SKY Trivia
In 1979, 3dB of Top End were added to the first sky album by the band during the final mastering stage.
In subsequent years, this has not been done for the album’s CD releases, which means that, unusually, the first album actually sounds better in its original vinyl form than it does on CD!
Also in 1979, director John Mackenzie commissioned Francis Monkman to provide the score for his recently completed British gangster film The Long Good Friday. This came about, apparently, because Mackenzie had used Where Opposites Meet whilst compiling a rough edit of the film. Along with Monkman himself, fellow sky members Kevin Peek, Herbie Flowers and Tristan Fry can be heard playing on the soundtrack.
Mackenzie insisted that the music be recorded in mono, as he felt that this would add a suitable air of stark reality to the finished film.
In 1980, due to it being their first release in the US, sky2 was issued stateside (on the Arista label) with the title changed to sky. This caused a slight problem when the company then wanted to release the first album. The problem was solved by calling the first album Carillon.
The Shadows Connection:
Up until sky’s arrival, the Shadows had enjoyed an unrivalled position as the UK’s most popular and successful instrumental group. What many people may not have realised, however, was the extent to which most of sky’s personnel had been involved, at one time or another, with The Shads.
Firstly, Herbie Flowers had played bass on an unspecified number of tracks on the Shadows 1970 album Shades of Rock. He had also played on Hank Marvin’s 1977 album Guitar Syndicate.
Francis Monkman had played keyboards on The Shadows 20 Golden Dates tour of 1977 and then on Brian Bennett’s superlative solo album Voyage.
Kevin Peek, meanwhile, had also appeared on Guitar Syndicate and it has been reported since that he also provided rhythm guitar on one of the Shadows’ hit singles in the 1970s due to Bruce Welch’s unavailability.
Steve Gray had worked extensively with Brian Bennett since the early 1970s, firstly in the band Wasp and latterly acting as string arranger on some of the albums produced by Brian. In 1979 he got his Shadows credit by arranging the orchestra on their number one album String of Hits.
Although John Williams never actually worked with the Shadows as such, he did battle it out with them, in the spring of ’79, as his version of Cavatina went head to head with theirs in the UK singles charts. And legend has it that he was the first person to actually be invited into the control room to listen to the initial playback of the Shadows’ recording!
But perhaps most remarkable of all… During an Australian tour in the late 1980s, sky performed in Perth, a city in which Hank Marvin had been living for a few years. The opportunity was too good to miss and before a surprised and delighted audience, Hank stepped out onto the stage and joined the band for a unique and unforgettable rendition of Toccata!