Hands - 1996 - Hands

Hands 

1996

Hands

01. Zombieroch (4:19)

02. Prelude #2 (1:35)

03. Triangle of New Flight (6:50)

04. Mutineer's Panorama (3:12)

05. Worlds Apart (4:08)

06. Dreamsearch (9:49)

07. Left Behind (6:02)

08. Mindgrind (5:40)

09. Greansoap (2:27)

10. I Want One of Those (3:16)

11. Antarctica (10:32)

12. The Tiburon Treasure (2:25)

Bonus tracks:

13. Hands in the Fire (7:16)

14. Castle Keep (3:36)

Ernie Myers / guitar, mandolin, vocals

Michael Clay / keyboards, guitar, tuned percussion

Paul Bunker / viola, violin, Vitar, cuatro, guitar

Skip Durbin / woodwinds

Steve Parker / bass, guitar, vocals

John Rousseau / drums, percussion

+

Gary Stone / vocals (8,11)

Tom Reed / vocals (13)

Mike Barreyre / guitar, vocals

Shannon Day / keyboards

Sonny Sollel / woodwinds, vocals

Mark Menikos / violin, mandolin, guitar, vocals

Rex Bozarth / bass, Chapman Stick, cello, vocals

David Carlisle / bass

John Fiveash / drums, percussion

Martin McCall / drums, percussion

Artwork: "Habit de Musicien" by Nicolas de Larmessin (1638-1694)

A short-lived symphonic American band from Texas whose sound has been compared to GENTLE GIANT, JETHRO TULL, and HAPPY THE MAN, as well as the inevitable nods to early KANSAS, HANDS were actually an off-shoot of the even more obscure rock/fusion project PRISM.

The band used a wide variety of orchestral instruments including strings and woodwinds, and their songs were characterized by long instrumental passages and mellow, spacey vocals, although much like KANSAS the band would often include blues-influenced music such as JOHNNY WINTERS and ALLMAN BROTHERS covers in their live shows. Like many progressive American bands of the latter seventies, HANDS toured extensively and managed to release a minor-label studio album, but failed to garner much attention and quietly disbanded as the decade drew to a close.

Shroom Records released a collection of the band's early recordings on CD in 1996 which was critically acclaimed but made little commercial impact. The label also re-released the band's lone studio album from 1977 though, which did manage to find a small audience in the Midwest. On the strength of this re-release the band reformed with small lineup changes and began touring, eventually releasing a studio album of new material in 2001 ("Twenty Five Winters"). The band continues to perform today, and as of the fall of 2006 were wrapping up production on a third studio album tentatively named "Strangelet".

when you read about how these 70s prog bands spent countless hours composing, practicing, and promoting their music only to find indifference from the general public. This was the case with the Texan band HANDS. The band, made-up of gifted musicians from the same small town, recorded some excellent prog between 1977-1980 only to have to give up because of lack of interest. Their music was inspired mostly by GENTLE GIANT (they got to open for them once!), but I'm sure the other major prog bands were also influences. Each song's multiple sections feature different styles that range from guitar-led riffing, to baroque, to dissonant-prog-funk, to gentle flute/mellotron interludes(which sound very Swedish!). The weakest part for me here are the vocals which sound a bit like John WETTON. But they are far from being mediocre, it's just that WETTON isn't one of my favorite vocalists. This CD is a must for fans of bands like CATHEDRAL, MIRTHRANDIR, and anyone exploring the seventies American prog-scene.

This is Shroom Productions best release so far. HANDS were an American band, founded by members from PRISM, who were active between 1977 and 1980. They never released an album back then, but this CD is put together with material from that period. The sound quality is overall very good with a few exceptions. - Their music is a mix between medieval music and progressive rock, mostly instrumental. HANDS have strong compositions and intriguing arrangements and they're reminiscent to GENTLE GIANT, JETHRO TULL, KING CRIMSON, MIRTHRANDIR, PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI, and YES. I really like their wide range of musical instruments such as flutes, saxes, oboe, clarinet, various other woodwinds, keyboards, percussion, bass, guitars, drums, trombone, mandolin, viola, violin, vitar, quatro, piano, tubular bells and tuned percussion. - The highlights are the opening Jethro Tull-ish "Zombieroch", "Mutineer's Panorama" with nice Mellotron playing, "Worlds Apart", "Dreamsearch", "Mindgrind" and the epic masterpiece "Antarctica". - This is a forthcoming classic in progressive rock, and the fact that the disc is over 70-minutes long with a 20-page booklet containing pictures, loads of information and a band history, makes it even more valuable. This is an American masterpiece together with MIRTHRANDIR "For You The Old Woman" (1976) etc. Highly recommended and a must have!