What memories. I was fortunate enough as a teenager to be mentored by Francis…to go to his house and play the very latest Synclavier as a lad and for him to say ‘you can use my harpsichord at a gig if you want’ was heartfelt. Would meet the band after concerts (they were concerts not gigs😁)….they were all so generous. Francis arranged for us to record at Abbey Road. We were only 15 I think. Happy days. So sad that Kevin and Francis have passed away…..the music though to hear and play made a huge impact. The Albert Hall gigs in London were the very best. Very grateful and very very humbled to have known them….

Sky is probably the most underated band in the world.

@utbdoug

Жыл бұрын

Seconded! They were my childhood. I'd listen to them every day and mastered every song on the drums. I love them more than Sabaton. Sabaton is behind by only a hair width!

@767asp

Жыл бұрын

Почему тогда играют под фонограмму? Великие группы играют живую музыку всегда

@utbdoug

Жыл бұрын

@@767asp They played live a lot. I think the band broke up in the late 80s to go pursue different careers, so no new live concerts now :(

@1218omaroo

11 ай бұрын

I suspect you're confusing "underrated" with "under-appreciated". ;) They were highly rated! John Williams, alone, is a virtuoso classical guitarist who, in his heyday, was the best in the world. The rest of the band were phenomenal in their own rights.

@Galafray1

5 ай бұрын

Thinking Man's Led Zepplin

For me, this track is one of the rare moments, when classical and Pop/ Rock-music match perfectly.

@donaldkendall2645

3 жыл бұрын

Dunno if anyone cares but if you guys are stoned like me during the covid times you can watch pretty much all the new movies on instaflixxer. I've been streaming with my gf recently :)

@MrLepidoptera

2 жыл бұрын

Yes! That´s absolutely right! But do you know the "Quaerens me" from the magnificent Rock-/classical-Fusion-Opus "Rock-Requiem"? kzread.info/dash/bejne/X3igj6OFh7jVeJc.html

@robingarvin-mack

2 жыл бұрын

If that is what you think, you should absolutely LOVE this... kzread.info/dash/bejne/lZN9zth-ory0eqg.html *_R_* 😎

@happyuk06

Ай бұрын

It's all rock 'n roll in my book :)

I could not believe what I was seeing when I saw this on TOTPs. I was already a fan of John Williams, (Classical Guitarist) Francis Monkman,(Keyboards) of Curved Air. Kevin Peek,electric Guitar. Bassist , the legendary Herbie Flowers, and Drummer extraordinaire Tristan Fry. I was an avid fan of YES, Mike Oldfield, Rick(The Master) Wakeman. But had never seen... the likes of this on TOTPs. It was amazing.

@tomtrana3449

4 ай бұрын

Monkmann played later with Brian Eno and Phil Manzanera with the band 801, check "801 live" with Simon Phillips on drums.

@BertGrink

2 ай бұрын

@@tomtrana3449 Monkman played with 801? Wow. 801 Live is such a great album.

RIP Francis. Musical genius.

Myself and other Punk Music lovers in our Mathematics Class - plus Phillip whom had a ‘ Hairy ‘ for a big brother whom owned all the “ Hairy Fairie “ music you could have including this , would piss Mr Adams the teacher off by attempting the Drum Break upon our desks simultaneously. Punk & Prog in perfect harmony. Mr Adams didn’t appreciate or agree 😁Priestlands School 1980

All the albums are excellent but Sky 2 is up there in the greatest of all time. SO glad I got to see them live at their height. Would love to have heard more, just a really great concept.

@avemunoz23

8 ай бұрын

I agree with you. Not just the Sky’s best also one of the best albums of that time

@BertGrink

2 ай бұрын

My good Sir, you are absolutely correct.

When real musicians could actually play their instruments 🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤

@harrynewiss4630

6 ай бұрын

Miming here though

@maikele3989

6 ай бұрын

Top of the pops was always playbacked

@harrynewiss4630

6 ай бұрын

@@maikele3989 almost always

توكاتا ستبقى من أجمل ماسمعت من موسيقى من فرقة سكاي من عام ١٩٨٠ م

@CJArnold-hq3ey

Ай бұрын

Yes my friend you are right 🇦🇺👌

I like the way they crank this belter out like a bunch of chilled session musicians. The only one moving is the drummer - the music does all the work. Great stuff.

there were some seriously good musicians in that band

@G6JPG

Жыл бұрын

John Williams was arguably _the_ leading _classical_ guitarist at the time (probably most famous for his Aranjuez).

Bach + 250 years + Sky = this.

RIP Francis Monkman. Keyboard player from Sky and Curved Air

I wonder how many of today's bands could play live that well?

@McDoinky

11 ай бұрын

A ton Also, this isn’t live

The audience doesn't know what to do! Brilliant! I got the best of Sky LP as a 13 year old in 1984 and loved every minute of it

@malthomas987

9 ай бұрын

SO dam right. best TOP in the 70's was when the "audience" was clueless. Sparks springs to mind.

@edwardburek1717

6 ай бұрын

Perhaps they're all paralysed at having to listen to REAL music played by PROPER musicians, or they're all thinking "aren't they supposed to be on The Old Grey Whistle Test?"

This brings back so many memories of good times. I absolutely love it. Thanks for the upload!

Hey guess what? 😏 the sky is the limit with these guys, there was no end to these guys talents. Music at its best 👌 🙏❤️🇬🇧🇬🇧❤️🙏 Nov twenty two

RIP Francis Monkman 💌

Was 13 days before my 12th birthday, 23rd May,! Born 1968, dam I just about remember this from back then, from northern Ireland UK, 🤝

Utter timeless Magnificence

Bringing back the 80’s. SKY was AMAZING. Looking back at the guitarists, the key board player, and the drummer. This was SKY.

Wonderful...

Fantastic...👏👏👏

those very english amused expressions on their faces are priceless. this was probably the very first time they had to perform a full playback mimic show.

Fantastic...world class

The first time no one mimed their shit on top of the pops :) great adaptation of a great song.

Rip : Francis Monkman (9 June 1949 - 11 May 2023) Founding member & Keyboardist

Always loved Sky & their music.

Fantastic- the best

man this song goes off, yet the crowd are just standing there lol! kids in the 60s would be dancing to this

A great tune, they dd some great tracks.

This performance may be mimed, but it still showed their magnificent musical prowess. Francis Monkman's precise keyboards, Kevin Peek's somewhat peculiar but impressive playing of the electric guitar like an acoustic, Herbie Flowers' great understated bass play, John Williams showing why he remains one of the best classical acoustic guitarists, and Tristan Fry's absolutely manic drum playing. And using Marshall amps as well, which always gets a tick in my book.

Respect!

look at them loving bringing some classical to the masses :)))

This a complete masterpiece.👌

This is, for me, forever associated with the arcade game Gyruss.

@scottlind83

3 ай бұрын

This is 100% the main Gyruss theme. Gyruss just used that riff from Toccata and Fugue and expanded on it.

Genial gemacht !

Lo encontré estuve buscando esta gran adaptación de este gran tema gracias....totales

Great take on a classic!

PERFECT

Bubbles on drums! 😎

This brings back memories of a skeleton playing this in the old Brading Waxworks Museum in the House of Horrors section - I love it!

Bach is a rocker at his age

Thanks for posting this brought back memories when I was 13 and wanted to play the drums like Tristan fry sadly not as good as him probably but like christan eiger off Depeche mode.😂 Only joking.

Amazing!!! Não me canso de ouvir isto, Great SKY

Impresionante

Sounds like the theme tune to Department S, a 1970's TV serial

One of JS Bach's greatest organ pieces, copied by many but none as good as SKY

This was thier only UK Hit at No 5 & thier only US Hit at No 83

VERY VERY WELL SUPER ALL......................

Wish I was there. I would be fist pumping and bopping around...Tristan or Francis wouldn't have had a hope!!! LOl...I'm the biggest Sky fan ever

Groovy

So good you’ll even listen to it in mono.

@G6JPG

Жыл бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/iWaiqriYcr23drg.html seems to be the same appearance (the set with the fanlike objects certainly is) but in stereo. No audience though, and longer (this one cuts off rather) - maybe a rehearsal?

@jamesrowden303

9 ай бұрын

Nope. It's because they (apparently) insisted on performing live, a novelty on TOTP. They preferred mimed performances, less technical setup and unlike this band most bands couldn't perform live satisfactorily to save their mothers. I'd say they edited the live performance for the TOTP show.@@G6JPG

The start was used in rollerball with. James cann

2021 assisting

Фантастика

Where I work in Doncaster, we had a new starter last week. He is an absolute Dead Ringer of Tristram Fry; it's almost spooky!!!

진짜 멋진 음악입니다.

theme used in the 1972 horror classic tales from the crypt

10th APRIL 1980.

The marrying of "Classical" & "Rock"! Or as we call it, Emerson, Lake & Palmer part 2! 🤔

Почему записи такие великие валяются с 80-х годов ,почему невыставляют их в интернет ,это просто чума хоть я и металлист -такую вещь можно слушать весь день.нота в ноту ,ниодного косяка-браво!!!!!!!!!!!

A young Herbie Flowers on Bass...well,youngish.

Gyruss 1983

Bach Immortalis.

10th April 1980, but thanks a lot for posting.

Sound's like something out of jeff wayne war of the worlds if anyone got the cd

Sky

Tim Brooke Taylor on keys.

Utterly wonderful even if they do look like nerds, for me it's the Prophet 5 synthesizer licks which give it the great sound.

@FlyingOdyssey

3 жыл бұрын

really

@Synthnerd11

3 жыл бұрын

Agreed - best arrangement ever of that hackneyed old piece. As fantastic as the Prophet 5 was (is), those high descending scale runs are from an Oberheim OB-1 synth. Since this is a playback performance, that's what you're actually hearing even though you see him playing the P5 (since it's only for show). On the original recording, Monkman used the Prophet 5 to bolster up the harpsichord sound. He used a custom made audio-to-trigger interface so that he could trigger the Prophet from the harpsichord. The layered harpsichord/P5 can be heard quite clearly during the intro before the rest of the band come in.

@mrstandfast2212

3 жыл бұрын

@@Synthnerd11 I bow to your greater knowledge. I assumed it was a Prophet 5 as per the video. So to rephrase my initial post ..... I love the sound of that Oberheim :-)

@Synthnerd11

3 жыл бұрын

@@mrstandfast2212 Monkman was too underrated as a synth player imo. I've always loved his work. All the sounds that he used on the Prophet and the Oberheim on those first two Sky albums were so carefully programmed to be distinctively electronic, rather than using the synths to mimic existing instruments. And combined with the already familiar sounds of piano, harpsichord, and clavinet, none of the sounds that Monkman used ever interfered with the textures of the guitars and bass. Such a clever way to be both an ensemble and solo player. It manifests in his compositions as well. For my ears, I find that pieces like "Opposites" and "FIFO" don't date. I can still listen to those today and think "this doesn't really sound like the 70s or 80s." Anyway, that just my $0.02

Nice chairs

And of course non other then Columbo Baddy "Robert Culp" on Guitar.

How do they mime drums on TOTP?

One word: Gyruss

Theme song to GYRUSS

Bach had 20 children. So how did he have time to compose!?

Arcade archives

Was this played live? I realise that setting up the stage and mixing etc isn't easily done on such a medium as Top Of The Pops where bands don't get time to set up properly

Does anybody know the lyrics?

@BertGrink

2 ай бұрын

Yes, it goes like this: " "

I saw that a member was name john williams is that the same john williams who was a composer?

@brumplum

5 ай бұрын

Lol, no. It's a confusion which both of them had to put up with for years, especially in the late 1970s/early 1980s, when both of them were at their peak fame. And incidentally, the other one very much still IS a composer and is even nominated for an Oscar this year (2024) at the ripe age of 92.

Classic. Personally I think Tristan needed a bigger kit. 😅

@DanDownunda8888

Жыл бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/g5uWyberoJTHZ5M.html&ab_channel=6turmovik

Original organ version = dreadful. Sky version = brilliant. The best way to hear it. (and by the way, I'm an organist!)

@G6JPG

3 жыл бұрын

Oh, I came here from the Jonathan Scott rendition (I knew this - was just looking for the URL to tell one of the commenters there). That _is_ good too.

@marcelopose

2 жыл бұрын

Para mí la versión original de toccata interpretada por Lionel Rogg es la mejor.

What did the drummer do at 2:47 ?

@brumplum

3 жыл бұрын

what do you mean, what did he do? He hit the cymbals and then a run on the snares...

@musicbruv

3 жыл бұрын

@@brumplum he picked up something and put it on a drum.

@philipp2882

3 жыл бұрын

Then it sounds duller and doesn't reverberate. As if I were playing the guitar, touching the string with the edge of my hand next to the bridge, but the plectrum still strikes the string

@mikethemusicman1978

3 жыл бұрын

@@musicbruv he replaced the dampener on the drums cos the track was being mimed.

@musicbruv

3 жыл бұрын

@@mikethemusicman1978 yeah it is obviously mimed but I never knew how is was done. Thanks for the info.

Hilarious that the teenage audience don't know whether to dance or sit down and watch.

@user-rj1fz4th5b

8 ай бұрын

Это надо слушать!!!!!!

I could be wrong, becausE i'n old memories go wrong, but I think this is the first version of Toccata I ever heard It wasn't the best interpretation I ever heard, not by a diatance,, there are many better versions like this one kzread.info/dash/bejne/mqNt1LyjnNbfibw.html&ab_channel=MovieMongerHZ but for a kid frrom a council estate in South Bristol it opened a door and I'm forever grateful to the artists who made this version and opened that door

Is it playback?

@McDoinky

10 ай бұрын

Yes

Bach mashed up with War Of The Worlds.

@McDoinky

10 ай бұрын

That’s the same bassist

Tristan Fry .Looks like penfold but Christ can he beat out a tune

Father's vynyl

Désolé mais l""organiste ne joue pas toutes les notes ... Trop difficile???

Undoubtably the spackiest band in the World... ever !!!

The only good band that's sat down on stage to play is Spacemen 3

@newforestpixie5297

3 жыл бұрын

I heard of them because a Prog Rock Site had an argument whether Spacemen 3 were Prog or Shoegaze or Ambient etc. I will play them now whilst cleaning out my hens 👍

playback..

'See those groovy young folks, getting on down to the classical music' hahaha. Not really TOTP material.

Unapologetically uncool.

2:05 ударник спалил всю контору.. фонограмщики блин...

Of course they are all excellent and top rate musicians . However , due to their hairdos should they all lose some sort of je ne sais quoi ? Or should they gain it?

Arcade archives