The Best US Prog Band
You’ve Never Heard [© Rolling Stone]
They’ve been around for five decades but Prog readers might be forgiven for not knowing about Crack The Sky. Now they’re back with a new album called Tribes, singer John Palumbo is ready to be vocal about the “complicated” band that should be on your radar.
Words: Malcolm Dome
“Unique and complicated”: Crack The Sky have finally found their tribe.
Images: Rei Perri
“Anything that could go wrong did. There were no records in the shops. We couldn’t get airplay or promotion. So, basically we were hung out to dry.”
If circumstances had been kinder, Crack The Sky would now be regarded as one of the most important American progressive bands. Right up there with Starcastle, Styx and Kansas.Sure, there are countless others who can claim that, instead of caressing their careers, fate brutally slapped them into oblivion. But consider this. When the West Virginia band released their self-titled debut album in 1975 it was hailed by Rolling Stone as “one of the year’s most impressive debuts”. But despite critical praise from many quarters, the LP was a commercial disappointment.
This writer bought it on import because the owner of the local record store said, “You’re a Styx fan. You’ll love this.” He was right. And we’ve waited for 46 years to ask vocalist John Palumbo the obvious question: what went wrong?