SKY 4: FORTHCOMING

It's been a whle since I've posted a review, so I thought I'd go for another revew of a Sky album. Sky's fourth, simply titled "4: Forthcoming," contains only covers of some famous, some not-so-famous classical pieces, which are of course give the Sky treatment. There is little of interest for ths album unless you are an initated Sky/John Williams fan or you like Classcal-rock cross-over. While this isn't ther best album, it's still quite accomplished.

The album starts off with a cover of Khatchaturan tune, and the Sky style actually goes really well with it, very nice classical guitars, just what you would expect from Mr. Williams. The second tune is probably the most reognized cover Sky ever did. "Ride of the Valkyries" is also one of their more embarrassing pieces. However, it says in the liner notes that it was meant to be a joke (yuppy humor I guess). "March to the Scaffold" is one of my favorite Sky covers and should be recognized by the average person. It's extremely well executed! "To Yeslasto Pedi (Theme from "Z")" is a nice Spanish classical guitar heavy piece, very catchy and enjoyable.

Sky also attempt a cover of a Romantic period piece, Ravel's "Waltz No. 2." Sky's version is almost a bit too easy listening, but not bad by any means and still a nice listen. "Fantasy" is one of my least favorite tracks (maybe because I'm not a big fan of Baroque music, dunno). Sky always seem to cover Bach tunes, but I guess that's inevitable. "My Giselle" is yet another Spanish piece, this time arranged by Peek instead of Williams and is less Classical gutar heavy, although it's still there. This piece seems to "rock" more than the others too. "Xango" is a Brazillian tune with nice tuned percussion from Tristan; it's a bit repetitive, but still pretty enjoyable. What do you know? Another Spanish piece is next! It's fairly forgettable, but again, not bad. The last piece is an interpretation of a Hoagy Carmichael tune, and as cheesy as it sounds, it's surely one of the better tunes on the album.

I wouldn't recommend starting here for people interested in listening to Sky, go for the first two albums instead. Like I said, this isn't their best, but it's still quite enjoyable, 3.5 stars.