This is the official Crack The Sky space and it's run by the band and their road manager Doncheech. By using this site you
can get in touch with the band. Crack The Sky appreciates and wants to thank all their friends for the great support and friendship through the years.
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Crack the Sky was formed in the early-seventies with John
Palumbo, Rick Witkowski, Joe Macre, Joey D'Amico and Jimmy Griffiths. The
band, called Words featured an additional keyboardist and sax player. The
five original members traveled to New York City and signed with Lifesong Records in 1974. During a thunderstorm on one of the many trips from home area Pittsburgh to New York, a lightning bolt struck and the name Crack The Sky was born. Their first album, the self-titled Crack the Sky, was declared by Rolling Stone magazine, "The debut album of the year" in 1975. The band's second album was conceptually designed to be a rock opera on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Animal Notes, like the band's debut release, was critically acclaimed, but the high concept nature exuded "prog" before prog became a popular genre. Fueled by a breakdown in communications with the record label and a divergence in creative approaches, Palumbo left the band in 1977 to pursue a solo career. The remaining band members released Safety in Numbers in 1978 with new lead singer Gary Chappel. Extensive touring followed with E.L.O., Styx, Kansas, Zappa, Heart, Supertramp and Atlanta Rhythum Section. In addition, a live album Live Sky was released by this lineup of the band. Crack the Sky disbanded and Classic Crack, a greatest hits compilation, which included Palumbo, was released by Lifesong Records in 1980, in addition to Palumbo's solo release, Innocent Bystander. The 80-92s "The best song Pink Floyd never wrote" In 1980, Palumbo reunited with Witkowski and performed and released White Music, which featured a number of "singles-quality" songs that had earlier proved elusive to the band, including All American Boy, Skin Deep, and Hot Razors in My Heart. Palumbo and Witkowski reformed the band once again in 1981, with all new members and produced Photoflamingo. This release, and subsequent efforts including World in Motion 1 and The End, eluded the critical and public acclaims of the earlier releases, and the group disbanded again in 1983. Palumbo released the studio album Raw in 1986. Although the album had the signature Crack The Sky sound and feel to it, it featured no past members of the band besides Palumbo. In 1988, Palumbo joined with Witkowski and D'Amico to produce From the Greenhouse, which received the highest acclaim from Rolling Stone since their first album. Lauding the title track, "The best song Pink Floyd never wrote", the magazine re-discovered Crack The Sky.
The 90-92s Live! Dog City was released in 1990. The period between then and 1996 saw little activity except for the release of the compilation disc Rare! in 1994. Palumbo and Witkowski put together a band once again, in 1996 and played a series of live shows at small venues. The band at that time featured the same lineup as 1993's The End. A new studio
album, Cut, was released in 1999, as well as a double disc release featuri
ng one of the band's live shows, Live at The Recher. "A prog twist on political fare" Crack the Sky continued to perform live shows and the albums, Ghost, 2001 and Dogs from Japan, 2003, were both released to critical acclaim, and the band continues to enjoy a devoted fan following. They collaborated, under Palumbo's guidance, to develop a new concept album entitled The Sale , which was released in March of 2008 and features the return of original bassist Joe Macre.The original band John Palumbo, Rick Witkowski, Joe Macre, and Joey “Sticks” D’Amico
has recently reunited with long time members Bobby Hird, on guitar and Glenn Workmann, on boards, to play their first gig at ROSfest 08 in Pennsylvania. With a prog twist on political fare, cuts from The Sale served up an enthusiastic response from the audience, which encouraged and impelled Crack The Sky to stay together and get back on the road.
A 2009 tour is being planned.
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*** Review at Last year's RoSfest 2008 ***
Having been raised in the northeast United States and hearing about Crack The Sky’s amazing gigs since the late 70’s, the announcement that they had been booked to replace The Flower Kings as headliners got me more excited than ever about ROSfest. Finally I was going to see for myself what the buzz was about back then. I was not disappointed, to say the least.
Drawing on their nearly 35 year history, CTS rocked the Keswick with a performance that was musically tight, yet had a looseness and funkiness that brought to mind a sort of Rolling Stones of prog. Guitarists Rick Witkowski and Bobby Hird contributed mightily to the “Rites of String” with some great soloing and an extended guitar dual, and the rhythm section of original bassist Joe Macre and drummer Joey “sticks” D’Amico drove the band like a Ferrari on the autobahn.
Although his voice was rather rough in spots, John Palumbo fronted the band with a combination of ‘been there, done that’ swagger (“We were prog in…1980? So we’re just gonna play”) and genuine appreciation for the positive reception they were receiving. He also took audience interaction to a new level for ROSfest by actually climbing offstage to join them in cheering on the band, and later in the set spent some time walking up & down the aisle, grinning from ear to ear while audience members strummed his guitar. It was great fun to see a little bit of rock concert mayhem sneak its way into the normally conservative ROSfest. The final number of the set had the audience pressed up against the stage, providing the “woooos” to the Beatle’s “I am the Walrus”.
Although Crack The Sky never achieved the fame that should have come their way after Rolling Stone named them one of the best new bands back in 1975, their performances were legendary. This terrific performance can only add to that reputation.
*** January 2009 / CRACK THE SKY Interview ***
Full copy go to Raysrealm.blogspot.com
" When it comes to the terms hard rock, prog, heavy lead guitar, tight drums ,bass ,intelligence & humor there are few places you could go and do better than CRACK THE SKY. For any longtime fans who’ve not yet done so, grab “The Sale” immediately. For anyone else, who’s never had the chance to hear this awesome band, get searchin’ for that as well as these “Ray” picks: “Crack The Sky,” “Animal Notes,” “Safety In Numbers,” “Live Sky,” “White Music” & “From The Greenhouse.” "
good luck and have fun at your show now Crack The Sky!we are in Scandinavia so we will visit you another night when we are in neighbourhood!welcome to check out our new songs(new album ready)til we meet-cheers!Crop Circle Sam
Check out our New Radio Ad's on X102.9 in support of out newly recorded songs "Pink Leather Jacket" & Sunshine Superstar" both now available on iTunes Worldwide 747 on itunes. Buy it and Support Jax Music Nationwide! New Music Available on my page to preview along with radio ad. Thanks, JS
