Search - Skyy :: Anthology

Fitting tribute to a brilliant 80's legend!!

C. M. Chileshe | UK | 11/16/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I was a late arrival to the Skyy scene and so heard a number of their albums all at once - in no particular order. I was drawn to Skyy by their hits "Call me" and "Let's Celebrate"; the latter being a local radio DJ's favourite. I made a mental note of Skyy but would not have really described myself as an avid follower - and it didn't help that I had no choice but to rely on the radio DJ to keep me informed of the "latest" releases!



It must have been sometime in 1982/83 when a school DJ -not to be confused with afore mentioned radio DJ - put an end to my mild indifference to Skyy with "Here's to you". I gave the track 10/10 and immediately made up my mind it was time to start collecting music as the horror that I may have been short-changed by the radio DJ all these years became all too apparent. But where to start.. student .. no money .. Skyy, Shalamar, Lakeside, Brass Construction and The Sylvers all to choose from!



For quite a while, "Here's to you" remained my Skyy favourite until I heard "Because of you" in 1985 from the album "Inner City"! At this stage, I did not own any Sky albums - only selected tracks on tape, including the two mentioned in the opening paragraph, "Jam the box" (not featured in the Anthology) and "Show me the way".



My Skyy album collection remained fixed at 1: "Start of a romance" vinyl, relased on the Atlantic label and featuring the totally awesome "Let's touch" - until it was time to switch to CD. It made sense then to look for a compilation CD. My criterion was quite simple: it had to feature "Because of you" and "Here's to you". It would be a superb bonus if tracks like "Let's Touch" were included!



There was an overpriced "Best of Skyy" with 14 tracks which actually met my criterion bar the bonus, but all sources I tried to contact responded with "out of print"! You can imagine my delight to find Skyy: The Anthology, now available. I wasted no time!



Skyy the Anthology does not feature any Skyy tracks that were not released on the Salsoul label, but features all their Salsoul hits - and let's face it! They were their biggest (didn't say best) with Salsoul. I was pleasantly surprised when I heard "High" - another one of those excellent 80's gems that had obviously passed me by back in the day! Clearly, I have much to discuss with my radio DJ about his professional responsibilities!!



The Sky Anthology makes for slim pickings if Mid-temp and slow grooves is what you are after, with "When you touch me", "Love is blind" and "Now that we found love" standing out as clear entries in this category, which, if truth be told is somewhat mediocre.



Pros:

30 tracks! CD comes with a booklet containing an excellent review by Ian Dewhirst. He has compiled what in my view is an excellent and worthy review, capturing the genius of Randy Muller (Brass Construction) and the Skyy fortunes, history and discography.

There is a wealth of tracks to choose from and you would be hard pushed to find "Because of you" on a Skyy compilation, and this, plus all their other greats like "let's celebrate", "High", "Show me the way" and "Call me" has got to be reason enough to get this CD.



Cons: I would have awarded a 5/5 score had at least one of "Let's touch", "Real love" and "Start of romance" been included, so a very good compilation though it is, the absence of tracks not released on Salsoul renders it somewhat incomplete from a fan's perspective.



Verdict: If a single Skyy compilation is what you are after then you probably won't do better than the Anthology at the moment and the list of contenders includes several "best of" titles. However, if you do not have the "Start of Romance" album already, then you best consider (I certainly will!) your collection incomplete albeit the Anthology is a huge leap towards addressing this in that it faithfully captures the soul of Skyy from 1979 to 1984. TOTALLY THUMBS UP!!"

Now Salsoul Records is COOKIN'.

Noko4 | Sandy Spring, MARYLAND USA | 04/25/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Aye....late '70's early '80s. Growing up Liberia, West Africa back then....Skyy was one of the favorites in the hood. FUNK at it's BEST. Randy surely was a FUNKMASTER...From Brass Construction to Skyy.

A MUST TO HAVE FOR THE LIBRARY OF FUNK!!!"

One funky 80's group!

Eric Robinson | DETROIT, MI | 12/08/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Skyy was one of the funkiest groups during the 80's decade. Songs like "Let's Celebrate, and Call Me" remind me of my roller skating days back in the early 80's. Those were classic dance grooves. However, i couldn't rate this cd collection 5 stars, simply because the tracks "Start of a Romance, Real Love and Let's Touch" were left off of this compilation. I understand that the group had changed record labels by that time, but come on, if you're going to do a compilation on any artist or group, especially an anthology, put all of the songs and hits on it. Don't short change the music fans. That's almost like an cardinal sin."