Crack The Sky- A great live recording and well worth hearin
Steven A. Blomerth DC | Peabody, MA USA | 10/23/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"It may help to already be a Crack The Sky fan, but any fan of rock music that likes music that is tight, intelligent and accesibly complex will love this live album. For starters this is not your thin sounding live album doing "clam" ridden versions of studio cuts. The sound is full and energetic. The recent 2006 re-mixing and re-mastering for this live album would make many a studio album sound thin by comparison. Crack the Sky was driven by the rhythm section of Joe Macre on bass and Joey D'Amico on drums that has to be one of the greatest rock duo's (Move over Chris Squire and Bill Bruford.) When you add the smart twin lead guitars of Rick Witkowski and Jim Griffiths you have quite a formidable band. The fact that they could not only be so tight live but also have killer vocals and Beatle-like harmonies, is a high tribute to a band that never became a house hold name(but should have). If you like talent,intelligence and tightness serving up high energy rock with great harmonies and lyrics this is your album."
Maybe They Can Fool Everybody Tonight...
Great Caesar's Ghost | New York, NY | 01/26/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I agree with Michael Chiaro's review with one exception. He doesn't like the new mixes? They ARE NOT new mixes, they are completely different performances!
If you have and know LIVE SKY, it won't take many listens to figure out that these are not taken from the same tapes. I can't imagine why they'd even bother to try to put that one over on us... no idea, but the differences are obvious. Just listen to the drum fills on ICE (heck, listen to the middle spacey section of ICE--it's completely different!). The drum performances are the biggest giveaway. Sloppy fills, and just different parts. Overall I'd say Joey D'Amico wasn't having as good a night as on the night of the LIVE SKY recording.
...and yeah, the Mellotron is gone... maybe they didn't use it the night that these shows were recorded!
Even though in the credits/tech notes they say that this CD contains all of the original LIVE SKY recordings except for MAYBE I CAN FOOL EVERYONE TONIGHT, maybe they got it mixed up? In his liner notes Joe Macre says that "...Most of the first LIVE SKY album was from the Philadelphia show. Most of this LIVE SKY 2 came from the Cleveland show." Perhaps they just got their note screwed up and that actually all of this is from the Cleveland show? I don't know.
I have one other beef with this CD, it's the same thing that sucked about LIVE ON WBAB:
CANNED AUDIENCE SOUNDS.
C'mon, This isn't KISS ALIVE, what the heck guys? They sound so fake! Just track upon track of layered applause, whistling and shouting. It's ridiculous. Listen to Gary Chappell introduce the band at the end of ICE, the crowd never stops carrying on throughout his whole, longwinded, giggling announcement. It's completely boring, he's not really saying anything, but the audience is having conniption fits. Then, they start playing the quieter LONG NIGHT... dead silence from the audience. Nobody even breathing. It's just ham-handed production.
At least it's better than LIVE ON WBAB. On that recording they set the levels for the tape loop of audience noise and just left them there. Yep, the audience cheers at the same level throughout nearly the entire recording.
I don't get it. I'm pretty sure that audiences actually applauded at this band's shows. Why the sloppy subterfuge? It makes me question the whole recording. As I recall, LIVE ON WBAB was recorded at a sound check, was this also?
Hey, I'm only complaining because I like this band and I hold them to a high standard. In spite of all my complaints, it's not a bad CD--it's just a disappointment for those hoping for a CD of LIVE SKY."
Woooow - a moment in time and a great one
C. Butler | Baltimore, MD, USA | 11/26/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
""wow" was my first reaction to this - these guys KICKED - well what the title says...
I have no idea how Joe Macre cleaned this up but it's simply astounding - clear and crisp and wonderful.
Performancewise? Any band would aspire to play as tightly as these guys do - the songs are well played and wonderful. They don't even suffer from a lack of Palumbo - Gary Lee Chappel probably sings better than John does (nothing personal John) and fits in well with the tone of the songs and the harmonys.
I just shake my head in awe - altho the band is still playing on this CD you can hear them at their prime - they even have alot of the same humor :).
This is just a great album, if you like rock music or like crack the sky you should buy this."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1