09-06-2018, 16:39
^Exactly. Hypocrisy of Bureaucracy sounds like the title of something! Lol!
Francis Monkman was born on this day in 1949, in Hampstead, North London. He is a virtuoso harpshichordist and a player of pretty much all keys, notably moogs and things – he is also 100% proficient on guitar.
I’m lifting an extract from this website as I am too lazy to paraphrase http://plum.cream.org/sky/band.htm - jeez - someone needs to tell them there are typos – corrected (where spotted) for this copy and paste ...
“Francis went to Westminster School where he studied organ and harpsichord. During this time his first musical ambition blossomed; that of conducting a Mozart opera. In 1967 he started three years of study at the Royal Academy of Music. He took as his first subject the harpsichord, receiving the Raymond Russet Prize for that instrument, and while at the Academy he also took up electric guitar.
In 1970 Francis formed “Curved Air”, which evolved from the group “Sisyphus”. They signed a recording deal With WEA Records and had three albums released, the first being ‘Air Conditioning’. With “Curved Air” he toured all over Europe and the USA to great and enduring acclaim. Francis started doing session work whilst still at the Royal Academy and consequently he has worked with many of the top recording and performing artists in the UK — The Shadows, David Essex, Paul Nicholas, Kate Bush and Steve Harley amongst them. He also continued to give highly acclaimed classical concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, The South Bank and the Purcell Room. He is an extremely original and accomplished composer and has written and performed jingles, library albums and gramophone singles. Francis was introduced and recommended to John Williams by Stanley Myers and subsequently Francis played on John’s 'Travelling’ album. It was at this time that a relationship was established which finally has culminated in Sky.
Francis and two partners also formed their own music production company, Crocodile, which is primarily concerned with music for television and radio commercials.
Francis left Sky in the summer of 1980 to pursue other interests following the success of his score for the film 'The Long Good Friday'. He released a solo album, 'Dweller on the Threshold', which regrettably pretty much sank without a trace. He remained active in classical keyboard music, especially harpsichord and organ and played concerts up and down the country. In 1999, he released his latest creation, 21st Century Blues, from which you can hear extracts on his own web site. (And don't forget to buy the CD!).”
I never took to Curved Air much, although regret missing the recent birthday of Florian Pilkington-Miksa – what an absolutely fabulous name! But I digress – aside from those mentioned above, he also contributed to Camel’s The Single Factor and is on “The Fall of the House of Usher” from APP’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination and Al Stewart’s Past, Present and Future. I am curious about that sunken solo album, especially since Andrew Latimer plays on it, but sadly - it's nowhere to be found - in the ether, at any rate.
Side two of Sky2 which is all his – composition, that is … and some instruments …
Francis Monkman was born on this day in 1949, in Hampstead, North London. He is a virtuoso harpshichordist and a player of pretty much all keys, notably moogs and things – he is also 100% proficient on guitar.
I’m lifting an extract from this website as I am too lazy to paraphrase http://plum.cream.org/sky/band.htm - jeez - someone needs to tell them there are typos – corrected (where spotted) for this copy and paste ...
“Francis went to Westminster School where he studied organ and harpsichord. During this time his first musical ambition blossomed; that of conducting a Mozart opera. In 1967 he started three years of study at the Royal Academy of Music. He took as his first subject the harpsichord, receiving the Raymond Russet Prize for that instrument, and while at the Academy he also took up electric guitar.
In 1970 Francis formed “Curved Air”, which evolved from the group “Sisyphus”. They signed a recording deal With WEA Records and had three albums released, the first being ‘Air Conditioning’. With “Curved Air” he toured all over Europe and the USA to great and enduring acclaim. Francis started doing session work whilst still at the Royal Academy and consequently he has worked with many of the top recording and performing artists in the UK — The Shadows, David Essex, Paul Nicholas, Kate Bush and Steve Harley amongst them. He also continued to give highly acclaimed classical concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, The South Bank and the Purcell Room. He is an extremely original and accomplished composer and has written and performed jingles, library albums and gramophone singles. Francis was introduced and recommended to John Williams by Stanley Myers and subsequently Francis played on John’s 'Travelling’ album. It was at this time that a relationship was established which finally has culminated in Sky.
Francis and two partners also formed their own music production company, Crocodile, which is primarily concerned with music for television and radio commercials.
Francis left Sky in the summer of 1980 to pursue other interests following the success of his score for the film 'The Long Good Friday'. He released a solo album, 'Dweller on the Threshold', which regrettably pretty much sank without a trace. He remained active in classical keyboard music, especially harpsichord and organ and played concerts up and down the country. In 1999, he released his latest creation, 21st Century Blues, from which you can hear extracts on his own web site. (And don't forget to buy the CD!).”
I never took to Curved Air much, although regret missing the recent birthday of Florian Pilkington-Miksa – what an absolutely fabulous name! But I digress – aside from those mentioned above, he also contributed to Camel’s The Single Factor and is on “The Fall of the House of Usher” from APP’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination and Al Stewart’s Past, Present and Future. I am curious about that sunken solo album, especially since Andrew Latimer plays on it, but sadly - it's nowhere to be found - in the ether, at any rate.
Side two of Sky2 which is all his – composition, that is … and some instruments …
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson