PETER BANKS

I have to admit being an old prog lover from the 70's and as anyone like me from that era Yes was at or near the top of the list of bands we loved. Peter Banks was only with them for only the first 2 albums so he was not there when they broke it big with the Yes Album on. But the album Yesterdays released in 75 flashed back to his time and that was the first or second album I had heard by Yes (Fragile was the other). His contribution on guitar was not really all that standoutish.

I had not heard of anything he did after that time until reading about him and this album popped up. I downloaded it and I have listened to it several times in the last day or so and am amazed! I love this record or at least many of the songs. He teams up with 2 members of my all time favorite prog band Genesis (1970-1977 of course) with Collins drumming on several tracks in what can be described as his similar sound on Brand X. Steve Hackett shows up only on one track (5). Jan Akkerman (Focus) is on most of the tracks and his guitar interplay with Banks is extremely good and the solos really rip well.

The album doesn't really start rocking until the third track Knights. It is in 3 parts and the mid movement The Falcon has some great guitar work. The tracks that really stand out for me are Battles with Collins great drumming. This was 1973 about the time that Selling England By The Pound was released by Genesis. The Knights (Reprise) track has Hackett on it but it is unknown when you are hearing him or Banks. Stop That! is a great track and probably the best with all the instruments doing great interplay. I love how his guitar starts tom to hit the left channel and after the beat gets more funky at about 10:20 the guitar starts to echo across to the right side. Get Out Of My Fridge ends the album with some great dueling guitar work and an almost country rock flavor.

The mellow tracks are just so-so but I am really impressed with the rockier ones and this album really showed me that Banks was a great musician. It was too bad he was not included in the Hall Of Shame induction of Yes but then again the RRHOF is a rip off anyway. They suck in one hit wonder groups and ignore prog bands and other long term rock acts that deserve to be in there before some punk artist who strummed the same 2 chords and cussed through every song. But I digress.

While Two Sides is not a prog masterpiece it still deserves a place on the mantle of a prog collection.

I must say this is somewhat overloaded, and confusing maybe, when you're trying to consider the manifold Peter Banks legacy releases that came out in recent times. I mean, 2019 already saw a 6-CD-Box(!) compilation, consisting of all HARMONY IN DIVERSITY recordings ever I would assume. Also including diverse live excerpts, entirely in the sense of completeness. And now solely two years later here we have a new best-of selection available, yet compressed to one compact disc. Anyway, it's definitely worth it to be concerned with this exceptional guitarist. 'The Best Of Peter Banks's Harmony In Diversity' certainly is a recommended starting point. He once began his career together with Chris Squire in the band The Syn, then being co-founder of the initial Yes incarnation. But HARMONY IN DIVERSITY had its kick-off much later, around the year 2004, also featuring Andrew Booker (drums) and Nick Cottam (bass).

Hence they were a classic rock trio regarding the used instrumentation. The group has worked out a large repertoire of improvised instrumentals within the next years. As for that you will have the chance to experience a slightly differing Peter Banks approach on this occasion. Surely helpful to release him a bit from his insider tip role. Like already mentioned, it's all completely instrumental, in opposite to the band Empire, which for example also saw co-writer and lead vocalist Sydney Foxx taking part. A more than one hour lasting and rather eclectic ride, fusion-laden more or less, but also experiencing a few moments provided with psychedelic and space rock ambience. Banks's multi-varianted and experimental guitars are cruising all over the place, taken for granted.

Exemplarily to name the extended slow-tempo sample Bruno where he conjures diverse unusual tones up in a row, be it keyboard alike or just imitating an ambulance sirene and so on ... Prelusion is showcasing a proper Talking Heads drive, guitars close to a Gentle Giant respectively King Crimson appearance and Nick Cottam supplies some fine propelling bass playing. And then Gallopsiding turns out to be a gently gliding space tune on the contrary. Just like it is when operating with Sanguine Hum, Booker's drumming is pleasantly accentuated and variable. Towards the end the album runs into a less inspired direction a tad. Nonetheless I would say that this is a very recommend addition to every well-sorted progressive rock collection.

Peter Banks was born in 1947, as Peter William Brockbanks, in north London. In his teens he took lessons on the banjo and later the guitar. Then Peter met Chris Squire with whom he build up a strong personal and musical friendship, resulting in playing together between 1967 and 1971 in the bands The Syn, Mabel Greer's Toy Shop, and of course Yes. He was fired due to musical disputes, like his unwillingness to experiment with synthesizers, his successor Rick Wakeman loved to do that, hail to the Minimoog! Soon after Peter joined Blodwyn Pig for a short time, but then singer Colin Carter asked Peter to play together in his new formation Flash. Peter agreed and met Tony Kaye, his former Yes collague but officially they never became members in Flash, because Tony had obligations with David Bowie on tour and he also had his own band Badger. In 1971 Flash went into the studio for their first album, released in 1972, later Flash released two more album, then they called it a day, after musical disputes during a tour in Mexico. In 1972 Peter also developped a friendship with Dutch guitar hero Jan Akkerman, they had met each other during a serie of concerts in the legendary London Rainbow. Peter was very impressed by Jan Akkerman and his awesome guitar work in Focus, who wasn't in those days?!

Well, when Peter wanted to make a solo album he invited his friend Jan Akkerman to deliver contributions. He agreed, and in the same year that Jan Akkerman was voted the #1 guitarist in the world in the famous music magazine Melody Maker, Peter released his first solo album entitled Two Sides Of Peter Banks, with Jan Akkerman (on five tracks), in 1973, incredible! And, last but not least, more famous progrock musicians joined Peter Banks on his first solo effort: Steve Hackett and John Wetton, in the track Knights (reprise), and Phil Collins. But the focus (sic) is on Peter Banks and Jan Akkerman, listening to this music I notice that there are strong similarities in their guitar style, like the use of the volum pedal, and easily switching from rock to jazz. A nice recording idea is that you can hear Jan Akkerman in the left channel and Peter Banks in the right channel, very interesting to follow. Especially in the opener Visons Of The King, Battles (with Phil Collins, sounding like pre-Brand X) and Beyond The Loneliest Sea (virtuosic acoustic guitar duet, between jazz and Spanish, with subtle use of the volume pedal). But also in the socalled 'spontanious jams' Stop That! (fantastistic, very speedy jazzy runs by Jan Akkerman) and especially Get Out Of My Fridge (propulsive blend of rock, country and blues with fiery guitar play). There is plenty of room to enjoy Peter Banks his guitar work in in the alternating Knights, including a strongly build up, very compelling guitar solo with venomous leads.

A very intersting Peter Banks solo album album for the guitar oriented progheads, with Dutch guitar hero Jan Akkerman, what a thrill!

Finally got a copy of this. It's about time! Two Sides of Peter Banks was his first solo album. There seems to be a story that the label wanted a Flash album and a Peter Banks solo album to be released exactly the same time, so it's a bit obvious that the album was rush released (which explains the two jams, "Stop That!" and "Get Out of My Fridge" were tagged at the end of side two). Essentially this is as much a Jan Akkerman album as a Peter Banks album. Here they get help from two Flash bandmates with Ray Bennett and Mick Hough, plus Phil Collins, John Wetton (misspelled "Whetton" on the album), and even Steve Hackett; however, the last two only appeared on "Knights (Reprise)". "White House Vail" is a really amazing piece, I especially dig the more calm parts towards the end. One parts sounds like Steve Hillage went and borrowed it for his own "Leylines to Glassdom" off his album Green (1978). "Knights" has a rather harsh start (Änglagård borrowed a part of this for "Ifrån Klarhet till Klarhet" off their album Hybris from 1992) but has some really brilliant passages. "Knights (Reprise)" is actually a bit different, with a nice jazzy part played on synth. If Steve Hackett is on this, you can barely notice him. So much has been said on how inferior side two is that people tend to overlook the opening cut, "Beyond the Loneliest Sea", as this is as much the same high quality material that took up side one. A rather moody piece with electric piano and classical guitar (latter courtesy of Akkerman). "Stop That!" and "Get Out of My Fridge" came from extended late-night jams. Peter Banks and Jan Akkerman didn't have these session to put on album in mind, but it happened anyway, because he was rushed with solo album and getting Flash's last album Out of Our Hands out the same day. To be honest, despite the clumsy feel to "Stop That!" I rather like the mood and atmosphere. The Grateful Dead had gotten away with worse jams, but it's true the flaws are plain obvious to see. Phil Collins often sounded like he kept doing things on his drums to try to up the intensity, to keep a smoother flow, it's like he was saying, "Hey guys, lets up the pace". "Get Out of My Fridge" is more successful, although not to everyone's taste. It's clear they weren't taking themselves seriously here as they try a more country-influenced jam. I am not 100% surprised that Peter Banks stated that Jan Akkerman was embarrassed that those two jams were put on record. There may be elements of Flash, Focus, and Yes, but it's not immediately obvious. I can say right away that I far prefer this over Steve Howe's Beginning, because you don't have to put up with Steve's singing (no one can deny Steve's talent on guitar, but Beginnings prove his mouth should have never been near a microphone).

This is one of those albums I should have bought years ago, because you can't deny the brilliant material, but it's as popular opinion goes, aside from "Beyond the Loneliest Sea" the rest of side two doesn't quite match the brilliance of side one, but it's still a worthy album in your collection.

Review Nº 196

Banks is, of course, best known as the guy who played guitar in Yes before Steve Howe came into the fold. But, those who only see that part of the picture, though, are missing out on quite a lot. Banks first got his start with Yes' bassist Chris Squire in the group the Syn. After that, Banks and Squire moved to their next group Mabel Greer's Toy Shop. Banks left them when Jon Anderson was starting to become a presence on the scene. But, he hooked back up with Squire and Anderson. By then, they had added Tony Kaye and Bill Bruford to the line up and thus, Yes was born. After leaving Yes he formed the band Flash who released three albums before breaking up in 1973. Later in the same year he released this self titled solo album. With it, Banks showed clearly that he had the potential to become an interesting progressive rock solo artist, but strangely, instead of that he chose to disappear from the scene for the rest of the 70's.

'Two Sides Of Peter Banks' is the solo debut studio album of Peter Banks and was released in 1973. The line up on the album is Peter Banks (electric and acoustic guitars, ARP, Minimoog and Fender piano), Jan Akkerman (electric and acoustic guitars), Steve Hackett (electric guitar), John Wetton (bass guitar), Ray Bennett (bass guitar), Phil Collins (drums) and Mike Hough (drums).

'Two Sides Of Peter Banks' has nine tracks. All tracks were written by Banks except 'Vision Of The King', 'Battles', 'Last Eclipse', 'Stop That!' and 'Get Out Of My Fridge', which were written by Banks and Akkerman and 'Beyond The Loneliest Sea', which was written by Akkerman. The first track 'Visions Of The King' quickly builds from a thin layer of guitar sounds into a thick layering of electric guitar chords that are absolutely majestic, before dissolving into the acoustic intro of 'The White Horse Vale'. It's a beautiful electric guitar duet, Banks' classic volume pedal tones and Akkerman ringing out with sad and gothic feelings, characteristic of his work on Focus. The second track 'The White House Vale' is divided into two tracks, 'On The Hill' and 'Lord Of The Dragon'. This is a melodic guitar poem which showcases some of his own classical moves, with a brief interlude that presages the next piece, 'Knights'. It spends its six minutes meandering through all sorts of acoustic and jazzy wah-wah licks, before it in turn morphs into 'Knights'. The third track 'Knights' is also divided into two tracks, 'The Falcon' and 'The Bear'. It has a discordant riff that makes me think of some of the better and noisier moments of Yes, but it's not as prominent as I tend to remember it. There are a lot of quieter stretches with two or three layers of Banks noodling about, but the noodling has enough interesting stuff going on. And it builds into a really nice frenzy before the riff comes back. The fourth track 'Battles' comes around, after a brief reprise of some of the best sounds from 'Vision Of The King', and it's a bit of a noisy anti-climax. It's all fine, but that much build-up seems like it should resolve into something more. The fifth track 'Knights (Reprise)' brings back the 'Knights' riff with some guitar effects thrown in for good measure. The sixth track 'Last Eclipse' closes things out with some final call back to the 'Vision Of The King'. The quiet guitar meanderings bring the suite to a nice conclusion. All in all, the suite isn't spectacular, and it certainly doesn't live up to the side longs that Yes was doing at the time, but all Yes' fans should definitely hear it. The seventh track 'Beyond The Loneliest Sea' is a delicious mellow piece of Spanish flavoured guitar duet between Banks and Akkerman. It's comparable to any acoustic work that Akkerman made with Focus. The eighth track 'Stop That!' consists of the 14 minute jazz rock fusion jam. It's a decent jam, with Collins showing off his future Brand X like jazzy rhythms and Bennett contributing with some very active bass. Banks does his best to keep things interesting. While I basically enjoy it on the whole, I can't help but feel that Banks bit off a little more than he could chew here. I think Akkerman shines more than him, here. The ninth track 'Get Out Of My Fridge' sounds to me more like something I'd expect from a Howe's solo album than a Banks' solo album, courtesy of its focus on the kinds of electric prog boogie licks that are Howe's calling card. It's a lot of fun to hear Banks try to beat Howe at his own game. The interplay between Banks and Akkerman is a fun close to the album.

Conclusion: This album is more a collaboration between Banks and Akkerman than a true solo album. Akkerman has co-written credits on most of the tracks and even a full credit for the acoustic guitar ballad 'Beyond The Loneliest Sea'. The interaction of the two guitarists is what really makes this album stand out for me, they're both good on their own, and they're great together. It's a shame that Banks hasn't really gotten his full recognition as an outstanding guitarist in his own right. This album certainly won't be to everyone's taste, as a solo guitar album. Listening to this, I'm reminding of that seemingly long gone era of guitarists, who didn't need to rely at all on a cadre of effect boxes or studio trickery, but had a command of the instrument that can only be had by playing and playing and playing. It's really a great album.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

"You know we all must start from very small beginnings, off to a better part"

Peter Banks was the first of the five original members of Yes to leave this earthly life. He was found dead in his home in 2013 after failing to show up for a scheduled recording session. This compilation was released in the same year as his death and features recordings from throughout his long career.

The first three tracks are early Yes recordings, but it is not the album versions of these songs but recordings from BBC sessions in 1969 and 1970. These are the same versions as on the 2CD compilation Something's Coming: The BBC Recordings 1969-1970 which was first released in 1997 with supervision and lines notes from Banks. The performances are very good, but the sound quality is not.

Flowerman and Grounded are by the pre-Yes band The Syn which also featured Chris Squire. These songs were released as singles in 1967 and has since appeared on many compilations, including the 2CD Original Syn: 1965-2004 which was released to coincide with the recent reformation of The Syn (which initially involved Peter Banks).

Beyond And Before will be familiar to Yes fans, but the version featured here is a demo by another pre- Yes band called Mabel Greer's Toy Shop. This band too featured Chris Squire. Images Of You And Me is from the same source. Like the two The Syn songs, the two Mabel Greer's Toy Shop songs were also featured on the Peter Banks compilation album Can I Play You Something?

Knights: The Falcon/The Bear is from Banks' 1973 solo debut Two Sides Of Peter Banks. It is good stuff, but is better heard within the context of the whole of side 1 of that album (side 2, on the other hand, is considerably less interesting). Somewhat oddly there is nothing on this compilation from any of Banks' three 1990's solo albums.

The three albums by Flash are represented with one track each, the best by far of which is Small Beginnings from the self-titled 1972 debut (which also featured Tony Kaye). This album is Banks' best moment and an essential Prog album in its own right. In The Can was released the same year but is less interesting and is here represented by Monday Morning Eyes. Man of Honour (Knight) is taken from Flash's third album Out Of Our Hands, released in 1973. There is nothing at all here from Banks' post-Flash band Empire.

Fast forward to 2012 and the first The Prog Collective album. Social Circles is a song featuring Annie Haslam of Renaissance on lead vocals, backed up by Billy Sherwood, and with a superb guitar solo by Banks. It is a strong track that stands up as well or better in this context than in its original setting. (Banks also contributed to the second Prog Collective album shortly before his death.)

The final three tracks are covers originally featured on tribute albums. Eclipse is from the Pink Floyd tribute album The Return To The Dark Side Of The Moon and also features Tony Kaye and Billy Sherwood. Magic Bus is from the The Who tribute Who Are You? and Give a Little Bit is from the Supertramp tribute album Songs Of The Century. That Banks was into Supertramp is a bit of a surprise.

Overall, while Prog Guitar Legend 1947-2013 is a better compilation than Can I Play You Something? and gives a decent overview of the career of Peter Banks, most of the songs featured here are better heard in their original settings.

Yes, please

This somewhat strange compilation album contains recordings featuring Peter Banks in various constellations, including his pre-Yes bands The Syn and Mabel Greer's Toy Shop. The subtitle of this collection has it that that the contents are from 1964 to 1968, but actually some of the cuts are of a more recent origin. The rendition of Peter Gunn, for example, is said to have been recorded live in 1980. The recordings are not presented in chronological order but instead arranged in some other, more or less random order. Some of the tracks are demos, some are live recordings, and some are spoken "link" pieces that I suspect that Peter created shortly before he gathered this compilation album together in the late 90's. Given the diverse sources and widely divergent sound quality and levels of completion this is actually one of the least coherent compilation albums that I have ever heard.

The Syn's most well-known singles are fun to hear but these are available elsewhere, for example on that band's compilation Original Syn. The Mabel Greer's Toy Shop pieces are of great historical value, but are not terribly interesting in their own right. There is very little if anything at all that may be said to point in the direction of Yes. Even calling this "Proto-Prog" would be a considerable stretch of the term. This is mid 1960's Psychedelic Pop. Peter Banks would do much more interesting things later on, first with Yes and then with Flash.

This odd collection is recommended only as an historical document.

"Reduction is the way to production, Mr. Banks"

Reduction is the third out of the three albums that Peter Banks released during the 1990's, and it can be seen as a continuation of the previous two. But even though this trio of albums have a somewhat similar sound and style, the feel of Reduction is slightly different compared to the previous two albums. There is more acoustic guitar here which I like and some moments are very tranquil and atmospheric. There is a kind of Dance beat on some of the tracks and I am reminded a bit of Mike Oldfield's Songs From Distant Earth. There are again some samples of spoken word and music from other sources (including a snippet of The Syn's Flowerman right at the beginning of the album), but the samples are less distracting than on the previous album.

The title of the album might refer to the fact that this time Banks does everything alone whilst before he had some help from a keyboard player. The absence of keyboards is however not a problem as they are replaced here by guitar synthesisers played by Banks himself.

In terms of quality, Reduction constitutes an improvement over the previous Self-Contained, and it is as good if not better than Instinct. This is Banks' last ever solo album, but he worked with several artists in various other contexts before he sadly passed away in 2013.

Contains funkin' profundity!

Peter Banks rapidly followed up his second solo album, 1994's Instinct with Self-Contained in 1995 (which is striking keeping in mind that there were 21 years between his first and his second solo albums!). This album follows in the same vein as the previous one with Banks' lead guitar playing the main role throughout with support only from keyboards and drum machines. Unfortunately Self-Contained does come off as a lesser album, a bit like the leftovers from Instinct. There are several good moments here and some tracks are up to par with the better tracks on Instinct, but there is also a lot of lesser grade material that feels like mere transportation. With a running time of one hour and 15 minutes, there would have been ample room for trimming.

The album contains no less than 21 separate tracks, some of which are very brief and many of which contain spoken word samples. Indeed, the album takes several minutes before it even gets off the ground as it begins with some unnecessary "foreplay" (first three tracks). I often find the samples annoying as it lifts focus from the actual music. There are references and musical quotes from the music of Banks' bands Flash and Yes. At one point there is a sample from a radio program where two music "experts" agree that the music of Yes is "pretentious and empty". (Idiots!). Banks probably included this to signal humility and self-distance, but it can perhaps also be interpreted less charitably as Banks' attack against the band of which he was once ejected.

Overall, I think this is the least successful of Peter Banks' solo albums. I would recommend it primarily to fans of the guitarist who already have his other solo albums.

Flash

More than 20 years after his first solo album came this second solo effort from Peter Banks. In all the time in between he had been involved in only a few musical projects but not put out any material (he worked with a band called Empire in the 70's but none of that material was released until the 90's). Like 1973's Two Sides Of Peter Banks, Instinct is a guitar-driven album that owes something to Jazz. But the sound and nature of this album is very different from the solo debut.

Even though a couple of other people are credited on the album, this is not a band affair but a solo effort in the truest sense. The album showcases Banks' excellent lead guitar playing and proves that he is indeed a master of his instrument. He is backed up by programmed rhythms that sometimes sound good and sometimes a bit stale. The keyboards play a mainly supporting role. The production values are high but the restricted line-up creates obvious limitations. The sound and style often reminds me of the (rather obscure) instrumental Wishbone Ash album Nouveau Calls.

Some of the time the tempo is slow and relaxing but a few tracks are more intense Jazz-Rock fare which keeps the album varied enough. The album features no vocals, but there are several spoken word samples and snippets from telephone conversations. One of these is a recording of a Yes fan calling into a radio station and asking why Banks was not invited to Yes' Union in the early 1990's. Banks was actually asked to join Yes on stage at one point during the Union tour, but much to the surprise of Peter who had travelled to the location for that reason, the band called it off at the last minute for no good reason thus relegating Banks to the crowd! (There is an interview clip with Banks on Youtube where he describes this, which he calls "the most embarrassing event of his life".) Peter was rightly bitter over this outrageous treatment from his past band mates, but this album proves beyond doubt that whatever the reason was for not letting him play it was not valid artistic reasons as Banks would definitely have been up to playing with Trevor Rabin and Steve Howe.

I find this album an enjoyable listen, but like many albums of its kind it is not very memorable and it doesn't stick. It is a nice addition to a Yes fan's collection, but it is not essential.