Banks, Tony - A Curious Feeling

Year of Release: 1992
Label: Virgin
Catalog Number: CASCD1148
Format: CD
Total Time: 54:13:00

Listening to this first solo release by Genesis' Tony Banks (released 1979), it can be easily summed up as smooth, keyboard-based compositions. Closer to the progressive pop he was making with Genesis at the time than the Genesis of the Gabriel era. Any of these tracks could have been fronted by Collins, with Rutherford providing guitar. Instead it is the able but not overly impressive Kim Beacon on vocals, Chester Thompson on drums and percussion, and Tony Banks playing everything else.

I like it - that is, I don't hate it, but overall it is bland. It feels as if there is one speed throughout - and track eight drags. The instrumental pieces are a bit more lively.

A Curious Feeling is a curious album, a concept album of sorts, open to more than one interpretation. A summary of that concept makes the idea seem shallow, and only a song by song commentary would change that. This being a short review, however, I'll dispense with the breakdown. In short, the curious feeling is a romantic notion, both in the typical sense and in the literary sense (think Keats, Wordworth, et al).

It's worth exploring on that note; shame the vocalist wasn't quite up to the task of bringing the vocals alive. Of course, twenty years on, it's easy to say "He shoulda..."

The instrumental "Forever Morning" will leave no doubt that keyboardists like Mark Kelly and his fellow neo-proggers tooks some pages out of Banks' style book.

Tracklisting:
From The Undertow (2:44) / Lucky Me (4:27) / The Lie (4:59) / After The Lie (4:51) / A Curious Feeling (3:58) / Forever Morning (5:58) / You (6:30) / Somebody Else's Dream (7:50) / The Waters of Lethe (6:29) / For A While (3:38) / In The Dark (2:57)

Musicians:
Kim Beacon - vocals
Chester Thompson - drums and percussion
Tony Banks - keyboards, guitars, basses and percussion

Discography:
A Curious Feeling (1979)
The Fugitive (1983)
The Wicked Lady (1983)
Soundtracks (1986)
Bankstatement (1989)
Still (1991)
Strictly Inc. (1996)
Seven (A Suite For Orchestra) (2004)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin UK

Added: July 1st 1999
Reviewer: Stephanie Sollow
Score:
Artist website: www.genesis-music.com
Hits: 2774
Language: english