[3] "Anyway That You Want Me" was coupled with "It's All Over for You", a George Edwards solo outtake from the previous year, and released as a single under the moniker of H. P. Lovecraft in early 1967 by the Mercury Records' subsidiary Philips.

[8] Auditions were held in March 1967, which resulted in the recruitment of Tony Cavallari (lead guitar), Mike Tegza (drums), and Tom Skidmore (bass).

[6] McGeorge had seen H. P. Lovecraft perform a number of times at a Chicago dance club called The Cellar, and although he considered himself primarily a guitarist, he accepted Edwards's offer to join the group as their new bassist.

The band's music was made all the more unique by Michaels's virtuosity on organ, piano, harpsichord, clarinet, and recorder, which gave H. P. Lovecraft a much wider range of sounds and timbres than many of their contemporaries.

[3] Among these covers were Dino Valente's hippie anthem "Get Together", Randy Newman's "I've Been Wrong Before", Travis Edmonson's "The Drifter", and the Fred Neil compositions "That's The Bag I'm In" and "Country Boy & Bleeker Street".

The six-and-a-half-minute opus, which featured baroque harpsichord passages, droning feedback, somber harmonies, and the chiming of a genuine 1811 ship's bell,[4] has been described by music historian Richie Unterberger as having a "wavering, foggy beauty, with some of Michaels' eeriest keyboards.

[8] In San Francisco the band were championed by concert promoter Bill Graham and this led to appearances at such high-profile venues as The Fillmore and the Winterland Ballroom.

[8] After returning to Chicago briefly, the group embarked on an early 1968 East Coast tour, appearing at the Boston Tea Party, Philadelphia's Electric Factory, and concluding with an aborted engagement at New York's Cafe Au Go Go alongside Al Kooper's Blood, Sweat & Tears.

[4][6] Notable post-relocation performances were at the Fillmore and Winterland with Traffic, Salt Lake City's Utah State Fairgrounds Coliseum with Buffalo Springfield and the Youngbloods, Los Angeles's Whisky a Go Go with Colors, and in Palm Springs, appearing with the James Cotton Blues Band.

[4] Critic Jeff Jarema has noted that Boyan was an accomplished bass player with a strong singing voice and that his addition to the band improved their abilities as a live act considerably.

[8] Initially, it was hoped that Dave Michaels would also join the new incarnation of the band, but he withdrew and the group instead recruited keyboard player and singer Marty Grebb, previously of the Buckinghams.

[8] The Valley of the Moon album saw the group abandoning the eerie psychedelic ambiance that had characterized H. P. Lovecraft's music and instead featured a more laid-back, mainstream rock sound, somewhat reminiscent of Crosby, Stills & Nash or Uriah Heep.

[8] Of the other ex-members of Lovecraft, Grebb went on to form the Fabulous Rhinestones and eventually developed a career as a solo artist and session musician;[10] Been joined Jerry Miller and Bob Mosley (both ex-members of Moby Grape) in Fine Wine and recorded the self-titled Fine Wine album in 1976, as well as playing Bay Area clubs with Miller in a band called The Original Haze in the late 1970s, before going on to front the new wave band the Call during the 1980s and 1990s;[11][12] and Donlinger recorded a number of solo albums and published an autobiography titled Space Traveller: A Musician's Odyssey.

[6][8] In 1980, Tegza and Love Craft guitarist Frankie Capek reunited to form a second version of the band, recruiting vocalist Marc Scherer and bassist Mark Gardner to complete the line-up.

In one short story, "The Fillmore Shoggoth," five historical members of HPL (including George Edwards as the viewpoint character) appear in a horror-adventure plot where Lovecraftian monsters attack the theater where they are performing.