BANKS VAULTS - THE ALBUMS 1979-1995

I can't believe that this one had no reviews. This compilation of all Tony Banks solo rock albums was released in 2019 and i got it on early 2021, somehow it was still in stock on the Cherry Red Records store. Now its out of stock there but you can still find it new for a $100, i got it for $50 and it arrived pretty fast from England to South America.

Well, anyways, for $50 this was a great deal, especially considering that the price has taxes and the shipping included. I already did a review of this package on my yt channel, but what i'm writting here will be mostly different, but what strikes me is that i released that video on July 7th 2021, and thought of doing a review of Banks Vaults here at the same time, yet i forgot.

Now, why do i say that this is a big deal? Well, for one, i was looking for a Tony Banks solo album, and then i remembered that there was a compilation, wich is weird because i saw all the promotional interviews, then i forgot and 2 years later i thought that i really needed some Tony Banks solo material stuff (besides "5" wich is my most well known review here, as well as the first one of that album as well i think), i wanted some of his rock stuff that i have been enjoying a lot lately, in fact, i'll give an update to my Strictly Inc. review later this month. Anyways, i'm glad with what i got from a pure concept of what this is, a compilation of Tony's solo rock career, but i was more than pleased for other reasons, and others not so much so lets get a bit technical here. The packaging won't blow you away for $100, but i think that its more than serviceable for $50, its a good design, not so much a good name wich i think cost the thing from selling more. Its a very well presented folded card board box with some nicely printed art on it, but the insides aren't plastic cases, just small card-board sleeves for the discs, wich is fine, they look nice except that the full design leads a bit to be desired, they are similar to the original stuff, but besides having new copyright, they also included numbers on the discs, as well as a text saying "Disc One", as to let you know that in fact there are 8 discs on the package... yes, I CAN COUNT YOU KNOW?? Anyways, that was a dumb decision, but then, what about the discs themselves? Well, the discs have the same album cover printed in them, nothing special, yet they hold all that you want from Tony's rock solo career except for the extras or B-Sides, but it is already a good deal, specially if you had troubles finding any of his albums used and wanted to own the whole thing in a new release, yes, all the albums have brand new remixes, and re-releasing something takes a ton of time, contracts and what not, Tony and Co. did all of that for a very cheap compilation at the time, and yet the thing was in stock for 2 years or more, it definitely didn't sell. I would say that hopefully he recovers a bit from that investment from some of those new internet aplications and stuff, but it seems like barely anyone listens to those. I'm mixed on the mixes, a few have some great additions, while others lose stuff and others are great in one part, the other isn't as good as the original and vice-versa, i think that if you mix both the original and new mixes together, you'll get something more special, but i still don't know what's the best way to listen to Tony's solo career, since there is so much going on in every song. Lastly, we arrive at the DVD, it has a menu that follows the artwork on the packaging, its even animated, and it includes some very high quality versions of Tony's music videos, well, high quality for an old CRT display anyways, it looks great, there was definitely some work done here. But the package is not done, because there is a booklets with press pictures and all the lyrics, that's why the disc sleeves are so bare-bones, because all the content and more its on this new booklet, wich was the biggest surprise to me, the promotional pictures for this compilation did show the booklet, but none of the descriptions have it listed, they just point out the 8 disc deal.

So overall, for me this was and is great, i truly enjoy having it, there is some stuff that could've been better but i think that with all the work put together and the price point, that i feel like i was stealing from Tony, even though i bought this from the cherry red store and my intention of buying this was to not steal anymore, but i mean it, this release has more value to me, has more value in its creation than on what it looks like. If you are a fan of Tony's rock solo career and own every album, you probably already own this, but if you are just starting on buying or plan to have some of what he has released, then i seriously encourage you to get this. This is an easy 5 stars from me, because it not only offers stuff for new fans, but for old ones as well, almost every song sounds different, and it also includes a new release (the DVD) and a cool booklet.

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