THE FUGITIVE

Tony, you know I love ya, but you just shouldn't sing lead vocals. On each of his other solo albums, Tony has been wise enough to limit himself to no more than one lead vocal performance. And singing one song would be reasonable, since the album cover does say Tony Banks, after all. But, for some reason, on this record he attempts to do all of the singing himself, and the result is IMHO the most unlistenable Banks album ever. The only redeeming moments are the two great instrumentals, Thirty Three's and Charm. The rest of it I simply can not listen to. Even the great guest musicians, including Steve Gadd and Mo Foster, sound totally uninspired. One other annoying thing about this album is the cheesy drum programming and stiff rhythms that Tony comes up with, like the pseudo-reggae rhythm on the opening track This is Love. Stop that! Sorry for the harsh review, but this album is truly only for completionists.