Sky 2 (album)

Sky 2 is the second album by English/Australian instrumental progressive rock band Sky, released in 1980. Despite being a double album it reached number one in the British Album charts, and at the time was the fastest double album to receive platinum status in the UK,^[1] while the instrumental single "Toccata" peaked at 5 in the British Singles Chart.^[2]

Francis Monkman played guitar on the 20-minute rock suite "FIFO" because, in his words, "I felt it necessary to inject a grunge element".^[3] "FIFO" stands for "First In, First Out", and is a song about computer processing.^[4]

The track "Vivaldi", is Sky's own version of an earlier track by fellow progressive rock band Curved Air, of which Monkman was formerly a member. It originally appeared on their 1970 album "Air Conditioning".

Track listing

Original vinyl / 1980 Spanish cassette

Side one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Hotta"	Kevin Peek, Herbie Flowers	7:46
2.	"Dance of the Little Fairies"	Flowers	3:31
3.	"Sahara"	Peek	6:56
Total length:			18:13

Side two – FIFO
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Fifo"	Francis Monkman	6:44
2.	"Adagio"	Monkman	2:29
3.	"Scherzo"	Monkman	4:19
4.	"Watching the Aeroplanes"	Monkman	3:33
Total length:			17:05

Side three
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Tuba Smarties" (live)	Flowers	3:18
2.	"Ballet-Volta"	Praetorius, Arr. John Williams	2:45
3.	"Gavotte & Variations"	Rameau	6:14
4.	"Andante"	Vivaldi, Arr. Williams	2:58
5.	"Tristan's Magic Garden"	Tristan Fry	4:09
6.	"El Cielo"	Traditional, Arr. Williams	4:20
Total length:			23:44

Side four
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Vivaldi"	Darryl Way	4:03
2.	"Scipio"	Flowers	12:09
3.	"Toccata"	Bach, Arr. Peek, Holmes	4:42
Total length:			20:54

1980 UK cassette (ZC SKY2)

Side one
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Hotta"	7:46
2.	"Dance of the Little Fairies"	3:31
3.	"Sahara"	6:55
4.	"FIFO" (1st Movement Fifo / 2nd Movement Adagio / 3rd Movement Scherzo / 4th Movement Watching The Aeroplanes)	17:05
5.	"Vivaldi"	4:03
Total length:		39:20

Side two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Tuba Smarties" (live)		3:18
2.	"Ballet-Volta"		2:45
3.	"Gavotte & Variations"		6:14
4.	"Andante"		2:58
5.	"Tristan's Magic Garden"		4:09
6.	"El Cielo"	Traditional, Arr. Williams	4:20
7.	"Scipio" (Part I And Part II)		12:09
8.	"Toccata"		4:42
Total length:			40:35

1992 Freestyle Records CD (SKY CD 2)

Track listing
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Hotta"	7:46
2.	"Dance of the Little Fairies"	3:31
3.	"Sahara"	6:56
4.	"Fifo" (1st Movement)	6:44
5.	"Adagio" (2nd Movement)	2:29
6.	"Scherzo" (3rd Movement)	4:19
7.	"Watching The Aeroplanes" (4th Movement)	3:33
8.	"Tuba Smarties" (live)	3:18
9.	"Ballet-Volta"	2:45
10.	"Tristan's Magic Garden"	4:09
11.	"El Cielo"	4:20
12.	"Vivaldi"	4:03
13.	"Scipio"	12:09
14.	"Toccata"	4:48
Total length:		70:50

This version omits "Gavotte & Variations" and "Andante" from the original album.

1992 Music Club CD (MCCD 078) & 1994 Nota Blu CD (9403201)

Track listing
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Hotta"	7:48
2.	"Dance of the Little Fairies"	3:38
3.	"Sahara"	6:55
4.	"FIFO" (1st Movement Fifo / 2nd Movement Adagio / 3rd Movement Scherzo / 4th Movement Watching The Aeroplanes)	17:13
5.	"Tuba Smarties" (live)	3:22
6.	"Ballet-Volta"	2:46
7.	"Gavotte & Variations"	6:13
8.	"Andante"	2:59
9.	"Tristan's Magic Garden"	4:11
10.	"El Cielo"	4:25
11.	"Vivaldi"	4:03
12.	"Scipio" (Parts I and II; early fade)	11:07
13.	"Toccata"	4:40
Total length:		79:29

This version contains all tracks from the original album, although "Scipio" has been faded out early, omitting some repeats, in order to fit the album onto one CD.

1992 & 1993 Success CDs (22620CD / 16031CD)

Track listing
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Hotta"	7:47
2.	"Dance of the Little Fairies"	3:32
3.	"Sahara"	6:56
4.	"FIFO" (1st Movement – Fifo / 2nd Movement – Adagio / 3rd Movement – Scherzo / 4th Movement – Watching The Aeroplanes)	17:12
5.	"Tuba Smarties" (live)	3:22
6.	"Ballet-Volta"	2:46
7.	"Tristan's Magic Garden"	4:11
8.	"El Cielo"	4:25
9.	"Vivaldi"	4:03
10.	"Scipio" (Part I and Part II)	12:09
11.	"Toccata"	4:42
Total length:		71:26

Largely follows the track list of the 1992 Freestyle Records CD, except all movements of "FIFO" are combined into one track, and some track lengths are slightly different.

1994 Merlin Records CD

Track listing
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Hotta"	7:48
2.	"Dance of the Little Fairies"	3:35
3.	"Sahara"	6:56
4.	"FIFO" (1st Movement Fifo / 2nd Movement Adagio / 3rd Movement Scherzo / 4th Movement Watching The Aeroplanes)	17:15
5.	"Tuba Smarties" (live)	3:22
6.	"Ballet-Volta"	2:47
7.	"Tristan's Magic Garden"	4:11
8.	"El Cielo"	4:26
9.	"Vivaldi"	4:04
10.	"Scipio" (Parts 1 And 2; early fade)	11:07
11.	"Toccata"	4:42
Total length:		70:13

Almost the same as the Success pressings, except for some minor track length differences, and the fact that the early fade edit of "Scipio" from the Music Club issue has been used. The Merlin Records cassette, released at the same time as this CD, however, contains the full album in its original track order, albeit still with the edited version of "Scipio" ("Tuba Smarties" is the last track on side one and "Ballet-Volta" is the first track on side two).

2005 Castle Music CD (CMRCD1087)

Track listing
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Hotta"	7:47
2.	"Dance of the Little Fairies"	3:32
3.	"Sahara"	6:56
4.	"Medley" (Fifo / Adagio / Scherzo / Watching The Aeroplanes)	17:13
5.	"Tuba Smarties" (live)	3:22
6.	"Ballet Volta"	2:46
7.	"Gavotte & Variations" (edited version)	5:15
8.	"Andante"	2:58
9.	"Tristan's Magic Garden"	4:11
10.	"El Cielo"	4:25
11.	"Vivaldi"	4:03
12.	"Scipio" (Parts I and II)	12:09
13.	"Toccata"	4:40
Total length:		79:17

This version contains all album tracks, including the full length version of "Scipio". However, "Gavotte & Variations" has been edited to omit the final variation instead.

2014 Esoteric Recordings CD & DVD

CD: original album (remaster)
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Hotta"
2.	"Dance of the Little Fairies"
3.	"Sahara"
4.	"FIFO" (Fifo / Adagio / Scherzo / Watching The Aeroplanes)
5.	"Tuba Smarties" (live)
6.	"Ballet Volta"
7.	"Gavotte & Variations" (edited version)
8.	"Andante"
9.	"Tristan's Magic Garden"
10.	"El Cielo"
11.	"Vivaldi"
12.	"Scipio" (Parts I & II)
13.	"Toccata"

DVD: video recordings (NTSC / Region free). Tracks 1–12 all recorded at Hammersmith Odeon; broadcast as "Rhythm on Two" – BBC TV 24 & 31 July 1980.
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Toccata"
2.	"Danza"
3.	"Sahara"
4.	"Dance of the Little Fairies"
5.	"Vavaldi"
6.	"Hotta"
7.	"Ballet / Volta"
8.	"Carillon"
9.	"Tuba Smarties"
10.	"FIFO" (1st, 2nd & 4th movements)
11.	"Danza Paraguaya"
12.	"Valse Creollo"
13.	"Toccata" ("Top of the Pops" – BBC TV 10 April 1980)

The CD in this version is sourced from the masters of the 2005 Castle reissue and as such contains the same edited version of "Gavotte & Variations".

Personnel

John Williams – classical guitars
Francis Monkman – keyboards, synthesizers, harpsichord, piano, left-hand channel electric guitar on "FIFO"
Herbie Flowers – bass guitar, tuba on "Tuba Smarties"
Tristan Fry – drums, tuned percussion on "Tristan's Magic Garden" (drumkit, vibraphone, marimba, bass marimba, tympani & xylophones), trumpet on "Tuba Smarties"
Kevin Peek – electric and classical guitars

Charts

Chart	Year	Peak position
UK Albums Chart^[5]	1980	1

References

↑ http://plum.cream.org/sky/
↑ Sky UK chart history, The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
↑ Wynne, Richard (2002). In Jam [sleeve notes].
↑ http://plum.cream.org/sky/sky2.htm
↑ "Number 1 Albums – 1980s". The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. Retrieved 27 June 2011.

Preceded by Greatest Hits by Rose Royce	UK Albums Chart number-one album 3 May 1980 – 17 May 1980	Succeeded by The Magic of Boney M. – 20 Golden Hits by Boney M.

Sky
John Williams Herbie Flowers Francis Monkman Kevin Peek Tristan Fry Steve Gray Paul Hart Richard Durrant
Studio albums	Sky Sky 2 Sky 3 Sky 4: Forthcoming Cadmium The Great Balloon Race Mozart
Live albums	Sky Five Live Live In Nottingham
Compilations	Masterpieces Classic Sky Anthology Toccata - An Anthology
Video releases	Sky In Bremen Sky At Westminster Abbey Live In Nottingham

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