SKY

The alum opens with Westaway, a catchy instrumental with tremendous musicianship, as you'd expect with a band like this.

Carillion is a gentle, classically-inspired piece that builds up to a rousing prog climax a la Floyd before winding down.

La Danza is a bouncy folk piece that builds and ebbs. It reminded me of an instrumental Steeleye Span.

Their version of Gymnopedie is especially sweet. I found it's great for calming down highly-strung dogs and children.

Cannonball reminds me a little of a rockier version of Passport on their Ataraxia album. Passport meets ELP? Very European. Classical, folk and Krautrock influences.

The five-part side-long suite, When Opposites Meet is worth the money alone. Wow! What an extraordinary composition by Francis Monkman of 801 Live fame! The piece is full of excellent riffs, melodies and motifs. There's rock, classical and Krautrock influences, and odd time signatures aplenty, and more than one earworm. If Sky was more flamboyant and not wrongly thought to be "commercial" this 19-minute epic would be considered a prog classic along with Supper's Ready, Starless, Close to the Edge, Hamburger Concerto and 2112.

These are outstanding players. Tristan Fry on drums plays with tremendous authority and accuracy. Herbie Flowers has some outstanding passages, especially on When Opposites Meet. The same can be said for keyboardist Francis Monkman. Kevin Peek on electric guitar shows great versatility and acts as an excellent foil for the renowned John Williams.

Maybe not an essential album for proggers because a fair cohort of us demand instrumental flamboyance, so 4 stars (more 4.5, really).

"We were stretching our wings a little bit. When you've got two guitars, piano, bass and drums, you're stuck. Suddenly we had the opportunity to use a voice, brass and other things. It's definitely the most varied of the Sky albums but I'm glad about that. It stopped us being bored." -- Herbie Flowers in the liner notes of the Esoteric Recording's reissue from 2015.

Probably there were feelings of boredom also on the listeners' behalf. SKY had been repeating the formula based mostly on the classical pieces, although their previous, not very rewarding album "Cadmium..." (1983) only had an adaptation of Prokofiev's Sleigh Ride' amidst original compositions from the band. When the famed classical guitarist John Williams announced his departure just before an Australian tour, "disbanding at this stage was never really an option" according to Flowers. The tour was done with a couple of guest musicians, Ron Aspery (sax, keys) and Lee Fothergill (guitars), both of whom are guesting on this album among a few others.

In a nutshell, The Great Balloon Race will most likely (at first, anyway) disappoint a listener seeking for the typical SKY music, but listened to without prejudices it might surprise you in a positive way. Actually it feels more progressive than their usual rocking-the-classics approach, and in a modern way. Indeed this is a brave album coming from the mid-80's. I sense some kindred spirit to e.g. Mike Oldfield, Pekka Pohjola or The Enid.

'Desperate for Your Love' was composed by Tony Hymas -- a keyboardist from Jeff Beck's band etc. -- who also speaks the sparse lyrics and plays the airy synths. Clare Torry, remembered from Pink Floyd's 'The Great Gig in the Sky', adds nice backing vocals. This mostly very slow and spatial piece is a major departure in style, but a pleasant one. Steve Gray's 'Allegro' is a fast and sharply rocking piece with a more typical SKY sound. 'The Land' written by Kevin Peek and Trevor Spencer was inspired by the vast landscapes of Australia, their home country. Synths dominate this beautiful piece with an orchestral illusion.

Herbie Flowers wrote 'Peter's Wedding' as a wedding gift for the band's manager. This playful, ambitious and progressive composition makes me occasionally think of Pekka Pohjola's music from the 80's onwards. Flowers composed also the following title track that progresses from serenity to slightly annoying rhythmic sharpness. 'Lady and the Imp' (by Flowers/Gray) is a many-sided and playful piece that sounds orchestral like The Enid. Steve Gray's 'Caldando' easily satisfies the fans of SKY with its classically influenced calmness focusing on acoustic guitar and softly played keyboards, and pan pipes fit in very well.

Kevin Peek's lively 'Roleystone' has a hilarious drive; the bright synth riff reminds me of Mike Oldfield's 'Guilty'. The album closes beautifully with Steve Gray's serene 'Night Sky'. All in all this is a surprisingly interesting album. Despite some slightly irritating sonic details, the band's sound is rewardingly updated, and also the compositions show respectable bravery. 3½ stars rounded up!

— First review of this album —

As I said in my review of Sky 3 album yesterday, Sky 4: Forthcoming consists only of covers mainly from the works of classical composers. 'Masquerade' is a waltz written in 1941 by Armenian composer Aram Khatchaturian for a production of the play with the same title. Sky's version was arranged by keyboardist Steve Gray who did a fairly good job. The band was known for their rock combo adaptations of classical pieces, and 'Masquerade' is a good example of them. It cannot be compared to the marvelous 'Toccata' from Sky 2 (1980) but Sky sounds very much themselves here. A nice and suitable piece to be adapted by Sky.

'Fantasy' is John Williams' arrangement of Johann Sebastian Bach's keyboard piece Fantasia C minor BWV 906, probably dating from the late 1720's. According to Wikipedia "the piece is notable for being one of Bach's latest compositions in the prelude and fugue format, and for being a showcase of Bach trying his hand at the emerging galant and empfindsam styles of music that his sons were known to compose". Perhaps for Sky's benefit, it's not among the most familiar Bach tunes ever. This version features harpsichord notably accompanied by electric guitar. I think this time Sky comes uncomfortably close to the Hooked On Classics territory, or the Dutch EKSEPTION in the 70's. The adaptation is rather stiff compared to 'Toccata'.

I didn't find information of the reception of this single. Anyway at this point Sky's star and creativity were gradually descending. They were merely repeating themselves with their predictable classical adaptations. I prefer e.g. 'Xango' (Villa-Lobos) and 'Skylark' (Hoagy Carmichael) on Sky 4: Forthcoming.

3- stars for 'Masquerade', 2 stars for 'Fantasy'.

There are already several collab reviews for this album, but none dealing with the Esoteric Recordings' re-release (2015) containing a supplementary concert DVD. First shortly about the album itself.

I think at first SKY survived quite well the departure of keyboardist Francis Monkman (formerly of CURVED AIR), who also was a major composer for the group, especially concerning the long pieces such as 'Where Opposites Meet' and 'Fifo'. The new guy Steve Gray, known and invited to join Sky by drummer Tristan Fry, had his background in jazz. Therefore, what the band definitely lost in progressive rock flavour, they gained in a jazz/fusion touch. Gray's contribution to Sky 3 as a composer is understandably not vast in quantity but fairly gratifying, and as a musician he integrated to the line-up with natural ease. He wrote the delicate 'Hello' the day he joined the group. 'Sister Rose' is a more outgoing piece with some funk nuances, and 'Meheeco', co-written with bassist Herbie Flowers, is among the album's highlights.

Charmingly bookended by brief Herbie Flowers tunes, Sky 3 contains pleasant if not groundbreaking original material from each member except the classical guitarist John Williams, who in turn arranged G. F. Händel's 'Sarabande'. In that respect, Sky 3 is far more creative an album than its follower which consists only of classically oriented cover performances. The Esoteric reissue has both printed the original texts by the members themselves (with the tongue- in-cheek attitude -- which in the case of 'Moonroof' seems even harsh if you're not used to their humour) and the new liner notes by the established rock journalist Sid Smith. Flowers and Fry have offered their memories and thoughts.

Sky 3 was released in March 1981 and it peaked at No. 3 at the UK album charts. Shortly before the release, in 24th of February the fresh line-up performed in London's Westminster Abbey, the famous Medieval cathedral. They were among the first rock groups allowed to play there. The show/DVD is one hour and 24 minutes long and amidst the material of the new album there are well chosen pieces from the former line-up, even Monkman's epic 'Fifo'. Each member in turn introduces the pieces. Fry speaks of "the zoological part of the show": in Camille Saint-Saens' 'The Swan' he plays the cello part on marimba, and Herbie Flowers has penned a humorous tuba number 'The Whale'. The gig ends with a good performance of the superb Bach adaptation 'Toccata'. The visual quality of the concert film is pretty good, featuring shots of the church both inside and outside.

For the DVD (the Westminster Abbey concert hasn't been released separately) this release is among the essential ones of Sky.

"Instrumental classically-orientated double album", to these ears, automatically triggers a kind of weary wince: I'll praise the technical competence on display, and politely ask to skip to the last track. In the dim light of this, "Sky 2" is very much a pleasant surprise. Instrumental albums are often highly prone to slipping into the pretty yet sterile void; however flawless their execution, their conception struggles to attain thematic or philosophical significance that even the most sparsely-penned phrases can conjure up. This is the second most fatal error such albums make. More fatal still is homogeneity of noodle, where even the most defensible passage could be shifted by the unscrupulous editor to two-thirds of the way through a different song, with all but the most obsessive listener failing to bat an eyelid. To summarise, while Sky's second falls for the former (any Marxist critic looking for pedagogic or moral meaning in this record will be intensely disappointed; it's effectively a collection of 13 discrete, entertaining exercises in music, not a work of art per se), it avoids the latter superbly. A breathless overview of contents identifies a surprisingly hard-edged opener, repeatedly alternating between guitar- led theme and individual solo freakout (warning: solo freakout fans might be underwhelmed, but Sky are all classical musicians at heart), slow-building ditty in 5/4, slow-burning Arabic-infused masterpiece, the 17-minute-long one where we've given up 7 minutes in (there are some decent moments thereafter but not nearly enough), an unfunny tuba pun which still makes the music look good, a couple of variations on "traditionals" arranged for classical guitar, a couple too many variations on a Rameau Gavotte, some dreadful marimba garden thing, something stolen from Curved Air that, to be fair, sounds amazing, 12 frivolous minutes (although I absolutely love the idea of "Parts 1&2 running at the same time") that typify the slightly smug sterility of the whole album, and the famous one to end, which is still my favourite classical adaption of all time, and deserves to be very widely heard. So?Peek's influence seems to be the most inspired; Monkman's a little hit and miss. Not all of it works, and if this album were trimmed of its shorter softer notes, and the second half of Fifo, to a single vinyl, we'd be looking at a masterpiece. As things stand, 3.5 stars seems apt (argh!). I'm going to tentatively round this up, on the grounds that an album being bloated with a couple of weak songs is far more easily remedied (through judicious skipping) than one lacking a couple of strong songs and, for an instrumental double album in the "Eclectic Prog" section, which would usually signal a mixture of weariness and apprehension for me, this is probably as nice as it gets.

The second album (1980) by the British instrumental band SKY was a double vinyl. For many listeners, including me, it's their best work, and the last one before keyboardist Francis Monkman from Curved Air was replaced by Steve Gray. The latter is a fine musician too, but much of the progressive rock orientation in SKY's music was lost when Monkman departed. This single contains two tracks from Sky2. Although the compositions weren't new, they both are among the highlights in the entire Sky catalogue.

'Toccata' was arranged by guitarist Kevin Peek from the mighty, famous organ composition of Johann Sebastian Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565. The powerful arrangement works wonderfully. The prog genre had a long tradition of making rock versions of classical pieces: The Nice, ELP, Ekseption... It's not too often that "rocking the classics" is done with such inspiration. Sky's 'Toccata' uses to the maximum the dramatic essence of the original Baroque composition, and the modern rock instruments make it a tight, exciting, 4½-minute rollercoaster ride. Especially Monkman's work on synthesizers is marvelous. As a side note: my spouse doesn't like it, she thinks it's extravagant and pretentious, probably the same way that I see some of ELP's wildest pieces. But the pop music listeners at the time did like it: 'Toccata' peaked at No. 5 on British single charts.

'Vivaldi' is a rearranged CURVED AIR piece written by the band's violinist Darryl Way, which originally appeared on their debut album Air Conditioning (1970). It is loosely based on the well-known freezy movement of the "Winter" concerto of Antonio Vivaldi's Le Quattro Stagioni. Frankly, the way Way used to use the piece as the platform for his extended soloing was rather tiring in my opinion. Sky's version, over three minutes shorter, is much more powerful, and a firm group effort in which all give their best without overshadowing the others.

There are two preceding ratings, both five stars. I have no heart to break the line, even though I very seldom give a full rating for a single containing album material only.

When I was 20, I read an old Italian encyclopaedia of rock and I got curious about strange bands (in fact those of progressive rock), like Sky, or Van der Graaf, mixing rock music with classical music or playing strange instruments like an electric saxophone. So I looked for Sky vinyls, but they were nowhere to be found. Then one day my father took me home Sky3, who had found in Lyon, France. In that record Steve Gray entered the Sky line-up to replace the famous Francis Monkman. And so in my record collection Sky3 appears but not the first two, considered excellent.

When I listened to the album I had a lot of expectations, but I was quite disappointed even if the sound of the disc was very good, clear: unlike the wall of sound of Phil Spector, you felt very good and distinct instruments, close as if they played in front of our ears .

The short opening and closing themes (both by Flowers) are not significant. The first track is easy listening at the end; in fact, it was chosen as a single. Westwind, written by Peek, is quite good, but does not take off; and then, finally a great piece: Sarabande. Excellent. But the credit belongs to Mr. Georg Friedrich Haendel, although the arrangement of John Williams is excellent. The last song of the side A, "Connecting Rooms", by the drummer Fry, is a nice surprise: a wonderful mini suite with three movements, which goes from romantic, to sweet, to twilight, to the enthusiast. Magnificent piece, the best of the album.

The second side begins, like the first, with a well-beaten piece, then come the two compositions of Gray, which in my opinion are the weak point of the album, especially the slow and discharged "Hello". Gray does not seem particularly original and creative to me. The album is redeemed in the final with the huge circus number of "Dance of the Big Fairies", an entertaining piece with an irresistible performance of the tuba, with piano and harpsichord to delineate a folk dance, whether Greek or Arabic is not known. "Meeheeco" follows, from the Mexican inflections, another good piece (in both there is the hand of Flowers), then the final track.

The peaks of the album are Connecting Rooms and DanceBF; in the second instance Meeheeco. Sarabande is the other peak. The rest of the Lp is quite mediocre, however always dignified ... I wonder how the first two albums are with Monkman, I suppose more originals. Maybe I will find them. This is an album however discreet. Vote 7+. Three stars.

There are two preceding collab reviews for this live set, both very negative. That came as a surprise to me, although I basically agree on most that SouthSideoftheSky says. But first a little personal background of my SKY relationship. As a teenager I used to borrow vinyls from a library and that way learn new bands, and Five Live was such first-acquaintance album to me, and possibly my first INSTRUMENTAL pop/rock album in general. The totally atypical live experience (almost devoid of any interaction between the group and the audience), , well, it did make a peculiar impression on me, though not a very lasting one, for some time later I overtaped it. Something like a decade later I bought SKY2 -- generally seen as their best -- which I removed from my shelf a couple of years later. Even in my enormously prog-expansive recent years SKY has escaped my radar, until this year I received Esoteric Recordings' re-releases of the albums # 2-5 to be reviewed in a prog magazine. It probably helps being now a middle-aged man to better appreciate the academically stiff style of SKY, ha ha!

The roughly 95-minute set starts with a 20+ minute, admittedly narcotic wandering of 'Animals'. In my teens I couldn't quite decide whether it was an over-extended bore or a fascinating piece of music painting inner images to my mind. It sure demands a friendly and patient attitude from the listener but at least partially it is rewarding. The next track is a very delicate Tristan Fry arrangement of Camille Saint-Saëns' 'The Swan' starring marimba. Not bad, actually.

'KP I' (written by, you guessed, Kevin Peek) has a rockier flavour and tastes more like the Sky2 material. Tristan Fry's marimba starts 'Dance of the Little Fairies', joined soon by piano, acoustic guitars and rhythm section. This joyfully galloping tune is a good example of the SKY music operating between the no-man's land of "pop" and "art" music. 'Love Duet' is a beautiful, romantic track starring guitars.

The second CD opens with a naive 'Bathroom Song' which has its own humorous charm, even if musically it is a throwaway tune. "Ignore!!! Except for the Glitterball", writes Herbie Flowers about it. 'KP II' is a lively fast-tempo tune offering the "rock" aspect which is so scarce in this set in general -- which doesn't mean I'd prefer it over the rockless tracks. 'Antigua', a moody classical guitar number of John Williams, is among the finest moments here. The rest of the set varies between narcotic and disappointing. But summa summarum: if you appreciate SKY also when they don't rock at all, there's no solid reason not to enjoy this double album as well. Just don't expect it to capture the "live energy" normally felt on live albums. SKY was not a rock band in that sense!

The music of SKY has been referred as "granny prog", and that amusing tag is indeed very accurate. Their classically influenced instrumental rock is technically perfect, clean, relatively free of big surprises - and quite sterile to the ears of acquainted prog listeners. It's probably the 2nd album (a double on a full-length CD) that has the most to offer for us. After that work keyboardist Francis Monkman (formerly of CURVED AIR) left Sky and was replaced by Steve Gray, who in my opinion was a very good choice. Funny how much he looks like greyed Tony Banks... But now onto the Forthcoming: this time Sky, featuring the classical guitar virtuoso John Williams, decided to make an all-covers album concentrating on the works of art music composers. To some this seems to be reason enough to malign the results, but I see no point to do so. Sky remains faithful to their own style, and this shortish album isn't so bad at all. Had they chosen only the best-known classical pieces that everyone would recognize, it would have been a totally different situation, closer to tasteless things like Hooked On Classics.

The danceable 'Masquerade' (Khatchaturian) sounds like it was written by - or for - this group. 'Ride of the Valkyries', the dramatic Wagner tune known also from the film Apocalypse Now, suffers from the popularity of the piece, and the electric guitar focussed sound is definitely not Sky at its best, nor is the drama captured very well. 'March to the Scaffold' (from Hector Berlioz' Fantastic Symphony) is percussionist Tristan Fry's choice, a favourite tune since his youth. The percussion comes to the fore in this strong arrangement. The next tune 'To Yelasto Pedi' is taken from the film "Z", familiar to many also as a sung version. This rhythmic track contains a small delicate moment for acoustic guitar and marimba.

'Waltz No. 2' (Ravel) is an excellent choice, especially as it isn't so worn-out. The nocturnal arrangement gives it a Satie-like spirit. I like the harpsichord and rich guitar texture on 'Fantasy' (Bach) but Baroque music suits much worse for crossover treatment. The version of a Spanish tune 'My Giselle', in which Kevin Peek's arrangement favours electric guitar, is poignantly compared to ALAN PARSONS PROJECT by Kenethlevine. 'Xango' of Brazilian origin leans on Fry's moody marimba but remains rather sleepy. 'Skylark', an evergreen composed by Hoagy Carmichael, has a nice classical guitar arrangement. ---------

My main reason to review Sky is receiving three recent Esoteric Recordings re-releases (# 2, 3, 4) that each feature a concert DVD as a bonus. From that point of view this one - with an 1982 TV performance entitled "Sky: Night Music" - is the least satisfying, both because of the shortness (approximately 46 minutes) and the cheaper visual looks. There's a fine acoustic arrangement of 'Fool on the Hill'. Tristan Fry's joke-like 'Tuba Smarties' seems to have been a concert perennial, unfortunately. In case I won't review other albums, let it be said that Sky 3's DVD featuring a lengthy concert from Westminster Abbey (1981) is very enjoyable, and Sky 2's slightly rockier DVD is recorded in 1980 with Francis Monkman still in the band.

The second album by Sky is really appealing being a double album and it is an enjoyable one. Just as many reviewers have explained, these musicians were top class but you're often reminded here that they are playful and seldom take themselves seriously, most notably from the song titles. "Hotta" for instance was so called when the piece was composed and thought to be similar rhythmically to the Spanish dance 'Jota' only to find it wasn't quite like the real thing when played back so they called it 'Hotta" instead! There are some truly superb pieces of music here, one of which is named 'Sahara' with its dramatic main theme perfectly setting the mood for the harshness of a desert. On side two 'Fifo' is another one of the best pieces of music by the band, and this surely is a piece which progressive music lovers should appreciate. There's a great variety of styles here and more classical on the second half. They were mocked by critics for putting their commercial edge on to those avenues of music but they did it their way and had a lot of fun doing it as well. Worth exploring this music. Three and a half stars.