THE LOST SOULS (Pawtucket, RI)

These Lost Souls were high school students from the Darlington area of Pawtucket who won a battle of the bands at Rocky Point for a prize of studio time at Boston's AAA Studios plus 500 copies of their record. (Although in this questionable "prize," the "winners" had to pay for the studio time — which was often in the wee hours of the night/morning ... sounding much like a ploy for the studio to get some extra $$$ during off-hours at the expense of eager young talent.) Thanks to the book Fuzz Acid & Flowers, we know that the band personnel included Frank DiLorenzo on lead guitar and vocals, Joe Gamba on drums, Mike MacTavish on keyboards, Dennis Ptak on guitar and Randy Roy on bass. Randy entered the Navy and was replaced by Gary Graveline, and when Dennis and Mike left, Mike was replaced by Steve Lemos. According to Gary, the band's repetoire consisted of about 100 cover songs of the day, and in fact "Leaving" was the only band original, penned by Frank. The two-guitar interplay at the end was DiLorenzo's attempt to cop a Jeff Beck style. For the flipside, the Lost Souls chose a well-executed Hollies cover, done up just how we like it in New England teen garage style. But apparently their hormone-induced changing of the line "If it gets too late I've got a bed that we can use" (in place of "you can use" from the Hollies version) proved too racy for Providence's main local radio station, and the vinyl's fate of decades of obscurity was sealed.

Band members, relatives and old friends: We'd love more info and photos. Get in touch!

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THE LOST SOULS
Leaving / Step Inside
Musicor New Talent Series (NTS-436) 1969