Tony Banks – A Curious Feeling
Tony was, of course, the keyboard player in Genesis. 1979, and Genesis were having a break from touring and recording; Peter Gabriel, and then Steve Hackett had both left and the band were considering their future, before settling on their drummer Phil Collins taking over vocal duties after all. Tony used the break to expand on some compositions he was working on for future band recordings. Along with Chester Thompson on drums and Kim Beacon on vocals he came up with this great album. In many ways it feels and sounds like a Genesis album – only a bit darker and smoother, none of the weird time signature changes and complex songs but a smoother and more complete song cycle emerges. I loved the album, though it was never a hit; the Genesis fans probably unsure – and it was post-punk, where ‘Prog’ music was on the wane. Of course, Genesis picked themselves up and began phase 2 soon after. I haven’t really bought much else from Banks, and generally prefer the earlier incarnation of Genesis. I feel that this album is a link between the two styles and I really enjoyed re-listening.