SKY

SKY was an interesting experiment: a group of session musicians, some with band experience (Francis Monkman from CURVED AIR and Kevin Peek fresh from working with DAVID BOWIE) collaborating with a highly skilled classical guitarist on what people at the time considred jazz/rock fusion. I first saw them on a TV jazz programme in the early 1980s, but by then I'd purchased their first two albums and had been converted to their sound.

They were far more than 'rock the classics' instrumentalists, though they were to do themselves a disservice with their fourth album, which contained little original music. This first album did have some well-known classical pieces, the best of them SADIE'S haunting 'Gymnopedie', but the highlights of SKY'S oeuvre were always their roriginal music, and here Francis Monkman was front and centre. The astonishing 'Where Opposites Meet', which takes up side two of the vinyl release, is essential listening, to see what can be done with a combination of classical and contemporary stringed instruments. It's entirely Monkman's composition, and I've heard nothing better. 'Westway' is the album's other highlight, a piece that nails their colours to the mast immediately: here we get splendid bass lines overlaid with playful acoustic guitar and harpsichord, underpinned by a driving beat.

It goes without saying that the musicianship here is outstanding. But don't mistake perfection for lack of passion. What we get here is subtlety. An excellent debut release, and well worth picking up - if you can find it.

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