Oblivion Sun/Pedal Giant Animals

[bigjohnwayne]

Hey all:

Some friendly necromancer brought a thread re: Happy the Man's The Muse Awakens back to life recently and it reminded me that I am familiar with and love the complete Happy the Man discography--yes, even Beginnings and Death's Crown.

But I never got either Oblivion Sun album or the Pedal Giant Animals LP


What are they like? I heard they had more vocals and that they were less tightly composed, but other than that I know very little

[Sputnik]

Overall, I absolutely love the first Oblivion Sun album, and I think it's pretty much a must for HtM fans. The second album I like, but it doesn't take me there like the debut.

Pedal Giant Animals I never personally got into that much, but for big HtM fans, I'm sure there are aspects to enjoy.

Here's a couple of samples to give you a sense:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKz7anWW0eQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5n_JPLXu6g

Bill

[markwoll]

Get them all. The first OS is the best of the 3 as a whole.
You can see where Pedal Giant Animals and OS are a progression.
But all things considered, if you like Beginnings these are easy to like as well.
There is enough HTM'ness in all of them.

[Fracktured]

First Oblivion Sun is brilliant. Second is very good also, but I found the second one to have more of a Genesis approach to it. Yeah, I said Genesis. Both are worth it to explore if you are a fan of HTM.

[eporter66]

I really got into Pedal Giant Animals, I think it is a very good disc. For the OS, I agree with the other posts, the first one is excellent, the second for some reason did not hit me as hard, but is still good. If you like HTM, these should work for you.

[interbellum]

I found this review on the Happy The Fan-site, which may shine a light on the Pedal Giant Animals-CD:

Here's a translation of the review of Pedal Giant Animals, which was published in Nr. 71, February 2007:

STAN WHITAKER ~ FRANK WYATT
Pedal Giant Animals
(CRAFTY HANDS MUSIC 83710127816)
The reunited Happy The Man turns out to be a logistic nightmare full of conflicting agenda’s. The reunion isn’t a failure thought; after all, it brought us the strong The Muse Awakens and a couple of enthusiastic received concerts. It also stimulated Frank Wyatt and Stan Whitaker to write more together, with Pedal Giant Animals as the first concrete result. Although there can be no misunderstanding about the origin of these musicians, it is absolutely not a HTM-album. Pink Sky, Love, Whole and Everything are more examples of the singer/songwriter-genre, by which Whitaker’s voice has that same little burr as Peter Gabriel, while the quietly floating piano-accompaniment falls into the category of Genesis’ The Lamia. These titles though really contain stately symphonic moments, which also can be said for the instrumental Turning My Head. This cinematic piece of work in the style of Alan Hawksaw offers beautiful modest Moog- and fretless bass-solo’s, the latter being played by However-bassist Peter Princiotto, together with Chris Mack from Ilúvatar the guest-musicians on this album. More up-tempo are Chapter Seven, written around a dark guitar-theme, and the Eastern-like Mists Of Babylon, which has a fierce, jazzy saxophone-solo. Stumpy Shuffle leans more on blues and reggae and is more or less a funny sequel to HTM’s Stumpy Meets The Firecracker In Stencil Forest. PGA experiences its intriguing climax in the closing title-piece, in which spirituality and metaphysics go together in a attractive progressive rock-song, which leads to a beautiful symphonic guitar-solo. Meanwhile Wyatt and Whitaker, together with Mack, Bill Plummer and Dave DeMarco have formed Oblivion Sun, with which besides new work, new arrangements of a couple of HTM- and PGA-songs is being played as well. So, the HTM-reunion keeps on bearing fruit.
Information: www.pedalgiantanimals.com/pga.htm
Published in iO Pages Nr. 71, February 2007, website: www.iopages.nl

[Hobo Chang Ba]

I found Pedal Giant Animals to be a bit more streamlined and more relaxed overall, but (unsurprisingly) still has that HTM dna present.

Oblivion Sun is an excellent extention of modern HTM, IMO especially the debut.

[Meme Prog Mutation]

If you like the complete HTM discography it is a simple decision - get them all. You will find something to like on all three CDs.

[Gizmotron]

Yup...get them all.

And "Pedal Giant Animals" was a surprise for me. I didn't know about it until recently but I think it is a fine CD. I really became focused on it...played it A LOT for a couple of weeks culminating with a camping trip where I played it and all of the HTM & OS releases.

Tidbit: "Blue Sun" (track 8) is very different from the usual HTM/OS-type of piece...it is a mellow, flute-based piece that fell into my lap one day during a family emergency. It kept me calm and focused in a very trying situation. It is a lovely piece and is all the more special because few HTM pieces have the same sort of feel.

YMMV of course...

[Gizmotron]

By the way, anyone have a source of the lyrics from the album? I couldn't seem to find any on the interweb.
(And i haven't checked the CD if they are printed.)

[Rand Kelly]

I already started 2 threads covering these bands FYI.

[Firth]

What happened to the new Pedal Giant Animals "Zeitgeist" which was funded on Kickstarter?

[interbellum]

This was the latest update, released today:

Hello Zeitgeist backers! I just heard from Ron Riddle and his injuries are healed enough that the drum parts for 12 Jumps will be started soon, so that's some great news! Bill Brasso has also communicated that he has started his open heart surgery rehab and will be drumming again in about a month, so the basic tracks on those artists project compositions should be done early January. The other songs are progressing at a fast pace now with many parts tracked and a lot of activity in the studio nearly every day. It is still a bit ambiguous as to when everything will be done so I hesitate to predict a completion date, we are at least a few months out, but know that the project is still very much on the way to being done. There are progress videos posted in the backstage area of Craftyhands.net if anyone wants to follow along, but warning, there will be spoilers there if you want the music to take you by surprise when done.

The backers who pledged for the art print will be receiving the print in the next few days. Half have been shipped and the rest will go out tomorrow. Thanks to Michael Phipps for his wonderful art and hard work to get these printed and shipped! If you don't already know Michael has some really great tees and ties with his original designs so check them out at Scatterbrain.

I wanted to share with you all that the remarkable energy and interest the artists are investing in this project are having a real benefit to everyone involved. Some of us have been away from actively performing and recording for years, and I have been told by several artists that participation in this project has reawakened some wonderful memories and rekindled the love and spark for creating music. Thank you for your support from all of us. I feel many great things will be born of the spark we rekindled here and it could not have happened without you Kickstarter backers.

Frank ~ and all of us in the Zeitgeist