Album of the Day

Hands, by Hands (1977): In the 1990s, two technological factors came about that allowed the prog underground to flourish. One, of course, was the Internet, which both allowed the small and scattered, but devoted, fanbase to find itself and develop. The other was relatively cheap CD production costs, which brought the cost of producing an album down considerably. One way that second factor played out was by older bands being able remaster and remix (in some cases) LPs that were regional only affairs in the 1970s, put them on CD, and market them to a worldwide (albeit small) audience.

Of all the bands that took that route, Hands may have done so most successfully. This, their debut and only LP release, never made it out of the American midwest. On CD (with some extra tracks added) it gained a much wider audience. A second album of unreleased material followed. The general success of those two discs brought the band back together to record and release two albums of new material in (2002 and 2008) and even play ProgDay (in 2006). Sure, it's not an American Idol sized following, but it must be cool to know that, after all these years, people still dig what you're doing.