**Lothar and the Hand People: Lothar and the Hand People (Capitol)**

Lenny Kaye, Rolling Stone, 3 May 1969

THERE WAS a strange New York scene a few years ago, when much the same sort of thing was taking place across a continent in San Francisco. It was composed of a motley collection of groups – the Lovin' Spoonful, the Youngbloods, the Blues Magoos and a host of others who never made it big. Most of them have split up or split town by now. Many watched New York overwhelm them, breaking them apart in air pollution and cement.

But then, from some little hidden-away comer, comes Lothar and the Hand People. Lothar, the theremin, eerie and sweet as ever along with his strange, slightly lopsided friends called the Hand People. I don't know where they have been for all these years, but here they are, playing music which is probably indescribable but reflects quite accurately the aura of those years.

It is electronic country, a kind of good-time music played by mad dwarfs, and it is really good to listen to. There is no tension here, no jarring forces at war with each other. It may be strange that New York, the city which deifies speed and insanity, could produce this music, but it is as if Lothar and the Hand People have gone through this madness and come out on the other side, smiling.

The album itself is very subtle; it has few highlights. In a way, the whole thing seems to run all together, yet when you really listen, each song is totally individual. I think the reason for this is that there is a kind of total concept working here, a sort of over-all tying together. The cover goes with the liner notes. which in turn goes with each song which in turn goes with each of its neighbors. Each part is itself, while also interwoven with the other parts. Organic, perhaps, is the word to use here and it's as good as any.

So, the parts I like. Well there's a fine version of the Everly Brothers' 'Bye Bye Love' with Lothar doing little steel-guitar riffs in the back. There's another nice thing about 'Kids are Little People'. 'Milkwood Love' is sort of strange, haunting. And 'Paul, In Love' is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. Simply.

But talking about this album in pieces is wrong. For as there are wonderfully right things in each of the parts, there are things that don't come off as well – some vague electronic doodlings, misplaced lyrics, etc. But again, these are pieces and the whole of this album; the perfect roundness of it all is what is really fine. Lothar and the Hand People have a spirit about them which pervades all they do. And after awhile, you'll see, it doesn't matter what they do, because the spirit is sort of happy and a lot of fun to be with. It captures a New York time when something happened that denied the concept of a city. And something which can do that, which can overcome the smoke and noise and confusion, is to me something very valuable to have.