SOUNDTRACKS

As a fan of Genesis and Tony Banks, I'm glad this album exists. It collects the man's scant soundtrack work (except for Wicked Lady, how cruel) and puts most of the highlights onto one accesible disc. This is great, because who the hell wants to watch the movies this music came from? Because of that, I'm glad this album exists. However, I have to say, this is Tony's least succesful album artistically. As much as I hate to use the word, the sounds on this album are dated. I hate to use the word because any music is instantly dated to it's period because of it's style and tones. Early Genesis is instantly dated to the 70's because of the mellotron and progressive rock stylings. However, this album is dated to the 80's. And while there is much good work in the 80's, both mainstream and underground, none of it is on this album.

The singles here are essentially a joke. I'm not a Marillion fan, so the addition of Fish does little to please me. But I've read a lot of fans of Fish complaining that he offers little here. So it's not just me. The singles are some of Tony's least interesting work in the pop songwriting realm and only reinforce the idea that he was best working longer and more complex.

It's just a shame he didn't take that lesson to his soundtracks. Okay, here's an easy test: play any of this music back to back with music composed for any other 80's movie. Notice the difference? No? Of course not. Tony is operating strictly to the conventions of 80's soundtracking. His work is not distinctive, nor is it melodic or interesting. It's a shame because I thought the man would actually excell in soundtrack work. I give the album two stars because it is listenable, and even enjoyable if you relax and let your mind focus on other things. However, because of my disappointment it will never rise above that. The best part of the album is the picture of Tony. He seems so happy and we rarely see the boy smiling. It also shows his excellent fashion sense: like in the 70's, Tony avoided stupid fashion excess, and stuck to comfortable and homey clothes. This makes him one of the least ridiculous looking rock stars of the 70's and 80's. In fact, you could say he looks more like an accountant than a keyboardist and songwriter for one of the most succesful bands of all time.