Sky High was a typically uneven
Alexis Korner album on several accounts. First, the sky-high level of talent among the backup musicians -- including future
Pentangle rhythm section
Danny Thompson (bass) and
Terry Cox (drums), as well as
Duffy Power on harmonica -- was not matched to universally high-caliber material. Too, while admirably eclectic, the array of styles on display -- from down-n-dirty R&B to acoustic blues, out-there jazz, and almost traditional jazz blues -- seemed to indicate as much directionless as adventurousness. There was, too, no getting around
Korner's severe limitations as a lead vocalist, a chore he undertook for five of the album's fifteen tracks. Fortunately, first-class blues-rock vocalist
Duffy Power took lead vocals on four of the other tracks, and for that reason alone,
Sky High is a worthwhile release. "Long Black Train" (which
Power and
Korner co-wrote) is a genuine lost British R&B gem, and the very best track
Korner cut in that style, with its ominously echoing guitar, pummeling rhythm, and
Power-ful vocals and harmonica.
Sadly, nothing else on the record comes close to matching it, though the album's not without its merits. There are, to start with, those four other tracks with
Power on lead vocal, which are respectable R&B, though none of them are nearly as good as "Long Black Train" (and one of them, "I'm So Glad (You're Mine)," would be recorded by
Power in a better version under his own name). There's also a raucous cover of
Charles Mingus' "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting," though this and other jazz instrumentals on the record (including a horn section) are so different from the
Power-led cuts that they could easily be mistaken for the work of a different band. The numbers on which
Korner takes lead vocals, however, make one wish he'd had the humility and wisdom to let
Power be the lead singer for most of the LP, though
Korner does okay with the nicely swinging jazz blues tune "River's Invitation." Too, the three
Korner solo guitar instrumentals that end the album seem like slight afterthoughts. ~ Richie Unterberger