Hi gentlemen. This LeeAnne Whitaker. Stanley’s wife. If only our Stanley had the singing voice he developed within the past twenty years. It would knock your socks off

Our Stanley was indeed ‘pressed into service’ as you say. They were told they must include a vocal and Stanley was the reluctant one to step up. If only you could hear him sing these days. You would be amazed.

Stanley’s wife here. Mike Beck literally could have had his own performance. His rig was huge and he was an incredibly physical performer.

Thank you for doing this show. There are several exciting things in the works currently. They are working daily to accomplish the remasters release this October with an spectacular treat as an extra

I love Happy The Man!!! A couple years too late…

I am sorry i had to miss this show. Frank was a great guy, and I love this band deeply.

Learned about Happy the Man through hearing them on college radio about 30+ years ago. Picked up "Crafty Hands" first. It's just stellar musically. Vocals may be and afterthought, but they work. I agree with the panel: a bit of progressiveness, a bit of jazz fusion, and a bit of ambient. I Immediately picked up the "S/T" reissue on One Way Records not soon afterwards, which is very much on par, and then picked up the Cuneiform releases through the years. None disappoint. This band is in their own strata. I missed the first few NEARFests (I wasn't in the know...); so when Alan B. of New Ears had them play in Lowell, Mass (The Loft?) in June 2005, I didn't care how long it would take (nearly 3 hours), I was there. And I was there. The show wasn't the most attended, but I vividly remember it was loud. I mean T. Nugent loud. If that was the way to highlight the band dynamics, then so be it. It was musically amazing. Dave Rosenthal fit right in on keys. Of course, HtM haven't performed many shows after "The Muse Awakens" tour; and now with Frank's passing... Thank you to EP for his Lp suggestion. Thank you to Steve Feigenbaum for his memories. Thank you to the rest of the panel to give this band their due.

While living in Northern Virginia and going to James Madison College (later JMU), I was fortunate enough to see them 19 or 20 times in the ’70s, including two rehearsals sessions and a Halloween party in Harrisonburg, VA. The first time I heard them, WEAM had a contest for local bands to submit a song. Winners would have their song played. I was in a band that submitted a tune and we gathered around a radio on a Sunday evening to listen to the first feature from these submissions. It was HTM’s “Leave That Kitten Alone Armone.” First time I saw them was a month or two later at their northern VA debut concert at the Fairfax Theater. Loved the slide show presentations that were projected on a screen behind them during some of their earlier performances. Phenomenal use of dynamics in a live setting. Their music was often featured on several prog shows on Georgetown University’s WGTB where I got exposed to a number of other prog artists. I had also taken a guitar lesson from Stan. To this day, I still practice some of the techniques he showed me (should have taken more lessons). :-) If pressed to pick between their two commercial releases, I’m prone to the first. Regarding opening the album with “Star Born,” at that time they were opening most of their live performances with that one, so it may have seemed natural for them to do the same on the album. About a year later, they were often opening their live performances with “Service With a Smile” which was the opener on “Crafty Hands.” They left a lasting impression on me regarding my approach to listening and composing music.

Great to hear a show about Happy The Man

A friend from a record store gave me a live recording of HTM from Fairfax Station in 1977.😀❤️🎼

Very cool band with the unique history. Right there an hour from Washington d.c. Harrisonburg Virginia. Drop album relocate to Washington d.c.. Next thing you know Peter Gabriel gets wind of them decides to come and meet them jam with them try out some songs for a solo album after Genesis. Hangs with them for awhile around the DC area doesn't quite decided he's going to use them on an album low is a backing band but how cool they get a five or six album deal through of Arista records out of the thing It's a shame in January of this year though we lost original member Frank Wyatt. But good solid American progressive rock group still flies under the radar for many though. Teetering quite close to the obscure.

Happy the MAN/ 7️⃣7️⃣ =. Rolling STONE ranked this particular album 💿 no 5️⃣0️⃣ on their top 50 prog - rock albums of all time. 👍💯

Eric, you did a great job moderating tonight. I liked the idea of the follow-up question. Cheers!

Love this series Pete; much appreciated guys

HTM is one of my top 3 favorite bands along with Yes and Genesis. Their first two studio albums are among my top 15 favorite albums. I prefer their self titled debut but both are equally as good. They were one of the greatest bands ever, seriously. They were the best American prog band from the 70s, the best obscure prog band, and the best eclectic prog band. This was a band that cared about making well composed music, not technical show offs like bands these days. They mixed complexity with beautiful melodic atmospheres. Sometimes they sounded close to New Age. Other times they sounded more jazzy. Other times a bit experimental. They were on a whole new element and had a completely otherworldly sound. When they first started they sounded kinda like Genesis but then they got more complex and sounded more like Gentle Giant mixed with American jazz fusion (RTF and Mahavishnu) and the Canterbury scene (Hatfield and the North and National Health). When they reformed in the 2000s, they were still good but it wasn't the same without Kit. The Muse Awakens is good, but not amazing like their classic stuff. Overall, one of the greatest bands of all time

great to see Steve back!

I'm glad to see Dr. Feigenbaum back on the show!!!

Great show. Been a long time listener of HTM. Thanks

The best US prog album of all time(with the first Utopia album) IMHO. Incredible show. Congratulations Eric you're an amazing host. This Happy the Man show is a treasure. Thank you, thank you and thank you.

Kit Watkins " LABYRINTH" was my introduction to Happy the Man, and partly with Camel! I saw the 2000 Nearfest Happy the Man set - thoroughly enjoyed that performance ...

If only these comments were visible to you whilst you are talking. I could be answering all sorts of these queries.

Wow I nearly missed this show, I was on holiday, when the show got put out. Got to say never heard anything by the band whatsoever, only knew about them, as they have been mentioned on S.O.T. A few times before, big thanks to everyone, I will try to get to listen, to something by them.

Only familiar with this band from listen to the Prog Seat crew mention or talk about this album from time to time. See the title of the show moved it way up the SoT listening list and now feel the need to listen to the second album. Very interesting discussion by each of the panel members and Eric was a stellar host for this episode. Particularly enjoyed him having a specific question or point for each of the other members In The Seat this week. Would just note that this band and album was completely off the music radar in this area - though someone in the university here likely knew about them - but they never even showed up on the FM radio stations that I listened to in this area. Thanks, Eric for picking the album and thanks to all for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences in this episode.

Just checked out Happy the Man for the first time on SoT's recommendation. Self titled and Crafty Hands are both excellent.

Great show! Another band to check out.

I saw HtM both times at the State Theater when they came back around. Thanks for sparking their return! Oh and Stan can sing now...love Carpet Crawlers on acoustic on KZfaq!

Thank You so much for this. So great to see other HTM fans. Only thing I would have added is my love for Kits solo work and how I believe he was a pioneer in what became New Age.

This is great! I just picked up the first and crafty hands at my local record store. Very good condition. Surprised the shit outta me! Listening right now

Eric / made a great choice. Spun this album 6x in preparation, damn good. I’m your typical old school hard rock / metal guy, but I learn a ton on these shows. Thx to all the great co hosts 👍💯

These deep dives are always a KZfaq highlight to listen to!

Great album, great album cover.

I have never heard of this band before,so I quickly check them out , and I like what I heard so will have to listen more to them

I discovered this band through the album that they released on Inside 0ut label. Then thanks to Esoteric I got their first albums which are really great instrumentally. Very good choice!

Thank you for making me aware of this band. The first two albums are amazing! The singing isn’t that bad. After listening to you guys, I was expecting Bob Dylan but I was pleasantly surprised.

This great band hails from my area of the U.S. (as does Steve's great record label, in an even geographically closer way!), and I couldn't be more proud! 🙂 The debut album and "Crafty Hands" are both so musically magical-- I don't know of anything else in prog that sounds quite like them. Thanks for doing this episode! I can't wait to hear the remasters!

Happy The Man was a really unique band that came in the wrong time. The S/T and Crafty Hands are some of my favorite prog/fusion albums ever!

I saw camel on the Nude tour and Kit was on the tour.

Very nice show. Particularly enjoyed, of course, Steve's first-hand account of seeing HTM in their early DC days. My only criticism is that he gets several dates wrong including his own age at the time (he was 17 going on 18 when he first saw HTM perform live, not 16). Just being nitpicky for the fun of it of course. Also enjoyed Chad's account of how HTM got to play NEARfest, a performance I was very lucky to attend and am forever thankful for Chad and Rob to have made possible.

Good pick Eric, came across these guys in my teens when I was really getting into Prog and everything else, While “Crafty Hands” is still my favorite by them, this album is very good, I agree about the two tracks with vocals though, they don’t really work, but I can see that as an attempt to get airplay as everyone mentioned, Prog was dead by that time.

Eric “ Silence is Golden “ PORTER rules !!!! 👍💯

Stanley Whitaker's vocals were weak at the outset, but by the Better Late... release he had developed and strengthened his chords. He is unrecognizable on Oblivion Sun recordings, and really quite impressive. I am surprized that this is not referred to.

If you like HTM, you might enjoy The Muffins.😀❤️

Never heard it, just ordered it

This is a good album , Maybe it’s my imagination, I think the members of Phish would like this band. 😀❤️

😄👍

Best American prog band ever, a real shame they didn't last longer (actually restarted in the early 2000's but only The Muse Awakens resulted) & achieve more recognition. I'd always thought that the band was named after the (1972) Genesis song - especially since they covered Genesis tunes early on. The s/t debut is great for sure but I'd rate Crafty Hands even slightly higher. "Service With A Smile", "I Forgot To Push It" & "Steaming Pipes" are examples of first-rate prog at its best. From the debut my fave tracks would be "Knee Bitten Nymphs In Limbo" & "Stumpy Meets The Firecracker In Stencil Forest". I've got 8 HTM albms including their excellent Live & Retrospective collection. Stanley Whitaker is a really underrated player. Check out his work on Frank Wyatt And Friends/Zeitgeist, Six Elements/Primary Elements, and the wonderful Oblivion Sun project (s/t & The High Places). And guesting on Circuline's "Stay (Peter Frankenstan)". It always seemed to me that he should've recorded more, still hunting down his Pedal Giant Animals (with Frank Wyatt) & the acoustic Under The Progwood Tree... HTM as a possible Peter Gabriel 'backup band'? Wow. Imagine a live HTM show paired with Stomu Yamash’ta & Hot Tuna! Some other really good/related stuff: Kit Watkins solo (Field Of View, Flying Petals, Frames Of Mind, Holographic Tapestries, Wet Dark & Low, Sunstruck & his best Labyrinth) & guesting on Djam Karet's "Gondwanaland". Joe Bergamini's prog band 4Front (Gravity, Malice In Wonderland, Radio Waves Goodbye)...And by extension Chris Mack's (from Oblivion Sun, Frank Wyatt And Friends) very good/Genesis-like band Iluvatar (s/t, Children, Sideshow, A Story Two Days Wide.., From The Silence) - again first-rate melodic prog & another example of a prog band deserving more attention

Did the Pete guy say Kim Watkins 3 times?

Dr. Feigenbaum, are you into J.A.Caesar? My favorite prog opera composer of all time!

Dr. Golden, are you into Tipographica? one of my favorite avant-prog/Jazz-Rock bands of all time!!!

Pete, are you into Bo Hansson?

My number 7 is The Police - Outlandos d’Amour. What a great band… punk, reggae, pop, rock. An amazing band whose brief tumultuous (check out what Stewart Copeland had scrawled on his drums😂) journey was too short but absolutely glorious.