STILL

This is really no further along the curve than "Bankstatement". As for the positive praise that well-meaning souls have laid at the foot of "Still", they've simply set the bar too low. True, it's a professional affair, engaging the services of FISH, Nik Kershaw, Andy Taylor and a returning Jayney Klimek on vocals, but I don't hear where this edges out something like Phil Manzanera's Southern Cross on the road to respectability.

If you're looking for BANKS to write pop songs with a certain amount of emotional soul wringing akin to the late '80s, then here you go. Not that the GENESIS keyboardist doesn't have the right to solicit the same audience as Mike + The Mechanics, but he can do so much more. The second half of "Another Murder of a Day" or even the classy ballad "Still It Takes Me By Surprise" are the sort of payoffs I expected, not FISH lamely stating "You're just a devil with a pretty angel face" (from "Angel Face"). The vocalists are all good (even BANKS acquits himself on "Hero For An Hour"), but like Steve HACKETT's "Please Don't Touch" the rotating cast breeds an air of arbitrariness. There are no instrumentals, which is sort of a shame, and no new ground is broken.

The inclusion of FISH will no doubt intrigue many, but honestly they only click at the end of "Another Murder of a Day" (easily the album's highlight). The rest of the material is merely competent pop music with hints of GENESIS' grandiloquence (a scent of "The Cinema Show" wafts through "Still It Takes Me By Surprise") and nods to BANKS' earlier work ("Hero For An Hour" does recall "And The Wheels Keep Turning"). Maybe I'm foolish to expect Tony BANKS to return to prog's green pastures, since his solo work has never leaned to the left side of GENESIS. If I view "Still" as a further straying into commercial blandness, blame it on my intractable allegiance to earlier ideals that were left by the wayside with the '80s.

Sorry to ruin the party but this album for me was TB's lowest point career wise. It was almost panic stations trying to find vocalists to prove a success formula for commercial acceptance. Thankfully he only really got obsessed by it on this album as Bankstatement and Strictly Inc managed to escape the frenzy. Banks is no doubt one of the finest musicians around but even getting Fish or Nick Kershaw on as guests when their prime had already come and gone was a mistake.

Still it takes me by surprise

With "Still" Tony Banks came up with his finest solo album since "A curious feeling". He took the wise step of surrounding himself with top notch musicians, and taking no more than an equal part in the performance himself. Vocal duties are shared between 80's pop star Nik Kershaw, Fish, Jayney Kilmek, and Andy Taylor, with Banks only stepping up to the mike on "Hero for an hour".

Fish sounds more Gabriel like than ever on "Angel face" but the track is never in danger of becoming a Genesis clone due to the female vocal backing and pop related structure. The first three tracks follow this pop trend, and it's only really with "Still it takes me by surprise" that things click into place. Bank's piano work here is beautiful in its deceptive simplicity, with echoes of the intro to "Firth of fifth". Andy Taylor, gives a vocal performance of great sensitivity. The previous track ("The gift") gives no indication he is capable of such a performance. This track alone justifies obtaining the album.

Nik Kershaw takes inspiration from Taylor's performance, and puts in a fine performance on the closing track, the appropriately named "The final curtain".

Yes the album is rather pop based, Banks was clearly getting desperate for some of the success his then current and former colleagues were enjoying. It is nonetheless, a fine collection, well performed, and very enjoyable.

Unlike "A Curious Feeling" which was produced by David Hentschel (Genesis's producer) and Tony Banks, "Still" is produced by Tony Banks and Nick Davis. The change in producer has in a way impacted on how the album was approached and written. In "A Curious Feeling" Tony used same line-up throughout the whole album but in "Still" he used session players. On vocal department he hired Nik Kershaw, Fish (previously with Marillion), Jayney Klimek and Andy Taylor. While on guitars he hired Genesis's on tour guitarist Daryl Stuermer.

Musically, this album is inferior compared to "A Curious Feeling" in terms of composition. Yes, there are some good tracks like those sung by Fish (it's probably I like Marillion during Fish era that makes me liking these songs). Throughout the album Tony wants to create something more pop than previous album while maintaining his keyboard style like in Genesis. You can find the keyboard solo in "Still it Takes me by Surprise" (6:25) (track 4) is interesting. Overall, it's not bad at all. I can only recommend to the completionist who love the music of Genesis to have this CD in the collection. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

This is another reason to not rate an album on first impressions. When I first got this CD, as a promo when it was released, I absolutely hated it. I listened to it once, and put it away in my collection. On second listen today, it's not quite as bad as I thought. In between the many unmemorable songs there are some glimmers of progressiveness.

Banks' playing on this is mostly straightforward and unchallenging, as it is on most of the Genesis albums of the 80s & 90s. But here and there, he manages to rise up and create something listenable. I would single out the piano solo section of Still It Takes Me By Surprise, and Another Murder Of A Day as the highpoints of this album. The low points, the last 2 songs, are just dreadful. I wish I could have that ten minutes back.

A well made melodious pop / rock album. Not much prog elements on it, so be warned.

As it comes to sound, this Tony Banks album is definitely an improvement on its predecessor, "Bankstatement". To start with, the production is much better. "Still" has a full, warm, organic sound in comparison to the somewhat mechanical sounding "Bankstatement".

Also positive is the return of Daryl Stuermer (who was also present on "The Fugitive"). Stuermer gives the album more of a rock feel. In fact, this is the album where Banks more than ever before uses rock. This does the sound of the album good, there's no doubt about it. Some of Banks earlier albums missed some sort of punch. This is the best sounding Tony Banks album up to date (which doesn't mean that it's his best album artistically). Banks has some top session musicians as well: Vinnie Colaiuta on drums and Pino Palladino on bass. The latter puts himself on the background, but is very important for the wonderful sound of the album. Colaiuta puts himself more on the foreground, and I'm glad that he did: he is a very skilled and emotional drummer.

So this is already a winning team. For the rest: Banks uses the same formula as on Bankstatement: using different singers on the album, and it has to be said: this is good for the variety within the songs and it helps Banks to develop more of his versatility as a song writer.

But how about the compositions? The album has some of the best songs ever made by Banks, and a few forgettable ones. As for the highlights on the album: Banks is best at making songs with heavy keyboard layers, somewhat slow songs with a dramatic vocal performance, completed by wailing guitars. In general, the songs sung by Fish (ex -lead singer of Marillion) are the best on the album. These are songs with tempo changes, great keyboard work, wonderful somewhat Clapton - like guitar lines by Stuermer, and Fish who offers a great vocal performance, with wonderful story telling lyrics. The Fish - songs also have some prog elements. Fish fans should check this out! "Angel Face" and especially "Another Murder Of A Day" (about a prostitute who is waiting for her next customer) are wonderful tracks, where Fish is really excelling.

Also good, in the same vein as the Fish songs, is "Still It Takes Me By Surprise", where Andy Taylor sings lead. He doesn't do as good a job as Fish, though. He doesn't seem to get his voice fully around Banks' song, and one sees his limitations as a singer. Banks should have used Fish for this song also. Still, this song and the two Fish songs that I mentioned, are real highlights of the album. They are very much compelling songs.

Nik Kershaw, an artist admired by Banks, is also present on the album. He sings the album opener "Red Day On Blue Street", which sounds like a hit single (and probably was meant as such), but Banks throws a lot of chord changes in the song, which makes it attractive after all. The sound of the song is also very powerful, and those who would gruel by the idea of Banks using saxophone on the album can relax: Banks does it very sparesome, but the song has some Miami Vice / Jan Hammer sensibilities, though more subtle. Banks is ever subtle on the album, even when the record has some commercial streaks.

Still, Nik Kershaw is not an emotional singer in any way. That is no problem for the song "Red Day On Blue Street", because the music itself is powerful and emotional, but it is for "I Wanna Change The Score", which is a bit of a filler. The closing song on the album, "The Final Curtain", also sung by Kershaw, is a great song, but here also one would have wished some more emotion in the vocals.

A song that also succeeds on the album is "Water Out Of Wine". Once again, not because of Jayney Klimek's vocals, but because of Banks' excellent composition.

There is, like on Bankstatement, one song that is sung by Banks. "Hero For An Hour" is nice and original, and even though Banks is not a very good singer, he has a characteristic voice, and once again Banks delivers a nice musical story.

No doubt Banks tried to make a commercial album with an artistic edge. Yes, commercial, I said the C - word. Too bad that Banks was trying to reach the masses, because he didn't succeed and with every next pop album he estranged his original audience from him. Still, however commercial sounding the album is, there's still a lot to enjoy on, lets say, seven songs of the album. The other three are not really convincing, close to being fillers.

This album is an improvement on Bankstatement, in sound, even in compositions, though Banks should have used more soulful vocalists. Fish is a very good singer, but Andy Taylor doesn't succeed in his vocal performance, and Jayney Klimek and Nik Kershaw are not very good vocalists, a bit too cold sounding for Banks' compositions. Still, the album can take you by surprise, especially on the songs sung by Fish.

Review Nº 417

"Still" is the fourth studio album of Tony Banks and was released in 1992. It was originally going to be named with the same name of one of the tracks "Still It Takes Me By Surprise", but it was later shorted to "Still".

"Still" has ten tracks. All songs were written by Tony Banks except "Red Day On Blue Street" and "I Wanna Change The Score" which were written by Tony Banks and Nik Kershaw and "Another Murder Of A Day" which was written by Tony Banks and Fish. The first track "Red Day On Blue Street" is sung by Nik Kershaw. It's a very good and energetic track, very powerful and emotional, that sounds very well from the beginning to the end. Musically, it's a simple song in terms of composition but it has some good and interesting musical appointments, like the use of the sax on it. The second track "Angel Face" is sung by Fish. This is another very good track and it's more energetic, powerful and emotional than the previous track. However, this is a song that sounds more mellow and dark than the previous song, and this is probably because the vocal interpretation by Fish. Here, Fish sounds probably more close to Peter Gabriel than ever. The third track "The Gift" is sung by Andy Taylor. This is another very good song that keeps the album in a very good and high quality level and it's very well balanced. It's the shortest song on the album, but it's very well constructed and performed and it has also good and nice lyrics. This song represents very well how a song composed to be a pop hit can be so good, lovely and with good quality. The fourth track "Still It Takes Me By Surprise" is also sung by Andy Taylor. This is another type of a song that sincerely took me by surprise. It's a very emotional song sung with great sensitivity by Andy Taylor. But, the great highlight of the song, for me, is the piano performance of Tony Banks. His performance is very beautiful and reveals such sensitivity that every time I hear it, always comes to my memory "Firth Of Fifth" of Genesis. This is, without any doubt, one of the highlights of the album. The fifth track "Hero For An Hour" is sung by Tony Banks. We are in presence of another different type of song on the album. It's also a good song, very nice and pleasant to hear. However, I think it has less quality than the previous songs because it's more repetitive, simpler and less imaginative. However, we may say that we are in presence of a very pretty and decent track, indeed. The sixth track "I Wanna Change The Score" is sung by Nik Kershaw. It's a type of song totally different from anything else on the album. This is typically a song where the guitars and the rhythm of the song sound totally as a pop rock song. It's a song that reminds me strongly the albums made by his colleague from Genesis, Mike Rutherford with The Mechanics. This is a good song but too much pop for a progressive rock album. The seventh track "Water Out Of Wine" is sung by Jayney Klimek. It represents another different track on the album. It's a very beautiful and relaxing song on the album with good and nice lyrics and it's beautifully sung by Jayney Klimek. Probably, this isn't a great track, but personally, I like very much of it. Curiously, this song reminds me very much the type of music made by the Italian band Aries on their eponymous debut album, "Aries". The eighth track "Another Murder Of A Day" is sung by Fish. It represents, without any doubt, with "Still Takes Me By Surprise" the two best musical moments on the album. This is the best, the lengthiest and it's also the most progressive track on the album. Here we can clearly see the hand of Fish all over the song, not only on the vocals but also in the composition. It's a fantastic neo-prog song that reminds me, at the same time, the music of Genesis and Marillion. This is, in reality, a great song and represents a perfect marriage between Tony Banks and Fish as a duo of composers. The ninth track "Back To Back" is sung by Jayney Klimek. This is another song composed to be a great pop rock song. It's a very nice and powerful track very well performed and sung, which constitutes a nice and pleasant song to hear. However, it isn't very imaginative and creative. It's also very repetitive and despite being interesting, it isn't one of the high points of the album. The tenth track "The Final Curtain" is sung by Nik Kershaw. It's a fine track with a nice and good vocal performance by Nik Kershaw. Here, he sings some of the sweetest lyrics on the album and he sings it with a passion never seen before in the whole album. This is a perfect way to close the album and the name of the song represents and provides, in reality, a good and nice final curtain to this album.

Conclusion: From all Banks solo albums, I only know very well, "A Curious Feeling", "The Fugitive", "Bankstatement" and this album "Still", until now. So, I've no doubt in saying that "Still" is less good than "A Curious Feeling", but definitely better than "The Fugitive" and "Bankstatement". Musically, "Still" is slightly inferior compared to "A Curious Feeling", in terms of composition and progressivity. However, it's a very good album, well balanced and in reality, it has only one weak song "Hero For An Hour". On the other hand, it has many good songs, especially "Another Murder Of A Day", which is, for me, a real gem on the album. So, in my humble opinion, it deserves to be rated with 4 solid stars.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)