Still

Tony Banks | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 14, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Giant/ Reprise
• ASIN: B000008D7E
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #120,753 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Red Day on Blue Street

2. Angel Face

3. The Gift

4. Still It Takes My Heart by Surprise

5. Hero for an Hour

6. I Wanna Change the Score

7. Water Out of Wine

8. Another Murder of a Day

9. Back to Back

10. The Final Curtain

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For many of us, Banks WAS Genesis....but not when he went solo..., March 27, 2006

By 

Squire Jaco (Buffalo, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Still (Audio CD)

If you ever - even only once - heard a classic Tony Banks keyboard solo like the ones he nailed on Genesis songs such as "The Cinema Show", "The Colony of Slippermen" or "Duke's Travels" (but to pick a few cherries from his vast orchard), you'd be tempted to seek out ALL of his solo works in search of more keyboard nirvana....and you might end up being surprisingly disappointed. At least I was.

I mean, I actually like most of his solo albums, but I'm really amazed at how little they resemble the sound of Genesis (with the exception of his first album, "A Curious Feeling"). But there are always hints of Banks' genius and signature keyboard styling in every one of his albums (e.g., listen to "An Island in the Darkness" on his "Strictly, Inc." cd), even though he took a decidedly "poppier" route in many of the songs.

I think "Still" contains some of his proggiest sounding songs outside of Genesis, with lots of great keys and his typical chord changes in some of the songs. Yes, there is certainly a lot of "pop" sound here too, but they are all very good songs done well.

I'm going to limit my review here to just two songs on the second half of the album, since many of the reviews have already done a great job of noting the overall flavor of the cd, and also because these two songs just happen to be my favorites on the cd - maybe my favorites of Banks entire solo output.

"Another Murder of a Day" is just great - written in the classic Genesis style with Fish's Gabriel-like vocals, the music moving through a few different great themes, and circling back to the original keyboard lick that began the song. The lyrics are moving, the mood transitions are perfect, and the performance is flawless. But as great as it is, it is preceded by an even BETTER song...

Tony Banks cd's are the only places that I've ever heard of the singer Jayney Klimek. She does a nice impersonation of Pat Benatar on the ninth track, "Back to Back". But her delivery on the eerie and mysterious "Water Out Of Wine" is GORGEOUS. And what a composition! Banks has numerous subtle chord changes - which Klimek nimbly follows - and he leads her voice between the bounds of two full octave ranges. I truly believe that this is one of the most underrated songs in Tony's entire catalogue, and it's really a shame that it will go unnoticed except by us loyal Genesis fans looking for keyboard wizardry. (And I suspect that because it's sung by a woman, even many of us proggers might dismiss it out of hand without giving it its proper due.) This is a GREAT composition and performance. Buy the cd for that song, and enjoy the rest of the cd accordingly.

I value interesting music that is played and recorded well. This cd's rating was based on:
Music quality = 8.6/10; Performance = 9/10; Production = 9/10; CD length = 8/10.
Overall score weighted on my proprietary scale = 8.7 ("4 stars")

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible!, August 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Still (Audio CD)

Y'know, I've never been a big Pop music fan, but Tony Banks is one exception. I like the rhythm, the odd time signatures, and just about everything else. But HOLY HAVE SOME SINGERS BATMAN!!! Tony used five singers on this album, my favorites being Fish (vocals sound like a cross between Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins) and Jayney Klimek (whatever happened to her anyway?), for Tony captured the strong points of both singers in the few tracks they sang vocals for. This CD has a variety of different types of tracks for the entertained listener, with several pop songs (Red Day on Blue Street, Hero for an Hour), a killer Piano Ballad (Still it Takes Me By Surprise), and you can't have a Tony Banks CD without at least one Genesis-esk song (Another Murder of a Day). So eat it up, 'cause this is the best album to start a new Tony Banks fan.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 'Still' is still a favorite, July 26, 2000

By 

Craig Artel "I love my sinuses!" (Edison, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Still (Audio CD)

This is one of my favorite albums, and one of the most underrated among Genesis fans.

I find this composer receives too much criticism for the record because it represents one of his most obvious attempts at a blatant pop style. But Tony Banks has always written unconventional and distinctive pop songs with quirky rhythm tracks and harmonic progressions that stand out so noticably. At the same time, he layers his sounds and rhythms so effectively to create a more subtle effect in the structure of the work. Sophisticated modulations and odd time signatures are hardly grating on the ear. Mr. Banks successfully manages to carve out little gems that are far superior to any song that gets airplay today, and I find that his shorter, more direct songs can be far more emotional than his larger epics.