Skye started out as an independent jazz record label in 1968, formed as a joint venture by Cal
Tjader, Gabor Szabo, and Gary McFarland. Each would record their own material and also whomever
others they wanted. By 1970, with their release of album #17, the label was getting difficult to maintain
financially, and they apparently leased the masters to Buddah and became part of "The Buddah Group."
At the time of the Buddah deal, both Tjader and Szabo left the label, but McFarland stayed on to try to
keep things afloat. Buddah/Skye started a short continuation of the SK series that lasted a mere four
albums, all issued in early 1970. Buddah also used various tracks on albums on the Buddah label itself.
Skye produced very few new albums after the Buddah deal, one being the debut album by Airto. When
McFarland died in 1971, most of the remaining creative force in the label died, too. The last Skye album
released on Buddah was the Roger Shriver album, which was released on the Buddah label with the
Skye logo on the cover. Over the years, many of the Skye masters have been reissued, or in some
cases, unreleased material has been issued for the first time. Recently, Sundazed Music has been
releasing some of the material on CD.
The original Skye label was black, with a Skye crest logo at the top. The Skye Recordings on Buddah
had
the regular BDS- prefix, but also had an "SK" suffix to the catalog number. The Buddah issues also used
the regular Buddah label.
We would appreciate any additions or corrections to this discography. Just send them to us via e-mail. Both Sides Now Publications
is an information web page. We are not a catalog, nor can we provide the records listed below. We have
no association with Kama Sutra, or Buddah Records, which are currently owned by BMG Special
Products. Should you be interested in acquiring albums listed in this discography (which are all out of
print), we suggest you see our Frequently Asked
Questions page and follow the instructions found there. This story and discography are copyright
2005 by Mike Callahan.
SKYE ALBUM DISCOGRAPHY
Number - Title - Artist [Release Date] Contents
SK 1 - Solar Heat - Caj Tjader [1968] Ode To Billy Joe/Never My
Love/Felicidade/Mambo Sangria/Here/Fried Bananas/Amazon/La Bamba/Eye Of The Devil/Solar Heat
SK 2 - Does the Sun Really Shine on the Moon? - Gary McFarland & Co. [1968] God
Only Knows/By The Time I Get To Phoenix/Sunday Will Never Be The Same/Lady Jane/Flamingo//Flea
Market/Here There And Everywhere/Three Years Ago/O Morro/Melancholy Baby/Up Up And Away
SK 3 - Bacchanal - Gabor Szabo [1968] Three King Fishers/Love Is Blue/Theme From
"Valley Of The Dolls"/Bacchanal//Sunshine Superman/Some Velvet Morning/The Look Of Love/Divided
City
SK 4D - Windmills of My Mind - Grady Tate [1968] The Windmills Of Your Mind/And I
Love Her/Sack Full Of Dreams/Would You Believe?/Work Song/TNT/Don't Fence Me In/All Around The
World/A Little At A Time
SK 5D - Wild Thing - Armando Peraza [1968] Wild Thing/Mony Mony/Souled Out/Funky
Broadway/Red Onions/Viva Peraza/Al Bajar El Sol/Granny's Samba
SK 6 - Cal Tjader Sounds Out Burt Bacharach - Cal Tjader [1968] Moneypenny Goes
For Broke/What The World Needs Now Is Love/Anyone Who Had A Heart/Don't Make Me
Over/Message To Michael/My Little Red Book/I Say A Little Prayer/Walk On By/You'll Never Get To
Heaven (If You Break My Heart)
SK 7 - Dreams - Gabor Szabo [1968] Galatea's Guitar/Half The Day Is The Night/Song
Of Injured Love/The Fortune Teller/Fire Dance/The Lady In The Moon/Ferris Wheel
SK 8 - America the Beautiful - Gary McFarland [1968] On This Site Shall Be Erected/80
Miles An Hour Through Beer-Can Country/Suburbia: Two Poodles And A Plastic Jesus//"If I'm
Elected..."/Last Rites For The Promised Land/Due To A Lack Of Interest, Tomorrow Has Been
Cancelled
SK 9 - Gabor Szabo 1969 - Gabor Szabo [1969] Dear Prudence/Sealed With A
Kiss/Both Sides Now/Walk Away Renee/You Won't See Me/Michael From The Mountains/Stormy/In My
Life/I've Just Seen A Face/Until It's Time For You To Go/Somewhere I Belong
SK 10 - Cal Tjader Plugs In - Cal Tjader [1969] Alonzo/Lady Madonna/Nica's
Dream/Spooky/St. Croix/The Tra-La-La Song/Morning Mist/Get Out Of My Way
SK 11 - Slaves - Gary McFarland Orchestra with Grady Tate [1969] Side 1 is
instrumental, side 2 is vocal with Grady Tate and the Howard Roberts Chorale. Slaves/Meetin'
House/Another Mornin'/Nightwind (Esther's Theme)/Pickin' Cotton//Slaves/Black Lullabye/Pickin'
Cotton/Another Mornin'/Nightwind (Esther's Theme)
SK 12 - Journeys of Odysseus: A Jazz Suite for Chamber Orchestra - Bob Freedman
[1969] Prologue (Dawn)/Sea Voyage/The Eaters Of The Lotus/Polyphemus/Erebos (Conversation With
The Shades)/Construction Of The Raft/The Song Of The Sirens/The Besting Of The Suitors/Epilogue
(Offering To The Gods)
SK 13 - Black Is Brown and Brown Is Beautiful - Ruth Brown [1969] Yesterday/Try Me
And See/Please Send Me Someone To Love/Looking Back/Miss Brown's Blues/My Prayer/Since I Fell
For You/This Bitter Earth
SK 14 - Today - Gary McFarland [1969] Because/My Cherie Amour/Suzanne/I Will Wait
For You/Everybody's Talkin'/The Shadow Of Your Smile/Get back/Desafinado/Shadows Are
falling/Michelle/Sombras De Saudade (Latin Shadows)/Berimbau
SK 15 - Lena & Gabor - Lena Horne & Gabor Szabo [1969] Watch What
Happens/Something/Everybody's Talking/The Fool on the Hill/Yesterday When I Was Young/Rocky
Raccoon/My Mood is You/Message to Michael/In My Life/Nightwind [Lena Horne]
SK 16 - [not used] Near the end of 1969, Skye was having some financial tightness, and turned to the
tried-and-true practice of recording outside albums as "special products" to raise some revenue. The
album that was recorded in this slot was a "special product" recorded for IBM called Paean: An
Act/Inter-Act Communication, which was probably used in training seminars at the company to whip
up company spirit. I.B.M. could pay well, but at what cost to Skye? The songs were literally paeans to
IBM execs, sung to the tune of well-known folk songs by a group of singers that sounded like they
belonged at a sing-along night at the local pizza parlor. Apparently, after hearing this, Skye execs
reconsidered whether they wanted to put their reputation on the line by having so weird a record in their
catalog. Instead of SK 16, they numbered it SKI-P1 (as in, "skip one number in the catalog") so it
wouldn't be associated with them forever, and got busy working on a leasing deal with Buddah. Tracks
were: Introduction/To Thomas J. Watson/To C.A. Kirk [Carry Me Back To Old Virginny]/To J.L. Barton
[Oh! Susannah]/To F.W. Nichol [Home On The Range]/Paean [Sweet Molly Malone]/Ever Onward/Hail
To The I.B.M./To Thomas J. Watson [Auld Lang Syne]/(The) I.B.M. Country Club Song [Annie
Lisle]/Land Of Hope And Glory
SK 17 - After the Long Ride Home - Grady Tate [1970] Prologue/After The Long Ride
Home/Follow The Path/I Can Deliver/I Think It's Going To Rain Today/There's Nothing Between Us
Now/In My Time/Interlude/Bridges (Travessia)/I'll Try Again/Suicide Is Painless (Song From M*A*S*H)
Buddah/Skye:
BDS 18-SK - Watch What Happens - Lena Horne & Gabor Szabo [1970] Reissue of
Skye SK 15, with a new title and cover. Cover of Skye 15 was a red-purple color with just "Lena &
Gabor" in lettering across the front. Cover of BDS-18SK is yellow and white, with a drawing of Lena
Horne. Rocky Raccoon/Something/Everybody's Talking/In My Life/Yesterday When I Was Young//Watch
What Happens/My Mood is You/Message to Michael/Nightwind [Lena Horne]/The Fool on the Hill
BDS 19-SK - Tjader-Ade - Cal Tjader [1970] Solar Heat/Never My Love/Nica's
Dream/Don't Make Me Over/Lady Madonna/Ode to Billy Joe/Here/A Message to Michael/Alonzo
BDS 20-SK - Blowin' Some Old Smoke - Gabor Szabo [1970] Sunshine
Superman/Stormy/(The) Divided City/Dear Prudence/Galatea's Guitar/Bacchanal/Walk Away
Renee/Some Velvet Morning/Fire Dance
BDS 21-SK - Natural Feelings - Airto [1970] Alue/Xibaba (She-Ba-
Ba)/Terror/Bebe/Andei/Mixing/The Tunnel/Frevo/Liamba
Buddah BDS-5125 - Roger Shriver - Roger Shriver [1972] Produced by Norman
Schwartz for Skye Recording Co., Ltd. Nobody Special/Life Is Like A River/Temptation/New York City
Sidewalk Gratings/A Man Of Good Intentions/Silver Stones/The Other Side Of A Woman/The Carpenter,
The Painter, And The Gardener/Beautiful Dream/Love Is A Beautiful Color/Don't You Ever Leave Me
Skye SK-1000 Series:
From a discographical standpoint, this series, which apparently started with 1006 and ended with 1008,
doesn't make a lot of sense. It was issued in 1968 and 1969 before the label leased their masters to
Buddah, approximately concurrent with SK-8 to SK-11. From a musical standpoint, the Wendy and
Bonnie album and the others were different enough from the rest of the label output that another series
was probably warranted, although the reasons behind the numbers chosen are a mystery.
SK 1006D - Genesis - Wendy & Bonnie [1968] Sisters Wendy and Bonnie Flower. Let
Yourself Go Another Time/The Paisley Window Pane/I Realized You/By The Sea/You Keep Hanging Up
On My Mind//It's What's Really Happening/Five O'Clock In The Morning/Endless Pathway/Children
Laughing/The Winter Is Cold
SK 1007D - Feeling Life - Grady Tate [1969] Hooray/My Ship/The End Of A Love
Affair/You're Gone/I Fall In Love Too Easily/Meditation/Nature Boy/Lost In The Stars/Fools Rush In/Poor
Butterfly/What Now My Love?
SK 1008D - The Chuck Rainey Coalition - Chuck Rainey [1969] Eloise (First Love)/How
Long Will It Last/Genuine John (Colors)/The Rain Song/Got It Together/The Lone Stranger/Harlem
Noctourne-Zenzile/It's Gonna Rain/Theme From Peter Gunn
Back to the Kama Sutra/Buddah Main Page
Back to the Discography Listings Page
Back to the Both Sides Now Home Page
Skye Records Album Discography