Was going to, but it was removed from spotify! what a shame

@@cennty6822 i was going to listen to the album on Spotify and I also realized, do you have any idea why they removed it?

@@presio5323I’m still trying to figure out how to save this album forever

You can of course digitize it from here but save it forever!? I don't know.. 😊@@gabrielcarvalho3623

🖐🏽

Great story 3 years ago. Hope your still friends.

4 years on and this story is still pretty awesome, thanks for sharing :)

Sad but awesome at the same time!

WOW! That is not a coincidence, it is the path that love for music takes you... regards

Far out man

I've seen Camel at least 8 times. So good! Got to meet Andy Latimer.

You'd said what I've thought :)

Stumpy Meets The Firecracker In Stencil Forest (Whitaker)

i only know of them cause i grew up in northern Va. they are obscure as the best prog gets.

Record stores were so limited back then, so we all missed a ton of great stuff! At least now we can occasionally stumble across something this wonderful here!

James P Jealous!! If I could've been there...had 4 years, to the month, yet to be born though

Wow!

I saw them at Godwin Hall at James Madison University in 1977. It was the second concert I’d ever seen. When they started playing Knee Bitten Nymphs In Limbo everybody went crazy. The urban legend was they went to Madison College, and one of the guys dad was a music teacher at the school. They would do LSD, grab instruments and play whatever they came up with. They are some of the most unusual and talented musicians that have ever lived

@@kevincage1641 Kit Watkins' father Lowell was a piano teacher at Madison. It was nothing unusual to see members of the band walking throughout the music building or campus. Stan Whitaker and Frank Wyatt played in the stage band. Drummer /percussionist Mike Beck worked at the dining hall. As for the drug thing, I have no idea yet I seriously doubt anyone could compose those compositions under the influence as their attention to detail was meticulous. These guys were artisans of their musical craft.

@@jamescpotter Thanks @jamescpotter for the lesson. By the time I got there in 1977, they were already legendary. I almost majored know music, but the classes were each 1 credit hour, so the music majors were running scales and arpeggios at midnight, while we were listening to Led Zeppelin , Hendrix and UFO.

Well? “ Better Late…” this is the title of their 3rd Album. My favorites off it: “While Chrome Yellow Shines,” “ Labyrinth “ and “Eye of the Storm “

Now 45 years and it's still great.

i'm agree very fine music thanks.

Played at venue under K street

THEY ALWAYS MADE ME HAPPY....THEY MADE HAPPY INSPIRING MUSIC

You could say you're.....happy the man....

I would say this are probably the only band I've ever heard that has successfully approximated Giant, but imo it's just as good as their "classic era" stuff.

I literally just said this in another comment. I'm glad I can be so like-minded to prog lovers even though I'm a teen!

I think exactly the same!

A more better world like the real I think.

+Tim Scott Tim, I saw them back in 73 while doing covers of Watchers Of the Skies, 21st Century Schizoid Man, Man Erg, etc. at Madison College intermixed with originals from their Beginnings LP. I was absolutely floored!

Mike Beck was a beast back when I first saw them..his drum kit took up most of the stage, with pots and pans..all kinds of things hanging from a frame..

+Tim Scott Mike is one of my favorite drummer/percussionists. He was equally talented as Bruford, Collins, Weathers, Palmer, etc.

I agree.. Too bad he never gained the recognition of those drummers you named..He was very entertaining to watch..Such a creative talent..I wonder what he's up to these days ?

+James P OF COURSE MAN...THEY WERE ALL GREAT DRUMMER S BACK THEN...YOU COULDNT EVEN BE IN A BAND IF YOU WERE SHITTY BACK THEN....ROCK ON....

Do you like Supersister? Yezd Urfa is VERY heavily influenced by them.

tyler nedokis like me too.

+tyler nedokis See if you can find the song Deaths Crown by Happy the Man

My first listen too. Blown away.

John, It is amazing stuff! The band cultivated in Virginia/DC area in the mid to late 70s. Living there myself as a teenager, I was exposed to HTM early. Me and my friends were “ blown away” by the quality of this progressive fusion at that time. Check out their album “ Crafty Hands” my overall favorite!!! Peter Gabriel, as I understand it, may have considered the band as his new band upon leaving Genesis. However, it’s my understanding that Gabriel turned them away as they sounded to close to Genesis! Lol Kit Watkins, the keyboardist had a brief time with British band Camel. His solo material is excellent… “ Labyrinth” and “ In Time” , etc etc.

IF YOU CAN FIND DEATH'S CROWN. THEY STARTED IN THE 70'S

I got to go to college with them and become friends and still am! Did I luck out or what?!!

@@debradesarmeaux2906 SWEET!!!

This album should be in a record store but that’s not convenient enough for the modern moron. Grip that phone tight. Record stores were cool. What’s cool now? Nothing. Stare at phone...

It used to be, then it got taken down for some reason. Now, their only album on Spotify is The Muse Awakens

​@@michaelrandall9034I'm 17 and I wholeheartedly agree and sorrow for the modern generation. My brother and I are prog lovers and we always talk about this band. We can't decide whether HTM or Gentle Giant is better (or ANY prog band), but we pretty much always conclude that all of these bands are the best in their own way. Beautiful album and it's on my CD list this Christmas!

King Crimson is at the top for me. Have a great Christmas!@@LilShredd

@@michaelrandall9034 My favorite is Yes! And... Well... "yes"... King Crimson is amazing. Red is my favorite one by them. Discipline is also awesome. Merry Christmas!!

This has got to be the best track on an album full of incredible tracks.

Snup, I just discovered this through a rolling stone article. Can you recommend me any more albums which are similar to this? I already own Yes discography, Genesis DG and have heard Pink Floyd Dark Side. Thanks.

+Tobias Davies Caravan, Camel, The Strawbs, Soft Machine, Kraan, Can,

Island with the album Pictures.

+Tobias Davies : Van Der Graaf Generator is the band I like the most. I like a lot too the solo albums of the singer, Peter Hammill. Albums like : (solo) Over, The Silent Corner and The Empty Street, (with the whole group) H to He, Who Am The Only One, Godbluff, Pawn Hearts... They could appear a little chaotic (above all when there is the whole group) at the first listening, but it becomes really beautiful when you listen to it again. From the Strawbs I like a lot the album "Hero and Heroine" and from Caravan I like a lot "1st album" and "For Girls Who Grows Plump In The Night", but their most famous album is "In The Land Of Grey And Pink". I think you should enjoy Emerson, Lake and Palmer (album : Trilogy, Tarkus), Hawkind (album : Space Ritual), Gong (album : You, The Flying Teapot). Maybe you will like Camel (album : Mirage), Amon Düül II (album : Hijacks, Wolf City), Funkadelics (album : Maggot Brain). Have a nice day.

Actually the name is a reference to Goethe’s "Faust", and the Bible.

35 years ago, it was RAD. Now, it's ageless. Everyone I play this for cannot believe it wasn't made yesterday. And in this age of electronic music perfection, everything perfectly on the beat (almost TOO perfectly), the musical virtuosity displayed in this project, done the hard way before digital tape, is beyond comprehension. NObody does starlight (waltzing among the stars?) or far out fugue better - or even *begins* to approach these folks. An earlier poster called it "prog rock-jazz fusion" but even this is inadequate. In fact, you *can't* categorize HTM without leaving a LOT out. Since I was 10 I've been trying to find music that approaches what I hear in dreams -- these guys are the Real Deal. The good news, you can go on to Camel and Kit Watkins solo works for more undiscovered incredibleness. When I need music to take me away, these and HTM are the go-to. Back when all I knew was Kit Watkins, I was poking through Houston's Records and Tapes (and Drugs, we used to joke). Scary as shopping there was, it paid off with pristine vinyl promo copies of this album and Crafty Hands (also available here on YT). They were $25 each. We could hardly contain our excitement to find them and with trembling hands we paid the ransom. Took 'em home and I can't tell you how happy it made us or how many tears of joy we shed to hear for the first time to this music that for us had been made of pure Unobtainium until then. Thanks to Happy The Man and *especially* the poster, for making this wonderful music widely available. You have no idea how wonderful it is to find it on YT...

It's actually the second half of the original piece. The first half was light and breezy. Ken Scott wanted to do this and the band went along with it. Also, those Jimi Hendrix-sounding licks at the end are Kit on Mini-Moog.

Steve Durham Thanks for the trivia. I only recently started listening to this band and wish I started sooner.

Agreed!

What does this even mean?

@@cinemaspire7258 makes sense to me

@@jacobmb But it is not magnificent.

@@rabarebraI think it has unique enough soundscapes to warrant calling it magnificent… but music is subjective and that is the most beautiful part… if it does not connect with you it does not mean it is worthless art and clearly it connects with others. Have a good day and best of luck on your life journey

@@jacobmb Too weak singer for my liking, along with weak compositions. Maybe that's why they didn't go anywhere? What do I know? It's just my subjective meaning, and I am allowed to say what I mean about it. Summed up in one word: weak.

Even though there technically were more than just two, I presume you must be taking about this self-titled debut and its follow-up ("Crafty Hands")? These two ARE the real important ones for sure. The first time I had ever heard these guys (back in the mid-'90s), I was played a best-of compilation disc from them, titled "Retrospective". Later, when I was looking to buy their music, this compilation was not one of the ones I could find. But I was then told, by the owner of the copy I was played, that everything on Retrospective is from the first two albums. There's a third one from the same time period...but he told me that it doesn't measure up to the first two for some reason. Pretty sure he had a copy of it too. So, I imagine that there might be some truth to what he was telling me. Anyway, after seeing them live at NEARfest '00, I bought a more-recent CD from them (titled "Death's Crown"), which is a collection they put together containing preliminary material. Interesting to hear the origins of some stuff from the first couple records. But I'd never use it to introduce HTM to anyone.

@@Cr8Tron the 2 from arista are the best, but 3rd, better late is awesome in many places too.

@@davidryan7386 Yes, indeed! A while back, I've looked up some of the tracks from that record after commenting here, and it's definitely not bad. I also came to realize that one or two of its tracks were on the aforementioned compilation ("Retrospective"). But there's no doubt that the first two releases would be in my 5 all-time favorite "instrumental prog albums" if you will, despite a few tracks having the vocals. Gryphon's "Red Queen to Gryphon Three" will always be my number one, and the other two would have to be Solaris' "Marsbélli Krónikák", and the proto Brand X record, entitled "Marscape".

@@Cr8Tron have to check put msrscape!