Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Banks, Tony
Label: Charisma Records
Released: 1979
Length: 54:24
Rating: 4.5/5
Of the members of the classic Genesis lineup, only keyboardist Tony Banks can’t boast a successful solo career. Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins scored huge success as solo artists, Steve Hackett, thanks to a steady run of quality albums that kept the prog rock element alive, still enjoys the broad support of longtime Genesis fans, and Mike Rutherford, with Mike and the Mechanics, came right up alongside Collins’ success as a pop rock act. Contrary to expectations, and compared to his musical buddies, Tony Banks remained a “small fish” as a solo artist.
His finest moment as a solo artist is none other than his debut, “A Curious Feeling”, which is also stylistically the closest to what he was doing with Genesis at that point in his career, and one of only two Banks solo albums that managed to crack the UK charts. “A Curious Feeling” came about while Genesis were on a temporary break because of Collins’ personal problems, and both Banks and Rutherford decided to record their solo debuts.
Tony managed to lure two superb musicians into the project: cult jazz fusion drummer Chester Thompson (ex-Weather Report, Frank Zappa, etc.), who by then was already serving as the live drummer and thus Collins’ stand-in behind the kit for Genesis, and singer Kim Beacon of the cult folk rock band String Driven Thing. It’s interesting that Beacon, originally a folk rock singer, found his feet so well in AOR with his vocals. His clean, melodic singing style undoubtedly lends individual songs a touch of AOR and makes the album interesting in a commercial sense too.
As a whole, “A Curious Feelings” is mostly symphonic prog rock in nature and features Banks’ trademark layering of all kinds of keyboard textures, the thing he became famous for with Genesis. His fine, soft touch in weaving mighty symphonic arrangements is the cornerstone of the individual tracks. Tony also handled all the guitar and bass parts decently, proving himself a multi-instrumentalist as well. The guitar is of course always in the “background”, while his symphonic masterpieces on the keys take center stage. Sadly, by this stage of his career he had already stopped using the Mellotron, so the album can’t boast the mysterious romanticism and mystique that ruled the Genesis albums of their progressive rock era. The atmosphere is still nostalgic and epic enough, though, to easily bring back memories of the golden days of progressive rock. The surprisingly good lyrics are partly based on the book Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.
The opening symphonic warm-up, “From the Undertow”, was used in the 1978 British film “Shout”. No soundtrack for that film exists, sadly, but it’s interesting that the piece was originally conceived as an intro for the Genesis classic “Undertow”, which appears on the album “…And Then There Were Three…” (1978). The orchestral motif is interesting and dramatic enough that it’s no wonder it was picked for the film. On “Lucky Me”, ethereal symphonic arrangements rule, while Beacon’s vocals keep bringing in a strong melodic rock element.
The dramatic “The Lie”, where you can revel in the subtle laying down of mighty synth drapes over a bouncy rhythm, is in a similar vein, only with slightly more complex drum fills and an even better vocal performance. The ethereal “After the Lie” sounds like something that could easily have ended up on the Genesis album “And Then There Were Three”, which means it’s one of the highlights of Banks’ solo debut: top-notch symphonic prog rock with loads of dramatic transitions, Banks’ characteristic keyboard passages and an energetic vocal approach.
Thanks to its emphasis on a melodic chorus, gentle guitar chords and epic symphonic passages, the title track is a wonderfully successful bridge between pop and prog rock. The instrumental “Forever Morning” is a chance for maestro Banks to show off some truly delicious passages on piano and synthesizers, which he uses to build a series of intriguing symphonic motifs. “You” opens as an AOR ballad, then unexpectedly shifts into a complex instrumental section with witty synth soloing and mighty drum fills, until it tips over into an epic finale of the kind only master Banks can conjure up.
The excellent “Somebody Else’s Dream” is the longest and also the most complex piece on the album, with magnificent symphonic arrangements flowing into one another while Beacon’s melodic vocals crank up the drama all the way to the final peak. “The Waters of Lethe” is a romantic instrumental packed with grand symphonic passages that slowly build a grandiose atmosphere. “For A While” is another nicely done AOR ballad, which fits the closing of the album with the melancholic “In The Dark” very well, and which, backed by touching symphonic drapes, really does sound like a farewell requiem.
The most serious and reserved member of Genesis got his solo career off to a flying start, and right out of the gate he made the best album of that career. It’s a real shame he didn’t carry on in a similar vein, because what followed were more or less average to below-average efforts, mostly dealing in film music and easygoing melodic rock. For a musician of his caliber, his solo career was undoubtedly a considerable letdown in the eyes of most prog rock fans.
Any attempts to chase the commercial success of his Genesis bandmates usually ended badly. Maybe it also had something to do with the fact that Tony never felt all that comfortable outside the Genesis fold, as the one irreplaceable member of that legendary band. “A Curios Feeling” remains his only album on which he managed to strike the ideal balance between the symphonic prog rock he’s mostly fondly remembered for and the melodic rock that ruled the airwaves in the eighties.
Line-up
Tony Banks – keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, percussion
Kim Beacon – vocals
Chester Thompson – drums, percussion
Production
Tony Banks, David Hentschel
Track list
1. From The Undertow (2:46)
2. Lucky Me (4:26)
3. The Lie (4:58)
4. After The Lie (4:49)
5. A Curious Feeling (3:58)
6. Forever Morning (6:02)
7. You (6:28)
8. Somebody Else’s Dream (7:50)
9. The Waters Of Lethe (6:31)
10. For A While (3:38)
11. In The Dark (2:58)
