Sky

It's a shame noone ever mentions this wonderful band that hit the scene it the late 70's. Sky was full of virtuosos, including John Williams, Francis Monkman, Herbie Flowers, Kevin Peek, and Tristan Fry (later on, other members joined, as Monkman left and did more library music and soundtracks).

Sky's music is a blend of classical and rock, with no orchestral instruments (i.e. strings, etc...). I only have the first and second albums so far, but am getting the fourth one soon. I really enjoyt their albums, and while I know it's not for everyone, they sure are worth a listen (I plan on doing reviews soon).

Are there any other fans here?


Edited by Zac M - April 24 2006 at 22:25

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!

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

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. 

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

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.

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

It seems they aren't too popular here.

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

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

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.