Crafty Hands

Happy The Man | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 22, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: One Way Records Inc
• ASIN: B00003TFVK
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #99,718 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Service With A Smile

2. Morning Sun

3. Ibby It Is

4. Steaming Pipes

5. Wind Up Doll Day Wind

6. Open Book

7. I Forgot To Push It

8. The Moon I Sing (Nossuri)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I know I'm hard to please, January 30, 2002

By 

Jeff Hodges (Denton, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crafty Hands (Audio CD)

I am a long-standing and avid fan of classic progressive rock, but if there is one thing that I will generally have problems with, it would be the vocalists and their lyrics. Although it would seem like the solution to this problem would be to turn to the many instrumental progressive rock groups around, I think that there is a dangerousness to instrumental rock.

On the one hand, the composer can write in a "song without words" style, but without words there are no concepts to help break up the natually repetitive nature of standard verse-chorus-verse format. Joe Satriani and some of Djam Karet's work falls in this category. On the other hand, a piece can be more compositional in its approach, like King Crimson's mid-'70's work. Although this is the bolder path, it takes much more talent and training to pull off convincingly.

Happy the Man rides this fence quite effectively. Overall, they give the illusion of rock song form, but they add enough compositional twists and turns that they generally (but not always) avoid the redundancy that is so dangerous in this medium. However, there are still times that I wish that there was someone like Fish, Peter Gabriel, or even Roger Waters to come in with some words that would lend cognitive meaning to the emotional explosiveness that "Crafty Hands" easily conveys with music alone.

Happy the Man's performance on "Crafty Hands" is presice, moody, atmospheric, and intense. When it was recorded in 1978, King Crimson was on hiatus (1974-1981). However, I don't think that "Crafty Hands" would sound out-of-place in Robert Fripp's 80's work. King Crimson's main innovation in the '80s was odd-timed interlocking guitar patterns, and this texture pervades "Crafty Hands". Happy the Man ripples and shimmers in similar interlocked arpeggiated patterns, but instead uses dual keyboards, guitar, and the occasional saxophone. Often Happy the Man are also compared to Genesis or Gentle Giant, and although these comparisons are fair musically, there is one major component that makes them different than these bands - Happy the Man is instrumental. Because of this and the similar period keyboard sounds, I am often reminded of Bill Bruford's fusion work from the '70's ("One of a Kind", etc..).

The lowdown: I am a hard sell with most instrumental rock albums, but "Crafy Hands" made a believer out of me. It can be done, and done well. I just can't help but play "what if" games with the possiblilites that a vocalist would have opened for them, but then it wouldn't be Happy the Man, right?

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Unknown Prog, October 26, 2000

By 

Frank C. "Frank C." (Huntington, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crafty Hands (Audio CD)

Happy The Man is one of those bands that many people have never heard of, or laugh at their name when they do. Very much influenced by Gentle Giant and Genesis (Genesis even has a song entitled "Happy The Man"), these guys are truly real deal musicians. The amazing thing about this album is that the writing is just so good. It boggles my mind that as good as this band is, no one has seen to have caught on. If you are a fan of Gabriel-era Genesis, Gentle Giant, Yes, Jethro Tull, or other groups in this vein, you will totally eat up this album. The last tune on this disc called "The Moon, I Sing (Nossuri)" is so indescribably beautiful, I usually hit repeat after it finishes. Not to sound corny, but this tune really transports me to another dimension. Enthusiastically recommended.

P.S. - Make sure you order the 1999 remaster on One Way records.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great 70's prog from one of the unsung heroes of Prog Rock, April 25, 2006

By 

J. Davis "jimidee" (Columbia, SC USA/Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crafty Hands (Audio CD)

I remember Happy the Man, but I never had this album. They were not in the same level of visibility in the prog movement as Yes or Genesis or even Gentle Giant. But they were impressive nonetheless. This album was released in 74 or 75 (if I remember right), and these guys were of a similar ilk to Camel, Triumvirat, Hatfield of the North, as I remember.

The album reissue from 2002 is really a good release (as I listen to it on my laptop with high-quality Sony studio headphones.

Their instrumentation consists of guitar and keyboard (elec piano and organ), change in rhythm and meter, time signature. The electr piano and guitar work follow one another, mostly in unison, but sometimes in harmony. The album has a really jazzy feel (if you have ever listened to fusion pieces by McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra). If I remember right, the first 3-4 cuts are instrumental, and we don't get to hear lyrics until 5th cut or so.

Elements of the pieces remind me of mid-period Genesis ("Selling England" and "And Then There Were Three..."), also early Camel ("Moonmadness", "Snow Goose"), and some passages (particularly on "Wind Up Doll Day Wind") that are very Gentle Giant in rhythm and use of sax as a lead instrument, and also a flute (on "Open Book").

I really enjoy this disk, and don't know how I missed it the first time around. (I am sure I heard it, but was probably too st**ed at the time to remember who it was by name... ;-) yeah I know...not politically correct, but that was 30+ years ago so I disavow any behavioral recollection of, connection with, or resemblance to, my idealistic, more-naive younger self.

I am listening to this as I write the review (I am ripping my disk to MP3 so I can carry it around on my laptop), and it is really a wonderful prog "mood piece". It has swatches of the abovementioned artists, and I also hear some Brand X (circa "Masque" period).

The only thing that I can say in negative of this album is that is clocks in just under 40 minutes, and I wish it were longer! Such is the legacy of the 33 1/3 LP vinyl album age.

If you enjoy the mellower side of 70s Prog, with a little Fusion Jazz thrown in for good measure, and you really immerse yourself into the instrumental movement of prog masters, you need to give this Happy the Man disc a spin. Enjoy!