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Happy The Man - Happy the Man CD (album) cover

HAPPY THE MAN

Happy The Man

 

Eclectic Prog

3.87 | 265 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

fuxi
Prog Reviewer
3 stars Oh Happy the Man, where were you when I needed you - I mean: why did I never hear about you when you EXISTED? I would have loved you and supported you; you would have brought a lot of light into a world that seemed to be dominated by the likes of Elvis Costello and the Bee Gees.

It's only thanks to Progarchives that I've found out about you now, and while you may not have been as multi-talented as Frank Zappa and the Mothers, you certainly are the most intriguing late-1970s North American prog band I've ever come across - far more sophisticated and subtle than Kansas (a band that never really appealed to me).

Two of the tracks on this album contain vocals; they remind me a little of early Genesis and even more strongly of the mid-1970s output of the Dutch band Kayak. But most of the music is instrumental, and as previous reviewers have told us, it's an engaging mixture of Gentle Giant-like quirkiness and dramatic B-movie soundtrack-style, fully of impish multi-tracked saxophones and clangy guitar solos. I know of no other five-man prog band who manage so expertly to sound like an utterly stylish, romantically inclined orchestra. The band's many keyboard solos are lush and dreamy, in a teasing sort of way. If you enjoy the mood of Genesis' "Cinema Show" you'll probably enjoy this album, even though Happy The Man are definitely no Genesis-clones and the sound of their twelve-string guitar is far less prominent.

fuxi | 3/5 |

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