''Crafty Hands'' is an album by the

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band Happy the Man, 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 who is best known as the keyboardist and founding member of the American new wave band the Cars. Hawkes is credited with helping popularize new wave and synth-pop in American popu ...

) – 2:44 #"Morning Sun" (

Kit Watkins Kit Watkins (born November 20, 1953) is an American progressive-ambient-jazz recording artist based in Brattleboro, Vermont. He was previously a member of the band Happy the Man.Varga, George (December 28, 1983). "Labyrinth, Kit Watkins, Azymut ...

) – 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 art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

(5) *Frank Wyatt –

pianos A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an action mechanism where hammers strike strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a chromatic scale in equal tempe ...

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

, saxes,

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

, words *

– pianos, harpsichord,

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer ...

, fake strings,

clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

, 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 newsp ...

*Rick Kennell –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

*Ron Riddle –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

References

{{Authority control 1978 albums Albums produced by Ken Scott Arista Records albums Happy the Man albums