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Wino Wednesday: The Hidden Hand, “Sunblood” Live in Germany, 2003

I know I’ve gone on about the persistent undervaluing of The Hidden Hand in Wino‘s catalog again and again. How they’re constantly overshadowed by Spirit Caravan, which came before, and subsequent acoustic work, the Wino trio, the Saint Vitus reunion, and so on. The fact remains that particularly with their last album, 2007’s The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote, the trio began to hit on a progressive, conceptual sound unlike anything else Wino played on, before or since. Obviously things weren’t good in the band at that point, or they’d probably have kept going, but considering that The Hidden Hand got three full-lengths out during their time, that puts them on numerical par with Wino‘s run with The Obsessed and it’s more than Spirit Caravan ever got out.

Although a reunion seems unlikely at best, the progression with The Hidden Hand is of special interest because the collaboration between Wino and bassist/vocalist/producer Bruce Falkinburg — however bitterly it may have ended; I’ve heard some stories — was among the most successful of Wino‘s career. The only other people he’s worked with consistently enough to get three records out are Saint VitusDave Chandler, Mark Adams and Armando Acosta (R.I.P.). With them, he produced three full-lengths between 1986-1990 (and other singles as well) and with the former two, reunited for last year’s Lillie: F-65, which if you saw the news last week, you know they’re continuing to support with touring.

So while the profile wasn’t quite the same as The Obsessed or Spirit Caravan or certainly Saint Vitus, The Hidden Hand remains a fascinating section within the Wino canon and the progressive spirit that emerges makes one wonder what might have been had some of the other bands, Spirit Caravan come to mind first, been able to keep going, or what a reformed act like The Obsessed might be able to do now on a studio album. We’ll see if they get there.

Until then, here’s The Hidden Hand early into their run, about a decade and a month ago, performing “Sunblood” from the first album, Divine Propaganda, on July 23, 2003, at Schwimmbad Musik Club, in Heidelberg, Germany, taped for Underground Live TV. Happy Wino Wednesday:

The Hidden Hand, “Sunblood” Live in Heidelberg, Germany, 07.23.03

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4 Responses to “Wino Wednesday: The Hidden Hand, “Sunblood” Live in Germany, 2003”

  1. Wino says:

    This is exeptional qualityi would love to grab a copy of the whole show you can hear were getting feady to start Welcome to Sunshine off night letters . I always thought Bruce was a geniys , monster player and masterful lyricist he had an attitude that he was a “second class citizen” becsuse promoters needed my name. But ultimately it was his hammering in the press panning his vocals . I still think this luneup was the hidden hand daves untrained natural ( hes a guitar player) lent this vibe his energy . Amazing ! Thank you! Wino on airplane , thorsday , august 29 2013

  2. Cosmic Nod says:

    That was a very well made video for being 10 years old. Wino fucking rocks!

  3. Trent says:

    Another excellent clip of a masterpiece band. The name itself is genius. WINO is my favorite player going esp. with that acoustic output that is amazing and validates in my mind top musicianship. Familiar regularly mentioned players can now “kneel before zod” in my opinion.

  4. Trent says:

    Another excellent clip of a masterpiece band. The name itself is genius. WINO is my favorite player going esp. with that acoustic output that is amazing and validates in my mind top musicianship. Famous regularly mentioned players can now “kneel before zod” in my opinion.

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