Customer Reviews

Soundtracks

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This album features some of the soundtrack material for two movies; "Quicksilver," and "Lorca & The Outlaws." The opening track, "Shortcut To Somewhere," is probably the most appealing to the general public. It features his old friend, "Fish," behind the mic. "Smiling Jack Casey" is the show-off track for Tony. He doesn't stop for much. "Gypsy Suite" is a collection of instrumental segments from the "Quicksilver" soundtrack, each more aggressive than its predecessor. "You Call This Victory" features Jim Diamond on vocals, a man with a voice somewhat like that of Leo Sayer, but with more power. "Lion Of Symmetry" is by far the musical highlight of the album. Featuring Toyah Wilcox on vocals, this song explores many essences of sound, coming together in a haunting account of emerging perseverence. "Redwing Suite" continues the haunting sounds of "Lion," but without any vocals. Tony does it all himself in this compilation of five instrumentals from the film "Lorca & The Outlaws." This is one record that got its due day in the spotlight.

A compilation of tracks from a few soundtracks he wrote, this shows Tony's abilities as a songwriter/composer at their peak. The R&B-tinged Fish number is great and the piece with Toyah on vocals (Lion of Symmetry) is sublime. I lent this on record to a friend back in college when they needed a song with female voice that was to hint at unperceived depths for a play. Lion of Symmetry ended up being a sort of theme for that play & more than a few copies of the record were bought in the aftermath.

Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks has always expressed interest in composing music for films, but, regretfully, he hasn't been given the opportunity too often (his score for the film "2010" was ultimately dropped in favor of David Shire's, which I still consider a great musical loss). But when Tony *does* get to do a film score, he totally delivers. For starters, his music for the 1983 Faye Dunaway flick, "The Wicked Lady," was brilliant and the *only* good thing about that movie (alas, the soundtrack album is out-of-print and still hasn't made it to CD, but do seek out an old vinyl copy if you can). Tony's 1986 release, "Soundtracks," is a compilation of film music he recorded for a pair of movies from that same year, "Quicksilver" (the one with Kevin Bacon on a bicycle), and an obscure British sci-fi movie, "Lorca And The Outlaws," which I don't believe ever got a release in the U.S. "Soundtracks" has a late-80's feel to it that will remind you of Tony's keyboard work with Genesis on their "Invisible Touch" album, also from 1986. The music is quite excellent. Guest vocalists include ex-Marillion singer Fish on the poppish "Shortcut To Somewhere," Jim Diamond on the greatly melodic "You Call This Victory," and Toyah Wilcox (aka Mrs. Robert Fripp) on the sinister "Lion Of Symmetry." The instrumental pieces also shine on the album, such as the driving punch of "Smilin' Jack Casey," the mysterious air of "Gypsy," and the powerful "Lorca" (which Tony would later re-work as "Queen Of Darkness" for his album, "Bankstatement"). If you're a diehard fan of Tony Banks, you should definitely pick up "Soundtracks." (And a message to filmmakers---if you need some great original music for your film, give Tony a call!)

Okay. If my house was burning down and I was to grab only one thing, it would be this CD. This is Tony at his very best, the Quiksilver work is outstanding, just the emotion it contains.

Buy this one, if you never buy another TB CD, you won't have let yourself down!

Tony Banks can be brilliant and has been, but not here. Lackluster, no beats and you can't not dance to it, if you know what I mean. I am a total Genesis fanatic and have been since I was 16 - I have seen them live, talked to them in person, been in a band that did it's darndest to emulate their sound and their spirit (and yes, we had a Mellotron, and it sounded fantatsic, when it worked) but when Tony is bad, he's REALLY bad. His best solo effort by far is "A Curious Feeling". This is as much of a yawner as Mike Rutherford's 'Acting Very Strange". Face it, Genesis was a brilliant sum of it's parts.. not all of the parts function nearly as well seperately, with the main exception being Peter Gabirel, who has managed to maintain his artistic integrity through the years (but where the heck is a new album, Peter?)

Tony Banks never could catch a break. It seems the more successful bandmate Phil Collins became, the less success Tony had, commercially speaking. Soundtracks is a case in point - after trying for years to get the opportunity to do soundtracks, Tony ends up writing for two movies that were duds (Quicksilver wasn't bad, but it hardly lit up the box office).

Fortunately, the music on Soundtracks is anything but a dud. "Smilin' Jack Casey" shows us that Tony is more than capable of writing a catchy pop tune, but the true highlight is "Lion of Symmetry." As we would expect from Tony, "Lion" is replete with both interesting music and evocative lyrics ("The office walls are closing in . . . feel the sensation"; a feeling we can all relate to!). This song alone is worth the price of admission.

The instrumental suites are equally well-done, with fine pacing. They are not as powerful or as moving as Genesis' "Duke's Travels," of course, but then nothing can be. They are a blend of musical ideas that flow seamlessly and blend in well with the album as a whole.

This is not the album to buy for a first Tony Banks album. It takes some time to truly appreciate how good it is. It is, however, very much worthy of a place in the Genesis extended family.

I saw the movie "Quicksilver" years ago, and thought Tony's compositions and keyboard work worked well (BTW, Tony Banks' participation on the soundtrack makes him a fairly close degree to Kevin Bacon). I have not seen "Lorca and the Outlaws," but from the music it sounds like a pretty gloomy movie. The album culls the best moments from these two soundtracks. Fans of Fish will enjoy his vocals on the jaunty "Shortcut to Somewhere." The majestic "You Call This Victory" is also outstanding. The trouble with listening to soundtrack albums, it seems, is that outside of a few songs with vocals, you get a lot of instrumental music that can be better appreciated in the context of the film. Banks has admitted that scoring a movie can be a frustrating experience because he has to place his musical desires second to what is needed in the particular movie. My recommendation: find the videos to rent to see how his compositions are placed in context; completists (like myself) can listen to Tony's compositional capabilities. Banks is soon coming out with a "classical suites" album of his own compositions with an orchestra. That may hew more closely to Banks' artistic visions.

This CD includes Tony Banks' music that he wrote for the movies QUICKSILVER and LORCA AND THE OUTLAWS. I particularly like the QUICKSILVER material. The track "Shortcut To Somewhere" featuring Fish on vocals. The track from LORCA AND THE OUTLAWS entitled "Lion Of Symmetry" includes Toyah Wilcox on vocals. The rest is pretty much instrumental. It's definitely a change in style from the progressive Genesis sound. It is a very enjoyable CD overall though.

As you listen to "Soundtracks" by Tony Banks, you may be misled, as well as lost, because the number of tracks contained on the actual CD (twelve), are different from the number shown on the back cover (six), including two suites with eight subtitles between the two. It is the subtitles of the "Quicksilver" and "Redwing" suites which throws the actual number of tracks on the CD out of kilter. Don't let these inconsistencies prevent you from enjoying the wonderful "Banksynths" on this CD, many of which Tony brought to the forefront on the last Genesis album, 1983's self-titled LP of the same name, aka "Shapes". Once you hear "Shortcut To Somewhere" (featuring vocals from Tony's ole buddy Fish [of "Marillion"], "You Call This Victory" (with vocals supplied by Jim Diamond), as well as the last subtitle of the "Quicksilver Suite" - "Final Chase", you'll want to run a ten mile marathon, just to sweat the unsightly toxins out of your body! The singing featured on the third and final vocal track, titled "Lion Of Symmetry", is supplied by Toyah Wilcox, whose vocal stylings are eerily similar to those of Jayney Klimek, who can be heard on Banks' next two solo side projects - "Bankstatement" (1989) and "Still" (1991). In fact, one of the tracks on "Bankstatement", titled "Queen Of Darkness", contains a similar musical arrangement of one of the subtitled tracks featured on the instrumental "Redwing Suite" - "Lorca" (found here on the "Soundtracks" CD, originally released in 1986 prior to "Bankstatement", which was released three years later), but "QOD" is also supplied by Klimek's rich, ultra-powerful vocals. When you compare and contrast the musical arrangements of both "Final Chase" and "QOD", not only will you note many parallel similarities between the two, you will also notice some subtle musical nuances and differences as well. "Smilin' Jack Casey", another instrumental track featured on "Soundtracks", contains many of those same soft and gentle traits, too. Tony Banks would bring many of these same "Banksynths" to the next Genesis project as well, on the band's 1986 album titled "Invisible Touch". If you already have the two Genesis titles mentioned here, you might want to add "Soundtracks" to your Tony Banks/Genesis CD library, because this title is the pefect musical compliment to both "Shapes" and "Invisible Touch". "Soundtracks" is the only TB soundtrack title in print, as well. Make "Soundtracks" your essential purchase today!

I must concur. "Soundtracks" and Still are Tony's weakest efforts. Especially from someone who produced perhaps the finest progressive album ever, A Curious Feeling. (Come to think of it, I guess In The Court Of The Crimson King is the finest, so A Curious Feeling would be #2).

If you're interested in Tony Banks or just want to hear the kind of music they don't make any more (long, interesting, quality tracks) get A Curious Feeling and then Strictly, Inc. If you're hooked, go for The Fugitive, too.

If you're still listening to A Trick of The Tail, Duke, etc, than anything from Tony Banks should sound great. OTOH, if your idea of great music is Invisible Touch or In The Air Tonight, none of this is for you. (Mr. Methane's version of In The Air Tonight, is, I admit, superb).

And if you want to hear Mr. Banks work real magic with a soundtrack, hunt down the LP from The Wicked Lady.