Search - Crack the Sky :: Raw

CTS Hits Rock Bottom

JOHN SPOKUS | BALTIMORE, MARYLAND United States | 05/11/2003

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This album is an insult to the memory of a once great band. Well to start with, it's not even a band at all at this point, just singer/songwriter John Palumbo with another guitarist. I don't even think there is a real drummer on it, sounds like a crummy machine you'd use for demo work.In fact the whole thing sounds
like a bedroom songwriter demo. Well you can say that's a pretty cool effect, but that's not the case here, mostly because the songs are just plain dumb. CTS made great albums in the mid 70's, that featured great poduction, playing and orchestration. Seek out the self titled debut,Animal Notes,Safety In Numbers,Live Sky, and White Music if you want to check out what this band really was about. They still make lame,low budget albums (Raw was the beginning of "the comeback" after a long silence)but delight middle aged fans by playing their old favorites in clubs in the Baltimore area, where they are a legend."

Terrible, even by 80's CTS standards

Worgelm | United States | 02/21/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"_Raw_, much like the rest of the 80's CTS albums - _Photoflamingo_, _World In Motion I_, _Dog City_ and _From The Greenhouse_, is marred by substandard songwriting, dated, overly glossy production (gobs of electronic toms, howitzer-in-a-quarry-sounding snare and standard-issue Night Ranger MOR hard rock guitar distortion) in addition to often indifferent John Palumbo vocal performances. Where _Raw_ differs notably is that there is not a single redeeming song here. _World In Motion I_ had "Breakdown", _Dog City_ had "Love Me Like a Terrorist" and the (slightly) underrated _Photoflamingo_ had a few gems as well ( "Only Lonely" and the eerie "The Other Guy"). _Raw_ has....it has unitentional hilarity, like "Elvis is My Daddy" - the saddest, most ham-fisted, amateurish attempt at social satire to be excreted from Palumbo's lackadaisical pen. Or the simpering, whiny "Song For Another Year", which is conceptually from the same place as Billy Joel's "Piano Man" or CTS's own, far superior "We Want Mine" - but will definitely not make you forget either. This is very generic-sounding mid-80s hard rock trying to be lyrically clever and succeeding only at being utterly generic. Both time and Palumbo himself have publicly forsaken this album, and so should you."

At least I have a usable jewel case

loce_the_wizard | Lilburn, GA USA | 10/13/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I wasted a dollar on this horrible excuse for an album, not knowing anything about Crack the Sky other than having heard from others that it was a decent band.



There is nothing redeeming here: the music is uninsprired; the lyrics are nonsense; the production is glossy and bombastic; the whole affair is a mess.



I wish I could get my dollar back but at least I have a usable jewel case."