Review by Ralph Greco, Jr.
Way back in the day (the first day of January 1976, to be exact) Stephen Holden told his Rolling Stone readers that the debut album by West Virginian prog rockers, Crack The Sky was …”one of year’s most impressive debuts.” Today, some 40 years later, years on, I can report that the band with its roots in West Virginia is still rocking.
Lead by singer, keyboardist and guitarist John Palumbo, the incarnation of the band I saw at the quaint Sellersville Theatre included Palumbo, plus original members Rick Witkowski wailing on electric guitars and singing, Joey D’Amico singing and playing drums. The “newer” members included Bobby Hird on guitars and backing vocals, Glenn Workman manning the keys and vocals, and Dave DeMarco impressively providing the glue to all the elements playing bass. Together, they made for a tight sextet of older spectacular players.
Opening with the title track of their 4th album “White Music” into the staccato attack and guitar sting of the first tune from their debut “Hold On,” Palumbo managed his Zappa-like talk lead, and we were off to the races. From the lilting, piano-led “Robots For Ronnie,” flowing into a swing mid-way or the psychedelic influence of complex runs in “Mind Baby,” (the audience in unison singing “Mind Babeee” during the choruses) to the heavier hit of “Lighten Up McGraw,” where Witkowski took lead vocal and he and Hird met center stage for a back and forth riff battle, Crack The Sky ran through their two-and-half hours plus with hardly ever a stop to even say good evening.
Newer songs like, “Talk Talk” with its drum loop, saw Palumbo once again mining that slightly sardonic talk-singing, revealing that his band can still put together a rather amusing shorter prog-pop tune. In fact, for 2018, Crack The Sky has two releases Living In Reverse, a studio album, featuring “Talk Talk,” and Crackology, a dozen of the band’s career favorites.
Crack The Sky delivered what I feel is that unique sound of American prog, songs more concentrated on guitar riffery and less on keyboard prowess. This is one band that is certainly not so well known, but they still play like demons and their song styles, varied as they are, make for a killer live show. Crack The Sky, cracked my mind open, and I loved it.
