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Vesuvius — Twisted Tales from Warped Minds
(Black Widow BWR274, 1978/2025, LP / DL)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2026-02-19

Twisted Tales from Warped Minds Cover art

Vesuvius  was a band from Northwest Indiana formed in the 70s. There is not a whole lot of information about their only album from 1978 (I believe), Twisted Tales from Warped Minds, that was apparently never released until now on Black Widow Records. Vesuvius was Joe Shingler (keyboards, lead and backing vocals). Roger Hutchins (bass, lead and backing vocals), Greg Shaginaw (drums and percussion), Tom Havens (electric and acoustic guitar, lead and backing vocals), and Kevin Lazar (flute, alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, and backing vocals). Typically of the late 70s, Vesuvius incorporated elements of prog rock, psychedelia, and hard rock. And of course with the flute, you may be thinking of Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull, but that would not help you appreciate their music. In addition, you would be forgiven if you were expecting heavy Black Sabbath gothic rock based solely on the cover art. That would be the furthest from the truth. With the limited amount of information about Vesuvius and Twisted Tales from Warped Minds, and based on the change in fidelity of the music, I am asserting that the first eleven tracks are from the original album. Then tracks twelve to eighteen must be from other sources as they are challenging to appreciate given the tinny sound quality. For me, the album’s highlight is “Dream of Youth,” a hypnotic prog psych song with glissando synth and possibly Mellotron, though that sound could be a synth patch. Overall Twisted Tales from Warped Minds is quite a good album, that is a mixture of the different genres mentioned above, despite some of the gothic song titles like “Edward the Mad Grave Digger” and “Grim Reaper.”

Filed under: Reissues, 2025 releases, 1978 recordings

Related artist(s): Vesuvius

More info
http://vesuvius1.bandcamp.com/album/twisted-tales-from-warped-minds

 

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