TWENTY FIVE WINTERS

After almost 25 years, (hence the title) the American progressive band HANDS re-formed and produced a very nice album. With two of the original players, Clay on keyboards and Myers on guitar and lead singing, the newish bands sound is not as progressive as the first album, but it has its moments. It begins with a somewhat Gentle Giantish song with a catchy melody and some weird vocalization half way through. Violin is a lead instrument all over the disc giving it it's American feel, not Kansas but more in an Echolyn smoothed out jazz way. What surprised me was a couple King Crimson type songs, "Dance Of Light and Darkness" sounds straight out of KC's 80's era. Myer's vocals are a bit nasally, but he gets the nuances of Belew's vocals down pat and I love the warped out Frippy guitar work. It's one of my favorite songs on the album. The last song, which is the longest, "Leaving" has a definate Lark's Tongue vibe during the third part of the song, "The Traveler's Lament" with some fantastic drum work by McCall. The balance of the album is made up of some instrumentals that tend to be on the soft side, although "Zambieroch (pt. 3)" is very agressive and fusiony. Overall, a very good, pleasant album. 3.5 stars!