STILL

Tony Banks is one of my all-time favorite musicians, and I have all but one of his solo albums (The Wicked Lady). Although all of his solo albums can be criticized for inconsistency, I feel that this is his most outstanding work overall. There are a few duds: The Gift, Angel Face, and especially Hero for an Hour. But fortunately, Tony limits his singing only to Hero and elsewhere employs a stellar cast of guest vocalists. And that is what makes most of this album work so well -- instead of trying to do it all himself or employing the same band on every track, he wisely selected different players to suit each song. The results are delightful to hear, especially on Still it takes Me By Surprise, I Wanna Change the Score, Red Day on Blue Street, Another Murder of a Day and the exquisite Final Curtain. As with all of Tony's albums, you will have to learn which tracks to skip over, but most of these songs are richly satisfying.

P.S. Tony, if you're going to hire Pino Palladino, please don't bury him in the mix!