Crack the Sky - Crack the Sky

Crack the Sky. I have no idea why I picked this up. The cover looked intriguing, and the logo was embossed as was the doodad looking thing in the centre. The band looked cool and I figured it was hard rock or glam ... both were appealing. I bought it a couple of years ago and it's been sitting on a shelf waiting to be played. I just kept adding albums to the pile and frankly this one got buried. 

I was flipping through my inbox shelf to see what might catch my eye and paused on this one. The heaven's opened up and it was time to crack the sky (it's okay, you can roll your eyes, I did).

I dropped the needle and the opening chords to "Hold On" immediately caught my attention. It called to mind Rush for a moment ... only a moment until John Palumbo started to sing, which was of talking narration that gave way to an infectious chorus. The guitar solo was an honest to goodness face melter. Not that it was a blistering flurry of notes, the opposite in fact, but dagnabbit it was so good. The song transitioned into "Surf City" that's kind of hard to describe ... I don't think me saying it's progressive pop with glam overtones gives the song enough credit. Given that it was 1975 the song was well ahead of the curve as the song is really almost alternative punk.

So far the album is blowing my mind. 

My album has a bit of snap crack pop, which kind of sucks, especially on the opening piano interlude to "A Sea Epic" and boy oh boy this is a song that lives up to the name epic. The orchestral elements are on point and the song goes full on prog mode, and the guitar riff that precedes the jaunty "I'll kill the captain" is so tasty. With two lead guitar players in Jim Griffiths who looks like a '70s pin up and Rick Witkowski who I'd bet money was the inspiration for Jeff Spicoli, there's no shortage of guitar on the album.

Goodness "She's a Dancer" should be a staple on classic rock radio. This is so good. It's not the best song so far, but it's the one that feels most like a single. You have to hand it to John Palumbo the band's vocalist and songwriter he can really put together a tune. Honorable mention on this one goes to the horn section of  David Sanborn, Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker who push the song over the top.

The first side closes out with another oddly poppy but decidedly progressive song titled "Robots for Ronnie" that I can't quite get my head around. I suppose at it's core Ronnie is a social outcast and the only company suitable would be a robot companion, a boy and a girl and maybe an aluminum cat. The song ends with:

We can talk about the old days, 
The parties and dances and leads in class plays;
But all the memories he'll have
Are plugging in a friend and shining up a cat.

It's so good, and the strings push it over the top.

Heck if you haven't guessed I'm sort of jotting this down in real time. I've just finished playing side one twice, and this is all been like walking through fresh snow for me. What a wonderful adventure of discovery.

Side two opens with "Ice" that is essentially anchored by acoustic guitars but has thick layers of keyboards and orchestral accompaniment over a really interesting vocal track. Decidedly ambitious, progressive, intricate but really pleasing too. 

I'm really not much of an aficionado of all things prog but I do like the stuff that doesn't devolve into self indulgent pretentiousness. I love a good melody that knows how to get from point A to B without testing the listeners patience.

Speaking of good melodic sense "Mind Baby" again features the Sanborn / Brecker horn section but this is a rock song through and through and the guitars are milking that '70s penchant for a guitar hero solo, and even go for the twin guitars - oh yeah! Again props to Mister Palumbo, the guy hasn't repeated himself yet but there's enough of a common musical thread running through the compositions that everything feels cohesive. This is a killer track, and I'm going to have to spin this one again. Yeah I know it'll interrupt the flow but whatever man, I can do what I want. You'll have to wait a moment while I sit here and groove. Besides the way time works it won't take you four minutes to get to the next paragraph. 

See. That's didn't take any time at all for you did it?

The band keeps up the pressure with "I Don't Have a Tie" that almost feels like a something by a harder rocking version of Steely Dan. That's not quite right, but there's something really cool about this one. The only complaint is it's too short.

Closing out the album is another opus: "Sleep" this one pushing close to eight minutes. Like "Ice" the song is fundamentally a fleshed out acoustic guitar song. Boy howdy the acoustic lead work and interplay is really something.

Crack the Sky is probably the biggest surprise I've had lately. I'll be the first to admit that much of the early to mid '70s rock went over my head. When I was a kid I listened to my little AM radio and unless I heard it there chances are I never heard it at all. 

For those keeping score I'll call out the band. Using the back cover as a guide let's go left to right and introduce the guys who collectively melted my face for the last hour or so.

• Lead guitar, harmonies: Jim Grittiths
• Bass guitars, harmonies: Joe Macrae
• Keyboards, guitars lead vocals: John Palumbo
• Drums, harmonies: Joey D'Amico
• Lead guitar, percussion, Rick Witkowski

This was the debut record by Crack the Sky, and although the album didn't seem to reach a wide audience, those it did reach seemed to really like the band. Heck, Rolling Stone would call it the debut album of the year in 1975, and later when Rolling Stone published their top 50 progressive albums of all time back in 2015, Crack the Sky was ranked 47.

The band is still active minus Jim Griffiths, although the guys must be getting up there in age now. While the band apparently never managed to recreate the magic found on the debut it didn't stop them from trying. They released their 20th album From the Wood in 2023.

Long live rock and roll and those who make it ... and those who came close.