Customer Reviews

Oblivion Sun

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I picked up this album because Oblivion Sun is playing at NEARFest 2009, and I'm glad I did. This is essentially a new Happy the Man album because Oblivion Sun features two core HTM members, and the music sounds almost exactly like previous Happy the Man releases (especially the most recent album, The Muse Awakens). My only complaint about this album is the same complaint I have about older Happy the Man albums - weak vocals. "The Ride" and "Catwalk" are thankfully the only two songs on the album with vocals. The former isn't a bad song but sounds completely out of place, and the latter is the only bad track on the album. However, if you skip these two songs there's still plenty of great music to make this a worthwhile purchase.

Stan and Frank are co-founders of HTM. Bill is a former HTM roadie who took keyboard lessons from Kit Watkins. Chris is the mastermind who sparked the Happy The Man reunion by traveling from Baltimore to Baja to pester Stan during an appearance of Stan in the band Tin Jenn (sp?) at a prog music festival. I apologize to Dave that I do not have any nifty tidbit to say about him. My favorite cuts are: Chapter 7.1 (by Stan), Catwalk (by Frank), Noodlepoint, and Tales of Young Whales (by Bill). In general, the material is jazzier and a bit more subtle and less forceful than say the HTM Muse Awakens CD. Melodies are generally very catchy. As of tonight (May 2, 2008), the band is performing new material that will no doubt be recorded Real Soon Now, as well as additional HTM tunes. DISCLOSURE: My photos of Stan and Frank appear in the Pedal Giant Animals CD liner, and I have pix on the HTM and Oblivion Sun web sites. you might reasonably conclude that I am biased.