Sky

I wan't keen on Sky when I first heard them, mainly because my parents bought Sky 2...

However, I found their first 4 LPs in spanking new condition in a second hand vinyl shop a few weeks agi and gave them a quick spin.

The quality deteriorates as the album number increments - the first is pretty reasonable in places, but the second starts to get painful. I particularly hate their version of Bach's "Toccata in D Minor", but then I have a natural aversion to hearing that piece used in conjunction with rock anyway, just like I do with "O Fortuna" from "Carmina Burana"... /shudder.

It's true that all the musicians are phenomenally talented, but none really know how to rock.


The best example of mixing Rock and Classical is Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Variations".

Herbie Flowers plays on that too...

I don't agree with the idea that they 'played it safe'.Far from it in fact.They arrived at a time when instrumental bands were about as popular as Rabies but still put out 2 excellent albums.Sky 2 is actually quite proggy.I love the feeling the music creates and they certainly stood out for the time which was dominated by stupid new wave electro crap.But after Monkman left they just became a sad parody of themselves (ie Dance Of The Big Fairies  ) and then it went rapidly downhill.

Personally, I thought Sky was a wasted opportunity; the combination of virtuosi within their ranks over the years should have produced absolutely stunning albums, but in my opinion, they played 'safe', producing what I can only describe as 'elevator music'.

My disappointment with Sky was only eclipsed by the greatest waste of talent ever - i.e. Hackett & Howes' appalling 'GTR' album

It seems they aren't too popular here.

By the way, Hugues, I enjoyed reading your reviews of the first three albums.

i got sky2, it's really refreshing to listen to, and the sound quality is excellent!

Have to agree with Sean's "muzak" comment. I knew of John Williams (ex-Mr Anna Ford, the BBC newsreader!) from his classical guitar work and the premise of the band sounded good, but at the time I bought their first album I had also just discovered Mahavishnu Orchestra's "Birds of Fire" and McLaughlin and co just blew them away, as far as I was concerned. Easy Living is right - undoubtedly they were all virtuosi, but  never challenged themselves in the format of Sky.

There is plenty of John Williams classical guitar work around, including some splendid work he did with julian Bream.

Snow Dog wrote: Sky are Ok. Not prog though.

For me, Sky had a lot of potential which they never realised. Their msuic is generally easy, with little to challenge the virtuosity of the members. 

 I  want to get into them so whats a good place to start?

Ultaigh wrote: Is that the John Williams that plays Classical guitar?  I'll definetly check them out!

Yes it is! Finally a reply, I thought all was hopeless there for a while!