"Crack the Sky" Fans Anywhere? Question about an Amazon listing

Not sure how many on here remember "Crack the Sky". They never broke huge nationally but were highly touted by Rolling Stone magazine in the mid-late seventies. I grew up in Baltimore and they were really popular in this market. I'm trying to get my hands on some of their stuff and the cheapest price for their self titled debut is around $60 on Amazon. I saw this though and wondering if anyone has it and can comment on sound quality... http://www.amazon.com/Crack-The-Sky...D/ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A5ALOKHGB4W1

Thanks...

 

Can't help you with the Amazon listing but I can confirm I have heard of them and remember "Animal Notes" quite well. I think that was their second record and I listened to it a ton back in the day. I still have a copy and might just spin that tonight with your reminder.

Good luck with the search.

 

Thanks Bob...

 

I didn't realize until I was older that Crack the Sky was not, in fact, a huge act. Their albums were displayed alongside new releases by the likes of Journey and other top-tier acts at independent record stores.

Looking back, I can now see that their albums were not in the bins of the national retailers in the malls, but at the time I figured they were as big as, say, any other contemporaneous rock band that didn't get radio play, like Uriah Heep or Poco.

 

What a bogus two-fer: The great debut and the not-great White Noise, instead of the debut and Animal Notes, which are their best two albums.

 

Yeah, it's the first album I want but the original is $60 used on Amazon. This two fer doesn't even have the full albums. Still, if the sound is good... it's half the price and still gives me all the classic CTS stuff.

 

I'm pretty sure I have that two-fer. I'll give it a listen in the next couple of days and report back. I have the original vinyl I can compare it to.

 

I used to have the two fer and the quality is terrible. Lots of hiss. I know that there's a remastered first CTS album which I have and it's heads and tails above the two fer.

 

I used to dig them back in the day (they are still around btw!). I used to have that CD in your Amazon link but sold it for stupid money; I don't remember it sounding good enough to keep. Their catalog has never come out properly on CD and most of the early albums are out of print, jacking up the prices.

My favorite CTS album is the one WITHOUT leader John Palumbo though ironically enough - Safety In Numbers. I haven't researched it in awhile but the only version I had been able to get on CD isn't even the whole friggin' album! It's packaged as a twofer with Animal Notes & they left one (short) song off. I wish they would release the whole thing & give it a good mastering job. I haven't listened to the twofer of Animal Notes/Safety that I have in a long time but I vaguely recall it being hissy (I could be misremembering).

They did release a "new" version of Safety with Palumbo replacing the lead vocals & adding stuff like guitar/kbds over much of the old multitracks but I refuse to even bother with that one. For some reason I just don't like Palumbo's voice that much.

 

Weirton WV/Pittsburgh PA's own Crack The Sky.
Rick Witkowski still plays around in the area.

around here (Pgh), they're overshadowed by the likes of Donnie Iris, The Iron City Houserockers, and The Clarks.
and maybe there's a perception of them being something like Pittsburgh's answer to Kansas or Boston or something.

but man..."Hold On/Surf City" from the first album is just sick. i busted out my dad's copy not too long ago, and i was just blown away. i called him saying "i had no idea you listened to a band like this back in the day, let alone from right here in Pittsburgh."

 

I own this. Yeah, it's not great sound wise but I'd never part with it! My understanding is the local chain Record and Tape Traders was behind the creation of these twofers, that's where I bought mine (Catonsville).

 

Thanks guys... Kix is WAY easier to find.