CRACK THE SKY

Crack the Sky's eponymous debut is surprisingly good.

So, the bands for 3RP were being announced last winter and it was time for another big announcement. They had just announced It Bites and IQ, I'll admit, I was hoping for Frost*. Instead they announced "Crack the Sky". My first thought was "Who?" I mentioned this to my uncle who was a progger in his day and he mentioned how much he loved them. Sure enough, a couple of weeks later, I was given their first few albums to listen to. . . They're really good.

For starters, they do have a somewhat dated sound; this was obviously recorded in the seventies, though with progressive rock, that tends to be more of a badge of honor rather than a problem.

I'm hard pressed to describe exactly what they sound like, the best that I can come up with is this. Take the quirkiness of Mr. Frank Zappa's lyrics sung by a mellower John Fogherty and throw it over a more progressive version of Led Zeppelin. All in all, it's a pretty good combination. Guitarist Rick Witkowski in particular seems to emulate the classic Jimmy Page guitar sound.

"Crack the Sky" starts out with "Hold On" a rocking Zep sounding tune with some wonderful four part harmonies punctuating the chorus and odd musical breaks. This goes directly into the funky "Surf City". Again, the music has some odd moments of silence intermixed within the almost doo wop vocals.

"Sea Epic" is just that, a jaunting six and a half minute shanty about a sinking ship; chock full of mystery, intrigue and humor. The 'hero' starts the song out, nobly requesting that God save the Admiral and the Captain. Half way through, he apparently comes to his senses and prays for salvation for both himself and the cook. This is a well done song, again fully of epic harmonies and salty intrigue.

"She's a Dancer" reminds us to look before we leap; you never know quite what's lurking down there. Another well done song. "Robots for Ronnie" laments the fate of a boy who just can't seem to make any friends. The tearful chorus cries that we need to make robots for the child to keep him company.

All in all, the first five songs are all fantastic, each worthy of four stars in their own right.

"Ice" is another Zep sounding song, I'm not too terribly familiar with Zeppelin, but I'm thinking it's kind of a clone of "Children of the Sun". "Mind Baby" is forgettable.

"I Don't Have a Tie" has a Steely Dan feel to it, good vocals, good harmonies and kind of a funky groove to it This is the best track of the back half of the CD. "Sleep" is another classic rock sounding track with kind of an America feel to it.

And voila, we have "Crack the Sky", basically, the first five songs are great while the last half is a tour of the seventies classic rock scene. I give this one a four star rating, more like a three and a half which rounds to four. If you're looking for fun seventies rock, this is a band worth exploring.

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