SOUNDTRACKS

Released just as Genesis finished recording Invisible Touch, most of the material on Soundtracks has the same keyboard approach: starry, fast moving high range parts, Fairlights, and low, bending, deadly octave interjections, with a good amount of layering. As a disclaimer to this review, I haven't yet seen either of the two films that the music was composed for, so I can't comment on how well any of it fits the movies, but as a standalone album, there isn't as much substance as I was expecting from Banks. The songs with vocals aren't the worst I've heard from the 80's, but they don't rise above the standard like his songwriting nearly always does. The vocal contirbutions don't help the songs much either, sounding very much like the least appealing qualities of that time in music (to me, anyway.) The instumentals have the same problem, sounding very much like what you can find in all too many dramas and action movies from the 80's. Only in the final parts of the "Redwing Suite" do they start to explore more of the creative chord and melody moods that Banks is known for. None of the music is horrible, and it is interesting to hear at least once or twice, but it's not unique or enthralling in the way his other albums have been, although it can be said that all of the sounds to be found here are very much his own. If you want to hear more of the synth sounds that Banks was working with around this time that weren't on Genesis' 1983 album and Invisible Touch, then check it out.