Happy The Man- 3rd........Better Late..

[Rand Kelly]

Well the first thing I noticed was Cuneiform changed the cover which looks pretty cool. The original vinyl was all Green with White writing. Some of this music ended up going to Camel with Kit and after he left in the form of Docks from Nude.

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...anbetterm-.jpg

[Enid]

I remember seeing the LP in a "Wayside Music" catalog and I just flipped! I was on a roll to the post office and even wrote Steve a thank you note for stocking it. That's insane! Steve runs a business and he must have thought I was a fanatic going overboard. When the LP arrived I noticed the cover was green with white letters spelling out the band's name. I must have played that album 10 times that day. I was overwhelmed by the fact that the ONLY H.T.M. material I knew of was from the first 2 albums and so this within itself was a dream come true. I was like a child with candy or a child going to the movie theater. I was always amazed by their composition. I took the opposite extremist attitude upon first hearing "I Can See Your House From Here" because I expected to hear more of a progressive approach in the music. Especially with Kit Watkins in the ranks. A few years later I heard "Docks" on the Nude album and my first reaction/thought was "Why didn't Camel sound this way when Kit was actually a member of the band?"

[Rand Kelly]

I remember seeing the LP in a "Wayside Music" catalog and I just flipped! I was on a roll to the post office and even wrote Steve a thank you note for stocking it. That's insane! Steve runs a business and he must have thought I was a fanatic going overboard. When the LP arrived I noticed the cover was green with white letters spelling out the band's name. I must have played that album 10 times that day. I was overwhelmed by the fact that the ONLY H.T.M. material I knew of was from the first 2 albums and so this within itself was a dream come true. I was like a child with candy or a child going to the movie theater. I was always amazed by their composition. I took the opposite extremist attitude upon first hearing "I Can See Your House From Here" because I expected to hear more of a progressive approach in the music. Especially with Kit Watkins in the ranks. A few years later I heard "Docks" on the Nude album and my first reaction/thought was "Why didn't Camel sound this way when Kit was actually a member of the band?"

Have you heard Kit Watkins-Frames Of Mind album? Listen to that and then go check out Remote Romance by Camel and you'll understand. That is Kit's most blatantly techno album to date. I wish I had it though. Labyrinth is my fave.

[Enid]

Yes ...I forgot about that! You are correct! I still have the 2 on 1 cd of Labyrinth and Frames Of Mind, but certain tracks from F.O.M. are not on the disc due to the length of Labyrinth. Labyrinth is just beautiful and if anyone likes H.T.M. they should treat themselves to that. What a fascinating period in time! Speaking of time....I also loved Kit and Coco's "In Time". Another beautiful progressive release indeed.

[Zeuhlmate]

While Chrome Yellow Shine - one of my favorite HTM tracks!

[Rand Kelly]

Yes ...I forgot about that! You are correct! I still have the 2 on 1 cd of Labyrinth and Frames Of Mind, but certain tracks from F.O.M. are not on the disc due to the length of Labyrinth. Labyrinth is just beautiful and if anyone likes H.T.M. they should treat themselves to that. What a fascinating period in time! Speaking of time....I also loved Kit and Coco's "In Time". Another beautiful progressive release indeed.

I have In Time on vinyl. My God I haven't played that record in about 30 years.

[Enid]

I have In Time on vinyl. My God I haven't played that record in about 30 years.

I had everything on vinyl I could get my greedy little hands on. Thanks to Steve from Wayside Music, I was more than able to obtain the majority of releases.

[PeterG]

You know what Rand ,we haven't had any HtM threads in a while, could you start a few more!!!!

[Rand Kelly]

You know what Rand ,we haven't had any HtM threads in a while, could you start a few more!!!!

I still have to do Whitaker/Wyatt-Pedal Giant Animals. LOL!

[SteveSly]

Here is a review that I wrote back in 2007:

The album that never was...... Happy The Man recorded demos for their 3rd album in 1979, but the band would be dropped by Arista and break up prior to the album ever coming to fruition. It was finally released as "Better Late" on a small label in 1983. In 1990 Cuneiform records finally re-released "Better Late" so it is available once again. It is not as good as the other to "official" studio releases and has a bit of an unfinished feel to it, but there is some very nice stuff to be found here and the album is certainly worth picking up for fans of the band. The sound quality is decent, but not up to the sonic quality of the first two albums. Material wise it is really a shame that the band never finished this stuff up to put out on a proper album. Most if it is quite good, and there are makings of what could have been classics here. There are more vocal tracks that usual on this one including "The Falcon", "Who's in Charge Here", and the album finale "Such A Warm Breeze". The band misses drummer Ron Riddle who does not appear here, but Watkins, Kennell, Wyatt, and Whitaker are in fine form as usual. Instrumental highlights include "While Chrome Yellow Shine", "Shadow Shaping", and "Run Into The Ground". If you are looking to explore Happy The Man I would pick up their first two, and most recent releases first, but if you have those and like them you will probably find a lot to like on this one as well.

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

this is *so* much better than the 'usual suspects' who dominate the forum

Third was the first HTM album I ever bought. I guess it was 1983. A friend got it when it came out and I immediately had to go find one for myself. Bought the other two shortly after. Since it was my first exposure, I still love Third as much as the first 2

[happytheman]

As I recall I bought Better Late on vinyl then later when the CD was released it had a few extra tracks.. I also bought Labyrinth about the same time.. Kinda like what Kit did with those couple of tracks from Better Late..

[calyx]

This was originally going to be called "Labyrinth" but by the time the demos were released in 1983, Watkins had used the title, so they had to find another one... The track "Labyrinth" itself is often overlooked, I find. I didn't realise how brilliant it was until I heard Kit's solo (with Coco) version on his album. So, that plus "While Crome Yellow Shine", "At The Edge Of This Thought", "The Falcon" (I dislike some of Stan's singing on this - "fooooooools !" - but such gorgeous melodies), regardless of some of the weaker songs this is still one hell of an album.

[Dusty Chalk]

My first Happy the Man album, and still has a special place in my heart. Thank you, 'HFS, for playing tracks from this for me until I could finally figure out who this was and go out and buy it.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

I'd probably put this at the bottom of my HTM list, but I'm still glad I have it.

[Rand Kelly]

I'd probably put this at the bottom of my HTM list, but I'm still glad I have it.

I agree, but now that I know that these songs were patched together before being completely finished I can cut them some slack. I'm still glad I bought it too.

[Dusty Chalk]

Well...bottom of the barrel for Happy the Man is still a floater in my book.

[Mr.Krautman]

Bottom of the barrel, really ? I don't understand why Better Late is usually so poorly rated, I would rather consider it as the band's finest effort and includes some outstanding instrumental sections and probably the best tracks they ever composed. (While Crome, Labyrinth, The falcon...) and a perfect balance between instrumental and vocal tracks. The only aspect open to criticism would be the less than perfect production/mix (some distorsion is clearly audible on some tracks) but it must be remembered these were DEMO tracks not intended to be released in this form and recorded on a cheap TEAC 3340 (4-track) recorder and mixed/overdubbed/mastered on a Revox A-77 at 7-1/2 ips. Still, the sound is quite decent to my ears and much better than on Beginnings which is much more amateurish and less consistent. (IMO) It seems that most proggers prefers the fully instrumental HTM, nevertheless Stan Whitaker is a great singer with a deep, powerful and emotional voice, something like a cross between J.Wetton and G.Lake. (Just listen to The Falcon or A Warm Breeze). To summarize, I would greatly recommend Better Late to any HTM (or prog) fan, don't let you put off by the (undesserved) "unfinished demo" status of this record, it's still much much better than you might expect and amongst the top U.S prog records from the late 70ies. As far as I am concerned, I would take such "bottom of the barrel" demos any day. A must.

(my comments above are based on the 1990 WMAS CD edition and I have no idea if the Cuneiform re-issue is technically superior and/or includes extra bonus tracks)

[Dan Roth]

What happened to Kit Watkins? He was releasing solo albums up until 2004 or 2005, I believe....havent heard anything from him in some time. Did he retire?

[Mr.Krautman]

What happened to Kit Watkins? He was releasing solo albums up until 2004 or 2005, I believe....havent heard anything from him in some time. Did he retire?

Nothing new since 2006, looks he retired or maybe he's producing small audioclips for TV and advertising which is more profitable than the small new-age/ambient niche ? Same for Larry Fast (Synergy) which is still active but hasn't produced any new material since... 1987 ! It's really a shame as both are great composers and musicians. Watkins also consistently declined to take part in all the HTM reunion or side projects (Oblivion Sun,...)

[JKL2000]

I've actually never heard this album but a copy is on it's way. I'm psyched to discover it.

[miamiscot]

When I finally got my paws on this (after absolutely adoring the first two) I was really let down. Over the years I've grown to appreciate it more and more but it's still inferior in every way to those brilliant Arista releases (IMHO).

[JKL2000]

^ Since I have the Retrospective CD, I've heard a couple of tracks off this. But I honestly don't remember what they sound like. But hopefully I'll be prepared for something somewhat different from the first two.

[Soc Prof]

Nothing new since 2006, looks he retired or maybe he's producing small audioclips for TV and advertising which is more profitable than the small new-age/ambient niche ?

I read an interview with Kit in the 1990s. He had another job to pay the bills. He recorded music because it was his passion.

[Dean Watson]

I really like this one, it's no Crafty Hands, and I get that it's mostly demos, if you look at it from a pure misicality standpoint it's pretty damned good.