''Crafty Hands'' is an album by the
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...
band
Happy the Man
Happy the Man is an American progressive rock band formed in 1973. The name Happy the Man is a reference to Goethe’s "Faust" and the Bible, rather than the 1972 Genesis single.
History Early days (1973–76)
The group formed in 1973 in Harr ...
, released in 1978. Only one track, "Wind Up Doll Day Wind," contains vocals.
Reception
Mike McLatchey of Exposé Online stated that the album displays "some of the best, most elaborate and sophisticated symphonic rock ever produced, played by technical geniuses," but noted that, in comparison with the group's
debut album, "''Crafty Hands'' seems more polished, yet overall slightly less impressive."
Pete Pardo, writing for Sea of Tranquility, commented: "As far as US prog goes, it doesn't get much better than this folks. ''Crafty Hands'' is classy stuff all the way."
Track listing
#"Service with a Smile" (Ron Riddle,
Greg Hawkes
Gregory A. Hawkes (born October 22, 1952) is an American musician best known as the keyboardist for the rock band The Cars.
Hawkes, a native of Fulton, Maryland, United States, attended Atholton High School where he played in a band called Teet ...
) – 2:44
#"Morning Sun" (
Kit Watkins) – 4:05
#"Ibby It Is" (Frank Wyatt) – 7:50
#"Steaming Pipes" (Stanley Whitaker) – 5:30
#"Wind Up Doll Day Wind" (Watkins, Whitaker, Wyatt) – 7:06
#"Open Book" (Wyatt) – 4:53
#"I Forgot to Push It" (Watkins) – 3:08
#"The Moon, I Sing (Nossuri)" (Watkins) – 6:16
Personnel
*Stanley Whitaker -
six and twelve string guitars,
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
(5)
*Frank Wyatt -
pianos
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
,
harpsichord,
saxes,
flute, words
*
Kit Watkins - pianos, harpsichord,
Moog synthesizer, fake strings,
clavinet, 33,
recorder
Recorder or The Recorder may refer to:
Newspapers
* ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper
* ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US
* ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...
*Rick Kennell -
bass
*Ron Riddle -
drums,
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
References
{{Authority control
1978 albums
Albums produced by Ken Scott
Arista Records albums
Happy the Man albums