Happy The Man - Split and Rebirth

Split and Rebirth

The contract with Arista Records was dissolved after Crafty Hands failed to make any significant commercial impact. Undeterred, the band soldiered on, enlisting French drummer Coco Roussel, formerly of Heldon and Clearlight, as a new member in May 1978 and resuming live performances. Towards the end of 1978, new compositions were introduced in the live repertoire, and over the next few months enough material was assembled for a proposed third album to be entitled Labyrinth, which was demoed in February 1979 at the band house in Reston, Virginia. Sadly HTM failed to secure a new contract, and on May 27, 1979 (ironically on the latest line-up's first birthday), Kit Watkins announced his departure to the British band Camel. After playing a final show at the James Madison University, the band dissolved, with Whitaker and Kennell immediately forming a new band, Vision, with original HTM keyboardist David Bach.

Although the bulk of the new compositions would remain unreleased until 1983, Watkins recorded "Eye Of The Storm" on Camel's I Can See Your House From Here, and two more tracks, "Labyrinth" and "While Crome Yellow Shine", on his 1980 solo album Labyrinth, recorded with the assistance of ex-HTM drummer Coco Roussel. Watkins and Roussel gigged as a duo with backing tapes in 1980-81, and would go on to collaborate on their 1984 duo album In Time and Roussel's 1992 solo CD Reaching Beyond. The 1979 demo was released as 3rd - Better Late... in 1983 on Watkins’ own Azimuth label (the later CD reissue added two extra tracks from the same sessions, "Who's In Charge Here" and "Such A Warm Breeze").

The band continued to be a cult favorite in progressive rock circles even after they broke up, the interest in their music fueled by CD reissues and various archival releases. In 1999, the Arista albums were remastered by Watkins and reissued by One Way Records in the USA and Musea (with a two-part biography of the band) in Europe. Then, following several aborted attempts over the previous decade, the group reformed for NEARfest 2000 in their Crafty Hands line-up minus Watkins, replaced by David Rosenthal, and they (with new drummer Joe Bergamini) released a new album in 2004: The Muse Awakens. Whitaker and Wyatt have released another album, Pedal Giant Animals since, and have formed a new band, Oblivion Sun. Although HTM never formally dissolved, they have been inactive for several years.