Drummer Michael Tegza was the only original bandmember left when he reinvented the band H. P. Lovecraft under the name Lovecraft and released an album called Valley of the Moon in 1970. Joe Viglione, writing for Allmusic says of this album: “For this 1970 Reprise release, they are dubbed Lovecraft and have abandoned the psychedelic Jefferson Airplane sound for a progressive Crosby, Stills & Nash-meets-Uriah Heep flavor. In 1975, drummer [Michael] Tegza re-formed 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.”
I have the Love Craft album, and the addition of soulful vocals by LaLomie Washburn atop a dreamy pop-psychedelic sheen makes this a fascinating listen, though it has little similarity to the original H. P. Lovecraft. This record gets some grudging admiration by Joe Viglione in Allmusic: “The record sounds better than it looks, for they look like a glorified Holiday Inn band; but the creative spark is still there, with Michael Tegza producing this with LaLomie Washburn, and the band dipping into progressive jams, expertly played, but with little chance of obtaining Top 40 success.”
(June 2014)
