Saturday, September 28, 2013

BOOK REVIEW: The Strange Sound Of Cthulhu - Music Inspired by the Writings of H.P. Lovecraft by Gary Hill (2006 Music Street Journal)


Review by Scott Lefebvre

     First off, It’s important to me to mention in reviewing this book, that I did not receive an actual finished copy of this book, but instead the text and cover art were forwarded to me by Barry McDonald from Scream of Terror E-zine for review.
     Seeing first the cover and reading the title of this book, I expected a flashy, shallow, cursory book mentioning only relatively contemporary bands exclusively from the heavy metal music scene.   Instead, I discovered an exhaustively well-researched work which rather than superficially glossing over the more popular musicians which reference Lovecraft’s work, presents an equally exhaustive coverage of bands whose musical creativity was influenced by the writing and life of Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
     It is impossible to be comprehensive when researching and creating a book which chooses for its topic music inspired by the writing and life of H. P. Lovecraft.   The author recognizes this impossibility in his words, “In no way can this text be considered exhaustive.”   New bands are born every day, and will continue to be inspired by the writing of H. P. Lovecraft, or perhaps even be inspired by creators of music, literature and film who were inspired by Lovecraft.
     The author exhibits a particular bias against music and musicians that derived their inspiration from the films of Stuart Gordon.   The films of Stuart Gordon, although many are unmistakably Lovecraftian, have been filtered through the creative interpretation of the director, and I can relate to the author’s universal dismissal of musicians and music which have derived their inspiration from the director’s interpretation of Lovecraft’s work.   The author likewise remains a Lovecraft purist in avoiding digression into addressing music inspired by authors who were inspired by Lovecraft and I admire his purely Lovecraftian bias.
     In this book, the author includes everything which I expected to find in a work which addresses music inspired by the work of H. P. Lovecraft.   All of the music and musicians that one would expect mentioned in a work of this kind are addressed every Lovecraftian and Cthulu musical reference which easily comes to mind.   What surprised me was the number of Lovecraftian songs and performers of which I had previously been oblivious.   This absence in my area of knowledge has been amended by this lengthy discourse on the topic.
     The author begins with a brief introductory chapter about Howard Philips Lovecraft’s life and work.   Following chapters are separated by musical genre covering Psychedelia, Prog Rock, two chapters devoted to Heavy Metal, Punk Rock, Goth, and Electronica, even a chapter covering musical theater.   The author also addresses the uniquely fandom inspired art of “filking”, which I had expected and would have been disappointed to have not seen mentioned.
     It is difficult to convey through words the sound and feeling of hearing music, but the author creatively tries to give the reader a sense of what experiencing the songs addressed in this book might be like.   In doing so, the author seems to have made an effort to avoid unnecessary repetition of his descriptions, and is successful in using a varied vocabulary in his attempts to describe what experiencing the music might feel like.   In fact, I must admit that the author’s descriptions inspired in me a yearning to hear the pieces which he describes.   I hope that this book may be accompanied by a CD containing musical selections covered in the text, or re-released including a musical sampling of the less well known performers and musical selections, since I think this would greatly add to the reader’s experience of the book.
     Regarding the author’s style, the author samples from the work of Lovecraft authorities, lyrics from the songs inspired by H. P. Lovecraft, and colorful selections from interviews with the musicians that created these works focusing on the ways which the works of H. P. Lovecraft inspired them to create their musical homages to H. P. Lovecraft’s life and work.   Often comparing lyrical passages from songs with excerpts from the Lovecraft stories which inspired them, allowing easy side by side comparison.   Many of the interviews are previously unavailable, having been conducted by the author while during his research for this book.   These interviews serve an additionally useful purpose clarifying many myths about songs which had previously been thought to have derived inspiration from the works of H. P. Lovecraft, which in fact were either only minimally inspired or not inspired or not inspired by Lovecraft at all.
     On a positive note, I can honestly say that this book is a welcome addition to the continually growing body of works inspired by the work of H. P. Lovecraft, and a pleasure to read for those that have already have a firm foundation in all things Lovecraftian, having read the entirety of Lovecraft’s works and are devotees of the writing and life of Lovecraft.   This is also one of the only books which I reviewed which did not contain obvious spelling or grammatical errors aside from stylistic indulgences.  The text itself is written both creatively and well.
     As a precaution, it should be mentioned that people who are unfamiliar with the works of H. P. Lovecraft may feel understandably disoriented without a solid background in Lovecraftian lore to frame this work.    But this is unlikely to be much of a problem since this book’s target audience will most likely be at least familiar with Lovecraft’s works.   
     A different problem which I experienced is not being familiar with a majority of the music and musicians covered in this nearly exhaustive work on the topic of Lovecraftian music and musicians.     I found it difficult to stay interested in an in depth description of a song which I have never heard performed by a band of whom I have never heard.
     I have to agree with two passages by S.T. Joshi, author of the Lovecraft biography, H.P. Lovecraft: A Life.
“(Gary Hill’s) coverage from the 1960s group H. P. Lovecraft to Asmodeus X is exhaustive and comprehensive, and his sensitivity to the Lovecraftian overtones of songs and albums that do not, at first glance, seem obviously inspired by Lovecraft is impressive.” And that “Gary has also performed a notable task in interviewing many of the musicians whose work he discusses, so that we have first-hand knowledge of how these artists came upon Lovecraft, what they think of his work, and how their own music is meant to be an homage to the lantern-jawed New England writer.”   It is unquestionable that the amount of time and effort the author went into researching this book is truly admirable.
     I recognize my own personal biases in reviewing books, and even as I write that this book easily exceeds the depth and breadth of my interest in reading about Lovecraftian inspired music, I must put forth that this book is a perfect resource guide for any musician desiring to pay tribute to Lovecraft and to discover the musicians who have preceded them, and the musical tributes to one of America’s most enduring authors of the occult which those musicians have created.

On the internet:
Music Street Journal http://www.musicstreetjournal.com or http://www.myspace.com/musicstreetjournal

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