years after H.P. Lovecraft's brief heyday, its two albums, H.P. Lovecraft and H.P. Lovecraft II, are combined on this release, with British reissue label Rev-Ola licensing the contents of the original LPs and some singles tracks from the Universal Music Group, which controls the catalog of Philips Records, the Mercury Records subsidiary that issued them initially. The Chicago-based psychedelic rock group was formed in the spring of 1967, releasing H.P. Lovecraft that November, and broke up around the time that H.P. Lovecraft II appeared in September 1968. The band is remembered fondly by many as a "could have been" success that just didn't happen. As heard on these discs, its music is very much in the style of the San Francisco rock of the period, particularly the exploratory folk-rock of Jefferson Airplane, and the double-vocal style of guitarist George Edwards and organist Dave Michaels is particularly suggestive of the combination of Marty Balin and Grace Slick, while the two groups even share some repertoire "Let's Get Together," "High Flying Bird". 

But H.P. Lovecraft also sounds a bit like Quicksilver Messenger Service and It's a Beautiful Day, San Francisco rock groups that, to be fair, it preceded into record stores. A big influence is folk-blues performer Fred Neil, two of whose songs appeared on H.P. Lovecraft, with other songs, notably "Mobius Strip" on H.P. Lovecraft II, sounding like his languid style. The first album remains the keeper, especially because of "The White Ship," the six-and-a-half-minute tribute to the horror writer whose name the band adopted for its own. (Among the bonus tracks is a three-minute single edit of the song.) The rushed second album is, if anything, a bit more psychedelic, but certainly more padded than its predecessor, with even new bassist Jeff Boyan (who replaced the first album's Jerry McGeorge) getting to contribute a song, "Blue Jack of Diamonds." And then Michaels quit and the group broke up, though the name resurfaced for later projects featuring different members. 

The two LPs remain tantalizing evidence of a potentially important psychedelic act of the ‘60s that couldn't hold together. They have been reissued before, but this version is notable for the thorough liner notes by Nick Warburton and for the inclusion of the non-LP single "Anyway That You Want Me"/"It's All Over for You," which actually preceded the formation of the group proper, featuring Edwards, Michaels, and members of the local Chicago band the Rovin' Kind. The single is reminiscent of the Dylan-ish sound of 1965 folk-rock even though it was recorded in February 1967. 

by William Ruhlmann

Tracks
1. Wayfaring Stranger (Traditional) - 2:39
2. Let's Get Together (Chet Powers) - 4:38
3. I've Been Wrong Before (Randy Newman) - 2:47
4. Drifter (Travis Edmonson) - 4:14
5. That's The Bag I'm In (Fred Neil) - 1:46
6. White Ship (George Edwards, Dave Michaels, Tony Cavallari) - 6:35
7. Country Boy And Bleeker Street (Fred Neil) - 2:38
8. Time Machine (George Edwards, Dave Michaels) - 2:08
9. That's How Much I Love You Baby (More Or Less) (George Edwards, Dave Michaels, Tony Cavallari) - 3:57
10.Gloria Patria (Traditional) - 0:30
11.Spin, Spin, Spin (Kent Foreman) - 3:23
12.It's About Time (Kent Foreman, Lydia Wood) - 5:19
13.Blue Jack Of Diamonds (Jeff Boyan) - 3:08
14.Electrollentando (George Edwards) - 6:36
15.At The Mountains Of Madness (George Edwards, Dave Michaels, Tony Cavallari) - 4:59
16.Mobius Trip (George Edwards) - 2:44
17.High Flying Bird (Billy Ed Wheeler) - 3:24
18.Nothing's Boy (Ken Nordine) - 0:42
19.Keeper Of The Keys (Mike Brewer, Tom Shipley) - 3:08
20.Anyway That You Want Me (Chip Taylor) - 2:40
21.It's All Over For You (George Edwards) - 2:37
22.White Ship (Single Edit) (George Edwards, Dave Michaels, Tony Cavallari) - 2:55
23.Keeper Of The Keys (Single Mix) (Mike Brewer, Tom Shipley) - 2:56
Tracks 1-10 from LP "H.P. Lovecraft" 1967
Tracks 11-19 from LP "H.P. Lovecraft II" 1968
Bonus Tracks 20-23

H. P. Lovecraft
*George Edwards – Vocals, Acoustic, Electric Guitar, Guitarrón, Bass
*Dave Michaels – Vocals, Organ, Piano, Harpsichord, Clarinet, Recorder
*Tony Cavallari – Lead Guitar, Vocals
*Michael Tegza – Drums, Percussion, Timpani, Vocals
*Jerry McGeorge – Bass, Vocals (Tracks 1-10)
*Jeff Boyan – Bass, Vocals (Tracks 11-19)
Additional Musicians (Tracks 1-10)
*Bill Traut – Bells, Percussion
*Len Druss – Piccolo Flute, English Horn, Saxophones
*Jack Henningbaum, Paul Tervelt – French Horn
*Bill Traub – Reeds
*Herb Weiss, Ralph Craig – Trombone
*Clyde Bachand – Tuba
*Eddie Higgins – Vibraphone, Horn Arrangements

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rep>>> Socrates Drank The Conium - Taste Of Conium (1972 greece, rough classic rock, blues psych)

Socrates was Yannis Spathas and Antonis Tourkoyorgis on guitar and bass respectively. During the period that they were playing in the Kitarro Club they went through several drummers including George Trantalidis, all of them terrific. In Athens during the early seventies, when the 1967 military dictatorship was still in control, there were a number of rock clubs in the area around Victoria Square and in the Plaka. Poll and Morka played at the Elaterion. Socrates and Exidaktilo played at the Kitarro. As Dorian Kokas, the founder and leader of Morka told us one night "We used to race through our set and play everything fast so we could get out early and go to the Kittaro and catch the last set of Socrates." Musicians loved Socrates.

Socrates sounded like several bands that were popular at the time, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Deep Purple, Blue Cheer, and Black Sabbath come to mind now when I hear their music from that early period, though the majority of their material was original. There were songs that were crowd favorites such as "Close the Door and Lay Down", "Starvation" and "Underground", but often the highlight of the evening was when they did their Hendrix songs like "Voodoo Chile", "Message of Love" and "Red House" or jammed on songs like "Kansas City" with singer Jimi Quidd (later of the NY Dots) and Greek-American blues guitarist John Kronis.

Spathas played a Fender Strat, long straight hair hanging down almost to the guitar, he was motionless except for his hands which effortlessly ripped out the most fluid, solos and riffs. He always hooked the chord to his amp over the bottom cutaway so he would not step on it and pull it out during a solo, I suppose. It was sort of his trademark in a way and we would watch him tune up and wait for him to do it which meant to us that the music was about to begin. He would play some mind-boggling riff to make sure the volume was right or the guitar was in tune and they would be off. Antonis Tourkoyorgis played bass and sang and if Spathas gave the appearance of being introverted he was the complete opposite. He was also a great bass player.

The powerful sound this little three-piece band with their stacks of Marshalls put out in the Kittaro kept us coming back night after night. In all honesty I have to say that to this day I have not heard any band, three-piece or more, fill as much musical space. Seeing the Who in 1976 I found myself comparing them to Socrates. OK, the Who is the Who. But apart from the personalities, the songs I knew and the flamboyance, were Townshend, Entwhistle and Moon as good a band as Socrates? No way. Led Zepplin? Nope. You'd have to ask someone who had seen Hendrix or Cream to make the judgement about those bands but I can't imagine anyone being better than Socrates on a good night and as far as those nights in the Kittaro went I don't think they ever had a bad night. They were too good to have a bad night.

What made them so remarkable was the guitar playing of Spathas. Even today listening to the solos he played in 1972 I still can't believe the music he was making. Brent Lambert of Kitchen Mastering, quite a guitar player himself, after hearing several Spathas solos from thirty years ago said "If this guy had come to America he would be a guitar hero and everyone would know his name." If you liked the way Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore, Jimmy Page and Eddie Van Halen play you will love Spathas and if you play guitar yourself you will wonder "If this was thirty years ago and he is still playing how good must he be now?"

Anazitisi-Records

This is their second effort, released 1972, and despite the poor mixing and mastering we have the opportunity (once more) to discover the ability of the members, not only as skilled musicians, but also as renowned composers, expressing a particular view even in the versions of Satisfaction as "Wild Satisfaction" and "See See Rider".

Tracks

1. Wild Satisfaction (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) - 13:00

2. Good Morning Blues (Yannis Spathas, Antonis Tourkogiorgis, Elias Boukouvalas) - 2:25

3. See See Rider (Traditional) - 3:10

4. Door of the Dream (Yannis Spathas, Antonis Tourkogiorgis) - 4:30

5. Waiting for the Sun (Yannis Spathas, Antonis Tourkogiorgis) - 2:55

6. A Trip in the Sky (Yannis Spathas, Antonis Tourkogiorgis) - 3:22

7. It's OK (Yannis Spathas, Antonis Tourkogiorgis) - 1:45

8. Born to be Free (Yannis Spathas, Antonis Tourkogiorgis) - 2:30

9. She's Gone Away (Yannis Spathas, Antonis Tourkogiorgis) - 4:20

Socrates Drank The Conium
*Antonis Tourkogiorgis - Bass guitar, Vocals
*Yannis Spathas - Lead guitar, Synthesizer
*Kostas "Gus" Doukakis - Guitar
*George Trantalidis - Drums

1972  Socrates Drank The Conium - Socrates Drank The Conium

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