BANKSTATEMENT

The musical career of Tony Banks is very extensive and is divided on two distinct facets, the career inside Genesis and his solo musical career. Inside Genesis, his role was fundamental on the group's sound and he always was one of the main composers of the band. His elaborated keyboard style is perfectly evidenced in songs like "Firth Of Fifth", "The Cinema Show", "Watcher Of The Skies" and "Supper's Ready", just only to mention some of them. Definitely, his work in the band helped to establish the final and unique sound of Genesis. Those works explain why he is considered as one of the best and most respected keyboardists and the owner of an unmistakable sound in the progressive rock. Banks' distinct keyboard style is very different from many of his contemporary keyboard players, always keeping a low profile, in opposition to the most extravagant styles like we can see, for instance, in the cases of Rick Wakeman and especially in the case of Keith Emerson. That style earned him to be considered the quiet driving force behind Genesis.

Unfortunately, unlike the other band members of Genesis, his solo musical career, beyond can be considered relatively short, never was considered really bright. Sincerely, I could never understand the why, and it always let me puzzled and disappointed. Apart from being responsible for some of the best and my favourite songs from Genesis, he always was my favourite member of Genesis along with Steve Hackett. Sincerelly, I don't know yet all his solo musical works. However, of the four works I know, until now, "A Curious Feeling", "The Fugitive", "Bankstatement" and "Still", the first is, in my humble opinion and without any doubt, the best and the only that we can consider truly a progressive album.

"Bankstatement" is his fourth solo studio album and was released in 1989. Technically, it's a group's project with little more than an only a name. In reality, this is a solo project of Tony Banks, issued under a band's name. The other band's members were the singers Alistair Gordon and Jayney Klimek, predominantly on lead vocals. The latter of which, also appeared in Bank's next and fifth solo studio album "Still", released in 1992. It seems that Banks had the idea of creating a band named Bankstatement, after he knows the success that Mike Rutherford was having with the debut eponymous studio album of his Mike And The Mechanics musical project, an album which was released in 1985.

Again, Banks wrote all the tracks and invited several musicians to participate on the album. So, the line up on "Bankstatement" is Tony Banks (vocals, keyboards, bass synthesizer and synthesizer lead guitar), Alistair Gordon (lead vocals and backing vocals), Jayney Klimek (lead vocals and backing vocals), Geoff Dugmore (drums), Pino Palladino (bass guitar), Dick Nolan (bass guitar), Steve Hillage (guitar), John Wilson (additional vocals), Martin Ditcham (tambourine and congas), Martin Robison (saxophones) and The Phantom Horns (brass).

Once more and as happened on his "A Curious Feeling" and "The Fugitive", the album has also eleven tracks. As a conceptual album, I'm not going to review the album track by track, as usual, but only a global review. "Bankstatement" is an album completely different from "A Curious Feeling" and "The Fugitive". "A Curious Feeling" is essentially a symphonic progressive album and "The Fugitive" is, for me, a little bit difficult to classify. It's something between a crossover album and a pop album. "The Fugitive" is, in a certain way, a kind of a naïve album where Banks thought he could dispense some professionalism, like dispense a real vocalist and do himself those functions. "Bankstatement" is a more professional album than "The Fugitive". It's a more painstaking album with two really good vocalists and it has also a handful of good professional performers. Certainly, it's not Banks at his best but it has some tasteful moments. As happened with "The Fugitive", I like this album too, but I think it isn't better than "The Fugitive". After first listenings it seems to be a bit flat and boring. But, I think these are the main problems of almost the albums made by the classic prog bands of the 70's, in the 80's. It has some inconsistency but if you're a fan of 80's Genesis, maybe you can like it.

Conclusion: My overall impression about this album is mixed. There are some highlights on it, there are some good songs but there are also some mediocre songs too. Banks to often rely on repetitive musical structures and does lyrics to do the trick. The sound is still firmly rooted in the 80's, though the drum sounds reveal that it has been recorded near the end of that decade. By the other hand, the musicians on "Bankstatement" didn't become a truly full band. The proof is that on his next solo work "Still", it appeared under Tony's own name again, though the concept of "Still" isn't so different from "Bankstatement". Finally, what lacks to this album is some variety and catchy tunes, especially for being a non progressive album. After all I said before, I still think that "Bankstatement" can be considered a good album, but on the contrary with Rutherford's "The Mechanics" project, Bankstatement never reached the successful career of his colleague and friend. So, unlike the opinions of most of my colleagues on Progarchives, I don't think "Bankstatement" is a better album than "The Fugitive" is. So, I think that "Bankstatement" deserves to be rated with the same 3 stars.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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