Stan Whitaker & Frank Wyatt

After the advent of their comeback album The Muse Awakens and a bunch of concerts, Happy the Man's main writers Wyatt and Whitaker found themselves unable to keep the momentum going for too long. All other HTM members had to devote themselves to their own musical and life projects, so Wyatt and Whitaker took advantage of the fact that they lived not too far away from each other and still wanted to to record tracks that had been left out of The Muse Awakens or new tracks that they had written shortly after.

Before their current band Oblivion Sun was formed, there was this duo project called Pedal Giant Animals (guest drummer Chris Mack eventually will become Oblivion Sun's drummer). This 2006 is the result of this continuing creativity, and it is no HTM facsimile, indeed, despite the noticeable presence of some HTM signtature sonorities in some of the tracks. This album is really an intimate look into the most relaxing side of these two minds' creative souls. The romantic moods of 'Pink Sky' and 'Love' are a clear sign of the introspective side of the kind of art-rock these two guys are devoted to. They may remind us a bit of the ballads in the Better Late... album (the posthumous 3rd album by the classic HTM ine-up). 'Whole' is also very romantic, albeit with a stylish vibe that may remind us of a Baroque-meets-new age kind of stuff. Among these first four numbers is 'Chapter Seven', an effective rock that bears an undeniable appeal upon a not too fast 7/8 tempo. The duo's rockier side will be later on reappeared in 'Stumpy Shuffle', a progressive reinstallment of R'n'B atmospheres that stands out as the catchiest track in the album: it also includes the best Whitaker guitar soloing in the album. Like I said, this is no facsimile of HTM, but a testimony of two of the band's main writers who join together in the task of expressing themselves beyond the HTM standard while stating their own importance at defining the aforesaid band's legacy. So, may the listener be warned that they shouldn't expect to find refurbished versions of old tracks such as ?Stumpy Meets the Firecracker in Stencil Forest', ?Knee Bitten Nymphs in Limbo', ?Ibby It Is' or ?New York Dream's Suite'. But there is also explicit complexity here: ?Mists of Babylon' traces a mixture of jazz-rock and fusion over an Arabic basis (a sepcial mention goes to the incredible sax solo, which seems to be exorcising ghosts of old Middle East emperors). ?The Leaf Clings? Quivers' and 'Turning My Head' bring us dreamy lyricism and controlled pomposity two things that turn out to be very HTM-ish as a matter of fact. After these colorful pieces comes ?Blue Sun', a candid, serene marriage of acoustic guitar and flute. 'Everything' returns to the duo's romantic side: it sounds as a typical USA pop-rock ballad from the 90s... except for the unusual 7/8 tempo. The album's last 9 minutes are occupied by the epnymous track, which once again reminds us of the Better Late.. album, more specifically, the song called 'The Falcon'. The combination of eerie orchestrations, fluid mood shifts and intimate atmospheres makes it a good demonstration of the album's most recurring spirit. All in all, ?Pedal Giant Animals? is an excellent progressive opus tha tallows the HTM fan to get further acquainted with the musical visions of Stan Whitaker and Frank Wyatt in a purer and less negotiated form than in the HTM albums.