THE FUGITIVE

I think that Tony Banks was asking himself in 1982-1983 if he really could make a solo album which could be as successful as Phil Collins`solo albums. Being himself, in my opinion, the real leader of the band since Peter Gabriel left them, because I still think that if Banks didn`t like Pop Rock songs GENESIS couldn`t record them in their albums, I think that maybe he thought that he should try to record a solo Pop Rock album. Mike Rutherford did the same in 1982 with his Acting Very Strange album which really lacked good lead vocals sung by himself. Banks tried the same with this album, released in mid 1983, singing lead vocals, and in comparison to Rutherford, Banks is a better lead singer, with his vocals working very well with the songs of this album. The songs in this album are really not very Pop Rock but not really very Progressive Rock in style. I think that he found a balance between both styles, not leaving at all his introspective and dark lyrics. His keyboards` playing style still sounds very GENESIS and personal, so he really couldn`t leave behind his essence as musician. So, he wasn`t so successful to make a whole Pop Rock album in style. I think that it was a good effort which showed some new keyboards sounds which he was going to use in his next albums with GENESIS. I still think that this album was much better than GENESIS`self-titled album of the same year, and this album is more of historical interest because Banks appears as lead singer doing a good job, in my opinion. The cover art is very similar to the cover art of some GENESIS` albums from the same period ("Abacab" and "Three Sides Live"). Very simple.