According to the raw interwebular research I was able to put together — i.e., I Googled it — The Hidden Hand played the release show for their second album, Mother Teacher Destroyer, on Oct. 29, 2004, at the Black Cat in Washington, D.C. If I’m wrong about that, I hope you’ll at least give me credit for trying to track down when this clip of “The Crossing,” the opening track from that record, was played. Whenever it was, bassist Bruce Falkinburg absolutely nails the vocals, and even in the “uploaded five years ago” quality, the song sounds pretty righteous.

Their 2003 debut, Divine Propaganda, was rawer, and 2007’s swansong, The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote, more ambitious, but to me, Mother Teacher Destroyer was the quintessential outing from The Hidden Hand during their all-too-short run from 2003-2007. Not only did it have the rawness and progressive sensibilities in near-perfect balance, but the tracks themselves were so memorable, both individually and how they fed into each other, that the album remains high on my list of favorite Wino-related releases. I’ve featured the album before, so I won’t belabor the point, but it was the right offering at the right moment.

All the better, then, to get a glimpse of that moment nearly a decade later, by checking out this video of “The Crossing” from the release show. Wino, Falkinburg and drummer Dave Hennessy are in top form — you can see them nail the tricky change shortly before the long guitar solo kicks in — and it seems fair to think this was if not as good as they got, then probably close to it. I still consider The Hidden Hand probably the least appreciated of the bands Wino has been in, the stalled-out and largely forgotten Premonition 13 notwithstanding, and something like this is a real treat at least for me, and I hope for you as well.

Please enjoy and have a great Wino Wednesday:

The Hidden Hand, “The Crossing” Live at the Mother Teacher Destroyer CD Release Show

It’s been a minute since the last time The Hidden Hand was featured for Wino Wednesday, and for my money, 2004’s Mother Teacher Destroyer was the best thing the band put out in their unfortunately short run. While the prior year’s Divine Propaganda debut had a raw sense of punkish purpose and the follow-up swansong LP, 2007’s The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote, was more complex both thematically and musically, Mother Teacher Destroyer struck and excellent balance of both sides of the band’s personality, propelled by driving fuzz and the dual vocals of Wino and bassist Bruce Falkinburg.

Ultimately, it would be the clash of those two personalities that undid the band, but on Mother Teacher Destroyer, the two figures worked brilliantly off each other, trading off in the lead spot while drummer Dave Hennessy (Evan Tanner joined the band for their third album, but also left soon after) solidified the tracks behind. Whether it was Falkinburg‘s dire proclamations on opener “The Crossing” — the start of that song and the album as immediate as immediate gets — the “we will overcome” call and response of “Half Mast” or the later disillusionment Wino loosed upon “Travesty as Usual,” the album was both viciously of its moment politically and honing in on epic themes. To wit, a track like “Sons of Kings” — my personal favorite and a one that’s been a Wino Wednesday pick before — is as much a fantasy narrative as it is a metaphor for the Iraq War, already endless in its beginning stages in 2004.

This is the 75th week of Wino Wednesday, and as such, I’m stoked to be able to feature an album that I still consider underrated in the man’s discography. You’ll find Mother Teacher Destroyer in full and in HD on the YouTube player below. As always, please enjoy and have a happy Wino Wednesday:

Whatever your political affiliation, I think it’s safe to say at the very least that the middle of the last decade was an interesting time to be an American. Still reeling from post-9/11 paranoia about terrorism, the country having split into vehement factions either for or against going to war in Iraq (for all the good it did, either the war or the protests leading up to it), George W. Bush‘s reelection in 2004 — things seemed to be tripping over themselves to fall apart. But you know, you had to go buy an iPod or the terrorists won.

Through all this mass psychosis and jingoistic fuckery, The Hidden Hand released their second album in 2004’s Mother Teacher Destroyer. In my opinion, it’s the strongest of the Wino-led trio’s three albums — striking a balance between 2003’s punkish Divine Propaganda and 2007’s more progressive The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote — but more to the point, it’s a solid and concise chronicle of the sentiments in both the public conscious and unconscious. Together with bassist Bruce Falkinburg and drummer Dave Hennessy, Wino made some of the most explicit social commentary of his career.

To wit, the third song on the album, “Desensitized.” At six and a half minutes, it was the longest track on Mother Teacher Destroyer, and while other songs delved into Zeppelin-style epic themes and tales of battles lost and won, “Desensitized” and “Travesty as Usual” stood in the tradition of protest songs, each driving riff serving as another mark of resistance. The lyrics echoed this sentiment as well:

Sad times are here today all around
Strange vibes here to stay to bring us down
For the people they don’t care
Pushing all into despair

No, it can’t be true
It couldn’t happen to you
Hey, it must be clear
They’ll try to keep us in fear

Disinformation is the tool
Media controlled, divide and rule
Anxious minds their questions lead
To the structure of deceit

No, it won’t be true
Don’t let it happen to you
Hey, it must be clear
They’ll never keep us in fear

Note that the last chorus ends in a hopeful tone, but there’s something too in the verses that seems to know the size of the struggle being engaged. Wino‘s always had a socially conscious side to his songwriting, but that was never quite so prevalent as in The Hidden Hand, and they were nothing if not timely in their arrival.

Here’s “Desensitized” in HD. Happy Wino Wednesday: