Hands (Progressive Rock) 1977 Full CD - Released 1996

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