Human Hands – Trains Vs Planes

Human Hands – Trains vs Planes // Blue Eel (Faulty Products) 1981. A band I have been meaning to post for years, Human Hands represent the epicentre and apex of a certain early Pasadena New Wave sound in this bloggers’ humble opinion. A supergroup from an alternate universe, made up originally of Dennis Duck, Juan Gomez, Bill Noland, Rick Potts and David Wiley, all future and past cross-pollinating characters from other seminal outfits like The Romans, The Consumers, Wall of Voodoo, Monitor, The Dream Syndicate….need I say more? Shit, I could probably leave the review at this and you would have all the reason in the world to listen to this amazing 7inch. But unfortunately for you dear reader, I have even more to say. The genius of Human Hands is how they subtly incorporate surf, psychedelia, C&W, new wave and the beatnik poetry of singer David Wiley into a cohesive whole that is not derivative of any of these sub-genres but instead, just sound like Human Hands. This is most evident in the first five seconds of Trains Vs Planes which makes you think that you are about to listen to a surf song, what with the rush of the waves and reverberated Dick Dale style guitar, but then all of a sudden it becomes so much more. The B-Side Blue Eel performs the same magic feat with a Monitor-esque avant punk spazzfest morphing back and forth from a Country and Western riff. After this release and a subsequent EP, Dennis Duck joined Steve Wynn in The Dream Syndicate , Bill joined Wall of Voodoo and Juan formed The Romans. Rick performed with the experimental group Solid Eye, among others. David sadly passed away in 1986. The band has been continuing off and on for many years and they are still a very eclectic and creative bunch. All of their original material has been re-released as well, so if you like this, go check them out.