Search - Tony Banks :: Curious Feeling: 30th Anniversary Edition (Aniv)

2.5 stars for vox + 5 stars for music = 4 (w/ round up)

wadrad | Land of Bitburger, Bratwurst, und Lederhosen | 12/07/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I know... I'll get zero "was this review helpful" votes, because this review will be too negative. When I rate 5 stars, everybody LOVES my review... I give 2 or 3 stars and NOBODY finds it helpful. So it goes... you'd think they'd be appreciative I was trying to save them money. :)



AWESOME music on this CD. Definite 5 stars for the music and keyboard work. I picked this up used in a pawn shop back in '92 for $4. Being an early Genesis fan, I liked Banks' keyboard work, but really didn't know beans about the CD. Worse yet, they were selling it in an "Invisible Touch" CD case, so I had nothing to read (track listing, liner notes, etc) about it either.



Was pleasantly surprised by the CD, being a blind purchase, and I thought (and still think) the textured keyboards and melodies were sweet. Of course, the ONLY thing I didn't like about it was the vocalist (and still don't... guess I need a new brain as well). He seems to be a "red state/blue state" issue... you either love him or hate him. The only thing I can say is A LOT of prog bands seem to pick technically proficient vocalists (Spock's Beard, Flower Kings, most Rick Wakeman solo projects, GTR--yeah I know, not really prog, but boy did that singer "Max Whathisface" stink) who have very little soul or "feeling" when they perform (unless you consider the performances in "Sleepless in Seattle" deeply moving... then you might find these vocals stirring as well...just kidding...they're not quite that bad...). There's just no emotional connection with the vocal delivery as if the guy is just reading someone else's lyrics (which he is). He just didn't "make the lyrics his own" so to say.



And I would have to agree with the reviewer who called this "Duke's Little Brother". Before I ever saw the release date, I guessed this had to be someplace between "Then There Were Three" and "Duke" (you know, those two post-Wind&Wuthering albums that were lambasted by a reviewer who thought this CD is a masterpiece..."ironic" I thought, "since they sound a lot alike to me"). Arrangements and melodies are way similar. Like those other two CDs, there's a nice blending of synth pads, leads, etc with the more dynamic piano textures. Like a lot of Genesis CDs, Banks also has a few "droning bass pedal" tunes on here (nice chords shaped around a steady bass note) similar to "Afterglow", "Snowbound", or "Squonk". As most the reviewers seem to indicate, this really is the most Genesis-like solo Banks (at least that I've heard).



So, to summarize, this is a very nice album musically, and if you liked "Sleepless in Seattle" or "City of Angels" (w/Cage) then you'll probably like the vocal performance on this as well."

If you're gonna buy a Tony Banks solo album, this is the one

comartin@wicc.weizmann.ac.il | Rechovot, Israel | 08/22/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Tony Banks was not the flashiest or technically most accomplished rock keyboardist ever, but he definitely was one of the most influential. His main problem as a solo artist is that Tony Banks=Genesis=Tony Banks: without belittling the contributions of Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford, ... Tony's keyboards (and his nearly impressionistic composition and particularly harmonization styles --- I was not surprised to learn that he enjoys listening to Debussy and Ravel) have perhaps been the single most defining musical element in Genesis. As a result, when the poor fellow gets to do a solo album, he is always trying not to sound like Genesis, and ends up doing stuff that, well, really isn't him. A Curious Feeling suffers least from that problem, and is highly listenable if you like sweeping textures, haunting melodies, non-obvious harmonies and surprising modulations. The instrumentals (particularly the first two) are out of this world --- some of the vocal tracks could have done with a better vocalist.Being, by all accounts, a highly introverted and almost painfully shy person, his complicated, highly introspective and evocative lyrics are what Mr. Banks bares his soul in (well, in an understated English way). When you have Peter Gabriel or Phil Collins singing them, the result is unadulterated magic. The singer on this album (Kim Beacon from String Driven Thing), however, is okay but nothing special. As a result, I gave the album 4 stars but not 5."

Banks best solo album should appeal to fans of "old" Genesis

woburnmusicfan | Woburn, MA United States | 05/02/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"For his first solo album, Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks chose to do a concept album about a man who loses a bet with God, swearing he will never fall in love in return for wisdom and fame, then losing his memory after he does fall in love. It's not a great album, but it's solid, and it still deserves an occasional listen more than 20 years later. Of the three Tony Banks albums I have, I like this one best. And it should appeal to fans of "old" Genesis, as there are several long songs that have more of the early Genesis feel than the material Genesis was recording at the time. Kim Beacon's voice isn't distinctive, but serves the material well, and Chester Thompson's drumming gives the album a more organic feel than "The Fugitive". Banks plays guitar and bass, in addition to keys--while he's an effective rhythm guitarist, there are places where a lead guitar would have made the album stronger. It's easy to imagine Genesis playing "You" or the menacing "Somebody Else's Dream". The endings of "You" and "After the Lie" include the kind of pyrotechnic synthesizer solos Banks is known for. "For a While" is an effective lost-love song. There are a couple of long, meandering instrumentals that are mildly pleasant, but hurt the overall pacing of the album. For you Genesis fans, how much you like this album will be directly proportional to how much you liked "One for the Vine"."