Customer Reviews

Presenting...Lothar and the Hand People

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is classic late-60's electronic rock/psychedelica from a group whose rise to minor stardom was as meteoric as its plunge into (undeserved) obscurity. 'Lothar' is a Theremin, one of the first electronic instruments and a staple of bad 50's sci-fi movie scores. Anyone who's ever seen one played will understand the 'Hand People'. Aside from Lothar's contributions, there's some outstanding lead and bass guitar. The music is protopunk meets early industrial music, with a healthy dose of humor. The first track, 'Machines', was two decades ahead of its time: I vividly recall the discomfort it caused on American Bandstand when kids accustomed to Boddy Sherman tried to "dance to it". On the other hand, 'Bye Bye Love' is a tremendous cover of the Everly Brothers tune. Be sure to wear your headphones, or you'll miss half the fun.

The other reviewers don't lie. This is truly an amazing album.

Lothar and the Hand People first came to my knowledge through an archived WFMU show in which the DJ played "It Comes On Anyhow", one of the best pieces of musique concrete I have ever heard, especially from a rock band - it is way better than the Beatles' "Revolution No. 9." Apparently it was later sampled by Crystal Method.

So I went to the CD store and found this CD, put it in and was blown away by its sheer awesomeness. With the exception of one or two songs, the album invokes everything great about the 1960s, but also foresees the future. "Machines" is definitely my favorite, with its clanging percussion and Moog lines nearly formulating into easily one of the coolest songs from the 60s. Songs about machines taking over the earth are cool in general, I guess, but my bet would be this is one of the first. Not to mention that Lothar were one of the first rock bands to use both a Moog and a theremin.

"This May Be Goodbye", "Every Single Word" and "Ha (Ho)" remind me of mid-period Beatles, both in songwriting and innovativeness. "L-O-V-E (Ask for It By Name)" sounds dated, but in that catchily classic way - how this escapes the oldies stations I have no clue. "Rose Colored Glasses" is a gorgeous, lush ballad that calls to mind Love. "Sex and Violence" sounds like Beefheart's Magic Band with Lou Reed and the Beatles guesting on vocals. "Woody Woodpecker" is humorous. "Kids are Little People" is catchily Zappaesque. The gorgeous theremin piece "Paul, In Love" predates Eno's ambient music by nearly a decade.

One could make a convincing argument that Lothar sounds like Frank Zappa fronting the Olivia Tremor Control, a modern Beatlesque pop band utilizing electronics and tape experiments. One could also make the argument they sound like a Silver Apples-Velvet Underground side project. Or maybe a long lost Beatles-Faust collaborative session. Whatever the case may be, Lothar are truly one of the greatest bands of all time, and it's a travesty they are confined to the footnotes of music history.

This is another example of buying an album because of the cover. Five freaky looking guys, what mystery music would it contain? I love this album, quite surprised when I first listened to it. This is the album that started my obsession with electronic music and led to the building of my first Theremin. From there it went to analog synthesizers, mainly thanks to PAIA and Electronotes.

The album is a potpourri of weird songs and sounds. I especially like "Milkweed Love" with the multiple synthesizer (bumblebee) riff. And "Machines" is quite catchy even if those dweebs on American Bandstand hated it during their rate-a-record segment. The trippy "It Comes on Anyhow" is the perfect song to lay back with some incense going and stare at a black light poster. Ah, the good ole' days! "Paul In Love" is a great use of the Theremin.

At first I thought some of the songs seemed out of place, but that is just part of the freaky fun with this record. It is a psychedelic/electronic hodgepodge and as a collective effort, is a real gem. The extra tracks they threw on this CD version don't seen to fit the original album but are a nice touch (now that I've listened to the CD at least 50 times, I'm sort of used to them). If you want to hear a real slice of sixties psychedelia from what should have been a much bigger band, seek this out. It is an electronic musicians dream.

This next half is a review for Space Hymn, dated July 2008. When I tried to submit it to the album with Space Hymn on it, the system would not allow it because this album is tacked on to the other one and they do not allow two reviews on the same product! This isn't the same product, but I don't know another way around it right now, so here is the review of their second album.

Since their first album is on my top ten all time best list, when I finally picked this one up in the mid 80's in Turkey, I was drooling at the potential. However, when I listened to it, it was not what I expected and after only a few listens, it went on the shelf to be forgotten for a couple of decades. In July 2008, I burned it to CD and have had a chance to listen to it repeatedly during my long commute to work.

In a lot of ways, this is a logical continuation and expansion on the first album. Lothar (the theremin) is present on most of the tracks as well as plenty of Moog modular effects. What took me a while to appreciate are the songs. Of course, this is Lothar And The Hand People, so even a cover song isn't going to sound like a cover song. Heat Wave is a perfect example of how these guys can make a hit song their own, and make it sound like they wrote it. Then there is the live track, Midnight Rider (or Ranger). I believe this is the only live track they've ever done.

Overall, the music is a blend of electronic weirdness, pop, and a mild dose of country. However, this is NOT a country rock album, far from it.

These guys predated Kraftwerk and their ilk by a decade. The only other band that might compare to them is United States Of America, or so I've heard, but I haven't listened to any of their stuff yet, so I can't really say if it's a valid comparison.

This is another good example of what the birth of electronic rock music sounded like. Highly recommended.

This is one of the most underrated albums ever made!!! A totally unique listening experiene!!! One of the first albums to use syths!!! Machines is the highlight, but the other songs a awsome too!!! A true relic of the past!!! The lead instrument is a theriman, an unusual instrument used very succesfully on the Beach Boys hit "Good Vibrations" This is a one of a kind album!!! It's nice to finally see this classic get the deluxe CD treatment(6 bonus cuts are included). GROOVY!!!

Lothar is a great group for a number of reasons. Besides the fine songwriting and playing, they mix together well, and the theremin (Lothar) is used in an interesting and unusual way. Another thing that makes them so good is that they never take themselves too seriously; they have a wonderful sense of humor, which at the time was remarkable for all the pretentions with many of the bands then (as now). I wholeheartedly encourage people to pursue them. Notice that on the 1st album three songs were taken out from a re-issue: The Woody Woodpecker Song, For Paul in Love, and Kids are Little People.

Well, wow is all could say when I was "turned on" lol to this band, I was blown away by "Rose Colored Glasses" the Bonus Track at the time I had no Idea that the song was a "bonus track"... I mean it was in the 1980's, and I heard this on...WXDR a Delaware College Station, and on Saturday Nights at 9 PM I would barely be able to pick the station up and record on my tape recorder/radio (the smaller ones in the 80's, LOL, I remember having to put extension cords on it to act as a antenna, lol, My room was criss crossed with wires, on Saturday Nights. I had a few months earlier, scrolled up and down the stations trying to get in a more local station in Md. where I live, anyway, "The Psychedelic Flashback" was name of show, and it's host..Dwayne.. He had EVERYTHING underground! My Dream come true!!! I learned and heard so so so so so much music like..."West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band" who's LP " A Child's Guide to Good & Evil" is considered most psychedelic LP of it's time, that genre. psychedelia which is a more...deeper version of psychedelic, psychedelia would be...songs like...Rest in Peace by (of all people BUT GREAT SONG, never heard whole LP, would like too but.. Chad & Jeremy, their attempt at Psychedelic was...psychedelia... Listen to that track and tell me it's not a great piece of music, conceptual which was...so..explored in this time period. (I personally think "The Moody Blues" - "Days of Future Passed",is the 1st "concept" type LP. Some say it was "The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper". I LOVE Sgt. Pepper and is in my top ten favorites) but psychedelic was more..The Chocolate Watch Band, or...The Animals, etc...., "Silver Apples" (If you dig Electronic...you probably know of them) and "Elephants Memory-Old Man Willow"..(awesome band, If you dig "United States of America, etc..") So many others, But I fell in LOVE with that song "Rose Colored Glasses" mainly because of the Lyrics and How I was feeling at that particular moment in time...it was perfect, the time I heard it...it fit like a glove...and made me feel one of the best feelings I can remember...from that song.....So, it is special to me...All Bands, etc. mentioned are...Highly recommend and many more bands like "Love" & "Ultimate Spinach", "Moby Grape"( though Moby Grape was supposed to be, the next "big thing" they were to us, lol...)Oh and "Beacon Street Union" a band ahead of it's time...They were...awesome "Caravan" is a Great group,1st 4 Albums are Classics...And then "The Pretty Things" The LP "SF Sorrow" Best if you get UK version...& then.. "Family" their LP "Music From A Doll's House" a GREAT LP, I must say.. I haven't heard it in awhile, but I love it.( it may be Music in a Doll's house but...I think it's easy enough to get). "The Soft Machine", "Fat Mattress", and hope to spell this group right,"The Eire Apparent"(who were produced by Jimi Hendrix), check out a lot of these are on You Tube...also early T.Rex, Genesis 1st 2 LP's are wonderful and so ahead of their time as well, most of these bands were.
A more new group or artist/artists entitled "The Orb" (they are a more...newer group, a "Chill Out" sound of Ambiance to electro-retro-psychedelia.... highly influenced by Classic Pink Floyd & some others... "The Orb" have released a Remix of MANY Pink Floyd Classics, and a Whole LP "Dark Side of the Moon" was remixed and is available here I would think,and is great! It's the classic LP, just remixed by the good Dr.& Etc..not sure if you'd call "The Orb" a group...Anyway,a MUST hear..and from their 1st 3 Albums! The 2nd LP is best,to me.. a Double CD,"Adventures Beyond the Ultra World" & 1st one is "U F ORB", try them on your ears...lol,and another group is..."One eskimO" - "All Balloons" is name of LP, every song is wonderful listen to them on Youtube, "Amazing" is so very amazing etc...all songs on LP are...instant classics, "The Brian Jones Town Massacre",a LOT of groups have emerged that are amazing me...Oh and to make a honorable mention, "The Dead Weather" released their version of "The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band's" Song, which by the way, the original is MUCH better, "A Child of a Few Hours is Burning to Death" please check out the music...PEACE, try [...] they may surprise you with some rare stuff to hear, it's a radio station you control, etc...Fun site actually, just remember IF you wish,I am Lysrgia, check DJ Lysergia out, lol, I been digging real nice for the classics IF available, They alas have no "Lothar & the Hand People" BUT MAYBE someone who reads this, and who knows how (because I am PC stupid, lol)can upload some much needed underground music, they have a lot of stuff, and a lot they don't YET have... So, Peace, Love 2 U & Yours...And it's New Year's Eve, 2011 so, Happy New Year, (hope someone reads this on December 22nd 2012, LOL, (seriously...)

Here's a band that was always underrated, is still underrated, yet has never been forgotten. LOTHAR AND THE HAND PEOPLE is a smash up of every major NYC psychedelic music style from that late 60s season. Imagine a musical curry spiced with SILVER APPLES,(for that primative electronica sound), The RASCALS (blue eyed psychedelic soul), The ELECTRIC EELS (freak out appalacian wierdness), The LOVIN' SPOONFUL (for the pop rock angle), SIMON AND GARFUNKEL (folk rock), and THE FUGS (tripped out beatnik comedy music). Now, imagine this all stuffed into one LP, entitled LOTHAR AND THE HAND PEOPLE. (Who's LOTHAR? Why, it's none other than the band's Theremin.) When it comes to NYC psychedelic bands, or just famous bands from the late 60s, LOTHAR ETC have been overlooked, more than likely because their range of styles, defies classification as much now, as it did then. Altho the band obviously had a frame around its overall esthetic direction, that framework is as fluid as Zappa's 1960s MOTHERS. Loose, humorous, satirical, experimental, LOTHAR produced an album with those objectives in mind, and successed on nearly every song. The vocalist has a strong, blues-folk type timbre, without the cheeky, off key singing so popular with some "humorous" bands, or very far out freak folk. (At times the stacked harmonies, and counterpoint harmonies, can go a bit off key.) The instrumental landscape runs the gamet from Electronica, bluegrass guitar, keyboards (including a MOOG), lots of tape deck manipulation (ie ANALOGUE SAMPLING), and a smooth, elastic rhythym section, that switches time signitures, as easily as it changes musical styles. Even tho so many spices and flavors are being cooked together, the finished dish is delicious. Without a doubt, had the band contained a couple of master level instrumentalists, for example an outrageous guitarist, or a Coltrane type sax player, etc, the band could have played "FILLMORE" type extended dance numbers, making it on the dancehall-college circuit. Rather, the band's fan base was definately "DOWNTOWN", no doubt popular with the FUGS fans, ELECTRIC EEL fans, or maybe the BLUES MAGOOS crowd. (Their style was too lighthearted for the Velvet Underground crowd, and too freaky for the folk clubs.) By chosing a type of music that placed them somewhere around the American version of Britian's "BONZO DOG BAND", their project came across too singular in vision. Outside of this album, LOTHAR never got a chance to pursue their unique, uncompromising style. LOTHAR turned back into a theremin, and the HAND PEOPLE turned into singular fingers. But at least they gave us a document of their phasmagorical vision, to ponder and explore.

So, what DOES the band sound like? Again, I can only suggest it must have been like bar hopping on some mind expanding chemical, around NYC's club scene in 1968. Just when you get the idea they are definately an electronics band (cos of the MOOG and THEREMIN), they come out with a blue eyed soul number, but containing a bizarre middle 8 break. Or, as soon as you think they might be following the path of SIMON AND GARFUNKEL, the lyrics become crazed and comical, and the vocals bizarre, and you might as well be listening to MORAY EELS EAT THE HOLY MODAL ROUNDERS. OR, they might be in the middle of some LOVIN SPOONFUL type pop song, ending in the WOODY WOODPECKER theme song. This freak out non sequitur flows into a stack of tape decks playing backwards guitars. You hear a piano strummed from the inside, then presto, you're back to the original tape deck manipulations. (This pastiche styling is when the MOTHERS OF INVENTION influence becomes most strongly felt.) Other songs remind you of THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA's more mellow numbers. In particular, LOTHAR'S song "PAUL, IN LOVE", with its layered keyboard and electronics, reminds one of USA's song "CLOUD SONG". Here the band proves they can be beautiful, in strange and mysterious ways. The quiet mood piece segues into a perfect rendition of some Uptown Harlam R&B number (MERCY, MERCY, MERCY). After that, you're treated to SIMON AND GARFUNKEL, with the tenor and baritone harmonies, and "BOOKENDS" era lyrics. "L-O-V-E" is another acid freak number, but wouldnt sound out of place on any BLUES MAGOOS album. So, the album defies catagoriation, except NYC PSYCHEDELIC COMPENDIUM. It's never too far out, as beautiful ballads like "ROSE COLORED GLASSES" confirms. (tho when they attempt to come out with a dreamy love song, that they end up sounding dated.) Naturally, the album does sound dated when they attempt to reproduce some of the more pop sounds of the era. Then again, they sound progressive, and most inventive, when they explore the electronica, and smash up (cut and paste) composistions.

So, what kind of music fan will enjoy this encylopedia of the bizarre? I'd say if you enjoy the first 3 or 4 MOTHERS OF INVENTION albums, you'll groove to LOTHAR. Also, fans of BONZO DOG BAND will love the sound, tho they are far more psychedelic than the BONZOs ever were. Naturally, if your tastes run towards the MORAY EELS EAT THE HOLY MODAL ROUNDERS, or
IT CRAWLED INTO..etc era FUGS music, or SILVER APPLES, then this ought to be a tasty aural treat. IF you've never heard them, its a gamble, but you're sure to love part of the album, if only because of the range of styles.

"Bye Bye Love" with a Moog??? Now me dreams are coming true!A fairly genteel brand of loping country rock, like the Grateful Dead if they could sing and had a real rhythm section, Lothar and his hand minions up it a notch when they make with the 60s electronics.... Cool stuff....