Saw them at the second 3Rivers Progfest in Pittsburgh, was blown away. Bought The Sale (love it!) - cash has been too tight to get more but will eventually. Best keyboard solo I ever heard at a concert btw.
Saw them at the second 3Rivers Progfest in Pittsburgh, was blown away. Bought The Sale (love it!) - cash has been too tight to get more but will eventually. Best keyboard solo I ever heard at a concert btw.
If you're newly into this band, the first 3 are where you want to go ending with Safety in Numbers. The dual guitars, tight rhythym section, songwriting, and especially the singing drop off a cliff after those. Make sure you avoid the re-recorded Safety in Numbers. I find it horrible. Palumbo's voice has been wrecked for years.
I understand your view on Safety In Numbers - 21 Century Redux, although I haven't got any hard feelings, as can be read in the review I wrote some years ago:
CRACK THE SKY
Safety In Numbers : 21st Century Redux
(LIFESONG RECORDS LSCD-7050-2)
Sacrilege or a new masterpiece; the case “John Palumbo” who left Crack The Sky before the recordings of Safety In Numbers began, in order to start a solo-career, after he had written a couple of songs for that album. Producer Rob Stevens with singer Gary Lee Chappell finished the job after that. Almost 30 years later Stevens meets Palumbo during the production of Citizen X (which was reviewed in iO Pages number 67), after which the possibility is being discussed to provide Safety In Numbers with Palumbo’s vocals. The result, with the sub-title 21st Century Redux, is the evidence. Although Chappell was a good singer, there’s a lot more perception now, because “dear John”, comparable with Peter Gabriel (with whom he shares the little burr on his vocal cord) imagines him self in the characters he sings about. Still, it’s strange to hear the compositions in a different order, at which they’ve departed the balance of an epic opening- and closing-track, now the title-track opens the album and the beautiful Nuclear Apathy can be heard as track four. But to close this time with one of the three bonus-tracks, which in 1978 didn’t fit on the LP, is a masterly move. You see, The Crying Father, Farmer From Idaho is a Robots For Ronnie-like ballad, which includes beautiful Mellotron-strings and a sensitive guitar-solo. The song is about a farmer who looses his daughter “Miss Idaho” to Hollywood. The other extra’s are Atlantic City, full of contrary rhythm-guitars in the best Crack The Sky-tradition, and Jungle Man Lonely, sung with a Randy Newman-like intonation – “without dentures” –, about a social disable stinking capitalist with “plastic teet(h)” searching for a wife in California. A couple of instruments have been added too, for example a fine guitar-solo in the introvert Long Nights, with its dazzling stereo-effects. On the other hand are the dropping of the Moog-runs in Give Myself To You, one of the jazz-rock related tracks, and the softer mix of the bombastic choir-Mellotron in the title-track. The production though, with a lot of attention for the powerful bass-playing, is very dynamic, especially compared with the 2-on-1 CD from 1989, although Prelude To Safety In Numbers is missing again, just like it was on the latter release. As a consequence of this the verdict is that this re-interpretation is, just like Apocalypse Now Redux, a new masterpiece, at which the birds on the cover are now flying rightly to the left and the band-logo has been reinstated. It’s still desirable though to restore the complete original too. “Case closed.”
Information: www.americanoriginalscds.com/lifesong.htm
For US-folks, there are some concerts this year: https://www.facebook.com/officialcrackthesky/
Upcoming dates for 2017
Friday May 26
Sellersville Theater, Sellersville PA
Tickets On Sale NOW
Saturday May 27
Club 66, Edgewood MD
Tickets on Sale NOW
Saturday August 12
Jergel's, Warrenton PA (20 minutes North of Pittsburgh)
Tickets on Sale NOW
Saturday August 26
3rd Annual Wounded Warriors Benefit
Pier Six Pavillion, Baltimore MD
Tickets not yet on sale
Discovered them in late 70's when I was on the road playing clubs and theaters. Happy The Man and Nektar were playing the east coast of the U.S. during that time as well. I bought Safety In Numbers first as I had been hearing it regularly on Philadelphia Rock radio. It was thought to be Progressive by many musicians on the road. Then I picked up their first 2 albums. I also like White Music for its humour. Greenhouse and other's which followed I bought and although certain songs were fantastic and unique, John Polumbo seemed to be following in the footsteps of Roger Waters, mid to late 70's Pink Floyd, which was disappointment to a large degree. But I really like Crack The Sky regardless of disappointment.
Love the first three like many others, thought the 21st Century Redux is interesting and worth having, and also really like the double live album "Alive And Kicking Ass"....back in the day I lucked into a copy of Safety In Numbers" and could never find anything else by them until the CD's were released years later.
www.canvasproductions.net
I'm with you. SIN is my favorite too but I listen to most of their output with joy. I didn't bother with Palumbo's remake of SIN.
I loved their Philly show last night, but Palumbo was a bit strange. He had no energy, seemed a bit off vocally, and read most of the lyrics from a tablet. (I don't really mind the latter. I'd much rather a singer get the song right than stumble without an aid.) I don't know if this apathetic performance is just his "thing" that I've never noticed before or what. Regardless, the overall performance by the band wasn't overly impacted. The other guys had a ton of energy and stage presence.
For reference, I've seen them twice before. I'm on the 10 Year Interval Plan. First saw them in a club in Baltimore, 1999. Fantastic show, still my favorite. Then I saw them at ROSfest 2009. They were good, but I was slightly disappointed compared to the 1999 performance. Not as dynamic, but maybe that was because it was a larger venue, and I was farther from the stage. Aside from Palumbo's vocals, last night's show (2019) was on par with the 1999 show. I was much closer to Palumbo than for the other 2 shows, so maybe I never noticed his his stage presence as much before?
Last edited by roylayer; 01-28-2019 at 04:29 PM.
They’re a band I definitely need to know better. All I have is their first and Photoflamingo. Safety in Numbers and Animal Notes seem to be the ones most folks talk about, so maybe I should go for them next.
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
The live Sky album is killer
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A gentleman is defined as someone who knows how to play the accordion, and doesn't.
If you like their first album, I'm sure that you'd like those two albums as well. Photoflamingo is not one of their best. A number of their albums over the past 20 years are also very good, although I haven't heard them all.
Interesting. They played the first 7 (out of 9) tracks from their first album last night!
1. Hold On (3:00)
2. Surf City (3:54)
3. A Sea Epic (6:33)
4. She's A Dancer (3:54)
5. Robots For Ronnie (4:39)
6. Ice (4:36)
7. Mind Baby (4:32)
Love me like a Terrorist... yep....
I got nothin' :
...avoiding any implication that I have ever entertained a cognizant thought.
live samples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwbCFGbAtFc
https://youtu.be/AEE5OZXJioE
https://soundcloud.com/yodelgoat/yod...om-a-live-show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUe3YhCjy6g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VOCJokzL_s
Very positive review of the Ardmore show. https://www.popmatters.com/crack-the...627751003.html
The current issue of Modern Drummer has a medium-length article on and interview with Joey D'Amico, the original and now-rejoined CtS drummer:
https://www.moderndrummer.com/articl...s-joey-damico/
I can't say I ever listened to this band, but I just noticed they're playing about three miles from my house at the end of May.
Maybe I should check them out.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Recent video from CTS:
http://www.crackthesky.com/
Crack the Sky have a 5-page article in the JULY 2019 issue of Vintage Guitar magazine (which is out now)
Also a 4-page article on Dick Dale too.
G.A.S -aholic
Their best cds are out of print...
It would be nice if they played outside the Wawa zone, but I guess it’s never going to happen.
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
US-fans can order a lot of those CD's like the wonderful debut from https://squareup.com/store/glenn-wor...uter-services/ run by keyboard-player Glenn Workman.
Interbellum...thank you!!
How is John P.'s voice doing these days? For a while Glenn had to do the vocals.
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