Short biography:
Of all the musicians that once were a member of Genesis Tony Banks (born on 27 March 1950 in East Hoathly, Sussex) can be considered to be the soul of the band. Through the years he has shown more commitment to Genesis' music, new ànd old, than any other member. Unlike many other rock keyboardists he is not an extravagant performer. He is more like a quiet force, someone who knows what he wants, and who takes great care in shaping his contributions. And these can easily be recognised during the period(s) that Genesis wrote their songs as a band as well as in the era with compositional input from the individual musicians.
However, one cannot get past the impression that he must be a bit of a frustrated musician. Although he has been a driving force behind one of the most influential and successful rock bands ever, he has never reached world wide super star status as an individual musician, unlike his Genesis partners Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford. Many of the Genesis classics from before 1980 are his compositions, but all the later top hits bear the marks of Collins and Rutherford. Both were also able to reach huge international success with their solo efforts, while the solo albums of Tony Banks barely made it past the group of loyal Genesis fans. And after Phil Collins had finally decided to leave Genesis, Banks' attempts to prolong the success (and income?) of Genesis failed miserably. Calling all stations was virtually ignored by the American record buyers. Despite considerable success in Europe, the lack of success in the USA was enough reason to sack the new singer, and put the band on sabbattical for an indefinitive period.
Ever since the commercial breakthrough of Genesis in the eighties, Tony Banks tried to mould his music to make it fit for reaching a wider audience as well. His first solo album from 1979, A curious feeling, was a sheer masterpiece, along the lines of A trick of the tail and Wind and wuthering, but most of his later efforts are a completely different story. After Phil Collins had hit the jackpot with his album Face value, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks released Acting very strange and The fugitive as a response. Although the first can be considered to be the most horrendous product ever released by a Genesis member, it is also hard to believe that The fugitive was written and performed by the same musician as A curious feeling. No crafted compositions anymore, no thundering keyboards, no intelligent and critical lyrics, but fairly easy-listening, digital-rhythmic songs with unimpressive vocals by Banks himself.
Mike Rutherford was able to give a positive twist to his solo career with Mike & The Mechanics, and Banks responded to this with his Bankstatement project. Although there are some fine songs on this album, like Throwback and The Border, on the whole it is a rather mediocre album, and it did not get much public attention.
It appears as if these failures set Banks to focus again on less direct, more crafted compositions, arrangements and lyrics. The result of this was the album Still, full of impressive keyboard arrangements and great vocal contributions by Fish, Andy Taylor and Nik Kershaw. However, this album did not reach the mass audience of Collins and Rutherford fans either. IMHO, Still is the only post-1980 solo album by Tony Banks that can truely be considered to be misunderstood and under-appreciated. Banks' final attempt to make a name for himself outside the Genesis-context was Strictly Inc. This record contains Banks' longest composition ever put on record ('An island in the darkness', over 17 minutes), and is generally speaking a nice album, but doesn't come close to Still, mainly due to the rather poor vocals.
Tony Banks can be considered to be the prime example of the brilliant musician who tried so hard as a solo artist to create music that would be appreciated across the globe, only to end up neglecting his artistic genius. Because that is what he truely was, proven by the many beautiful and skillful compositions and keyboard arrangements on all of the records by Genesis, including the post-1980 ones. Many of his compositions can be called ageless, as they are still regarded very highly by fans of symphonic or progressive rock, decades after they have been written and recorded. He is still one of the most influental rock keyboard players of all time. It is regrettable that somehow he wasn't able to reach that same level with his solo efforts. And now that Genesis has been put to a halt, chances of him enchanting his fans in the old-fashioned way ever again are very slim. His latest musical effort, the classical suite Seven, is not really convincing in that respect. It is really nice, sometimes even beautiful, but for me personally, it is just a bit too sweetly-romantic.
