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Sky Blue Image
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5 Ratings

  • Summary: The posthumous release of the Texas singer-songwriter features demos recorded in early 1973 at Bill Hedgepeth's home studio.
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 10
  2. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. Apr 29, 2019
    89
    Far from A Far Cry From Dead, that polished product of posthumous overkill from the tail end of the millennium, Sky Blue allows the songs of Townes Van Zandt (1944-1997) to sit and breathe free from distraction or "Squash." Nothing ventured, plenty gained.
  2. Classic Rock Magazine
    Mar 11, 2019
    80
    Blue Sky is 33 minutes of fearless, peerless and unvarnished brilliance. [Apr 2019, p.88]
  3. Mar 5, 2019
    80
    The glimmers of brilliance captured on Sky Blue are just as equally dazzling and devastating as van Zandt's story and the rest of the masterful catalog he left behind.
  4. Apr 10, 2019
    80
    While Sky Blue may have the most appeal for those who are already immersed in Van Zandt’s work, it’s good enough to rank among his studio albums. It distills what makes Van Zandt a compelling figure and shows him using his delivery to match the strength of his material.
  5. Mar 13, 2019
    70
    On Sky Blue, Van Zandt rarely sounds as perfectly in command of his material as he would just a year or so later, on 1977’s Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas. Instead, in this private home recording session-turned-album, full of pain and beauty, he merely sounds like himself: tormented, tremendous, forever trying to break through his chains with a song.
  6. Mar 11, 2019
    69
    It’s neither a live album nor an album of its own, yet it’s also not a set of demos for a forthcoming record. Instead, it’s a vivid snapshot of a particular moment, preserving a time when he had yet to fritter away his good will, and capturing Townes Van Zandt when it still seemed like he was on the verge of great things.
  7. Mar 5, 2019
    60
    It's all good, but none of it is great. Still, if this is merely the first taste of an eventual vault series of releases from Townes Van Zandt's musical archive, it's more than enough to make us hunger for more.

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