Tony Banks' entire solo catalogue to be remixed and reissued in surround!

[Woody71]

I only ordered 'The Fugitive' as I already had ACF from the 2009 release. I've really looked forward to this....but....

I must say that I'm disappointed in the mix and the EQ changes. A boost in the higher frequencies to enhance 'clarity' (I suspect) has made some instruments sound harsher than before, especially in the 5.1 mix. This is a reoccurence of the sound of the Genesis 'Duke' 2007 remix, which is almost unlistenable to me. Cymbals now drown out some keyboards, which for a keyboard players solo album is an unfortunate decision IMHO. That's why I most of us buy a Tony Banks album i suspect...to hear the man do what he does best. I think Nick Davis is a great producer and recording engineer, but not for remixing/remastering, especially these early 80's Genesis and solo releases.

 

[rtbluray]

I only ordered 'The Fugitive' as I already had ACF from the 2009 release. I've really looked forward to this....but....

I must say that I'm disappointed in the mix and the EQ changes. A boost in the higher frequencies to enhance 'clarity' (I suspect) has made some instruments sound harsher than before, especially in the 5.1 mix. This is a reoccurence of the sound of the Genesis 'Duke' 2007 remix, which is almost unlistenable to me. Cymbals now drown out some keyboards, which for a keyboard players solo album is an unfortunate decision IMHO. That's why I most of us buy a Tony Banks album i suspect...to hear the man do what he does best. I think Nick Davis is a great producer and recording engineer, but not for remixing/remastering, especially these early 80's Genesis and solo releases.

To be fair to Nick though, this is how Tony Banks wants it to sound. From the "A Curious Feeling" booklet:

I had been closely involved with the remixing of all of the Genesis albums in stereo and 5.1 Surround sound formats undertaken by Nick Davis, and it became clear to me that the earlier Genesis albums sounded a lot better when we remixed them because of the technical improvements in studio technology, but I was surprised when the later albums also became significantly improved. In particular, "A Trick of the Tail", "Wind and Wuthering", "And Then There Were Three", and "Duke" sounded so much better, particularly the drum sound. As "A Curious Feeling" was from the same era I thought it would be worth looking at too, particularly as the album had never sounded as good as the Genesis records of that era.
When we came to listening to the multi-track tapes I was worried that the quality of the recordings wouldn't be too good, but I was surprised to discover how good they actually were. The drums sounded great on the tape, so we were able to make the drums sounds a lot bigger. It was also much easier to mix the album this time, having more time and using modern technology. Nick Davis and I think along the same lines and it was easy to let him loose on the album. To me, listening to the final result is like lifting a blanket off the original album as it sounds so much better.

Also this has been mastered (by Tim Young at Metropolis) and like the Genesis remixes, I would love to hear Nick's mixes as they were before they got mastered to hear what he and Tony were really hearing while going through the remixing process, but I do agree that the remixes of the Dave Hentschel produced albums have been a mixed bag at best, while everything before that has definitely been vastly improved. Ymmv…

 

[IMachine]

Musicians who made music over 30-40 years should not be involved in mixing or mastering stages.
Especially when they never had ear protection.
That will end up in too many highs in the mix!

 

[rtbluray]

Ultimately, I walk away a little less impressed with "The Fugitive" then I was with "A Curious Feeling", but that's mostly down to Tony's singing abilities (or lack thereof). The songs themselves are rather hit and miss. "This Is Love", "And The Wheels Keep Turning", "At the Edge of Night", and "Moving Under" all have their moments, and the instrumental "Thirty Three's" is particularly good in surround, but the rest isn't up to par with Tony's other songs for both himself and Genesis.
As far as surround and fidelity, there's nothing really wrong in either department, so I would give "The Fugitive" a '7', breaking down my vote, like this:

Content: 1.5/3
Surround Mix: 3/3
Fidelity: 2.5/3
High-Res Disc: 0/1

Only recommend for the surround and Genesis completists. For those newer to Tony's work away from Genesis, try "A Curious Feeling" out before delving into this one.

 

[privateuniverse]

Wish I could be more positive about this release, but I was pretty underwhelmed by it. It may come down to personal bias. I am a lifelong fan of all things Genesis, however this is my least favorite album in Tony's solo catalog. I don't like his voice at all and I think most of the material is substandard. As with most of Nick Davis' mixes, it has some great moments but at other times it's a little disappointing. Like RT said, better to start with A Curious Feeling.

 

[leahypc]

I'm really looking forward to "Still" coming out. I think that one and "A Curious Feeling" are his best albums, and ones that I like from start to finish. The other albums, I'd say that I like portions of them, and that they don't work so well as albums for me...

 

[rtbluray]

Apart from "A Curious Feeling" and "The Fugitive", I have not heard any other TB albums in full, but from listening to the tracks on "A Chord Too Far", I'm most excited for an eventual 5.1 release of "Strictly, Inc." Jack Hues' voice completely makes that album for me, and the songs I have heard from it are some of Tony's best. That being said, I'm also looking forward to the eventual 5.1 releases of "Bankstatement" and "Still" as well. "Soundtracks", less so. The tracks I have heard from that album so far have not impressed me that much.

 

[privateuniverse]

I'm most excited for an eventual 5.1 release of "Strictly, Inc."

There are some great moments on that album. It will be worth the price of admission just to get the 17 minute epic "An Island in the Darkness" in 5.1.

 

[rtbluray]

There are some great moments on that album. It will be worth the price of admission just to get the 17 minute epic "An Island in the Darkness" in 5.1.

I completely agree. When Mike Mettler interviewed Tony some months back and said that he was really looking forward to hearing "An Island in the Darkness" in surround, Tony said:

We haven’t done that one yet, but it obviously has a lot of potential because there’s so much going on there. I think it’s a song that recalls more of the early Genesis era. That was on a sort of album that didn’t really make any impression anywhere. (laughs) That song is pretty much unknown to everybody, so hopefully they’ll come across it in the box set, and perhaps inspire them to check things out a bit further. And that’s the sort of song that will sound tremendous in surround.

 

[rtbluray]

Well, we still do not know what happened to these other Tony Banks reissues that were supposed to be released, but in the meantime, Tony has a new classical album called "Five" that is to be released soon:
https://tonybanks.tmstor.es/index.php?preview=off

 

[rusinurbe]

Well, we still do not know what happened to these other Tony Banks reissues that were supposed to be released, but in the meantime, Tony has a new classical album called "Five" that is to be released soon:
https://tonybanks.tmstor.es/index.php?preview=off

No mention of surround there

 

[JediJoker]

Well, we still do not know what happened to these other Tony Banks reissues that were supposed to be released, but in the meantime, Tony has a new classical album called "Five" that is to be released soon:
https://tonybanks.tmstor.es/index.php?preview=off

He seems to be counting backward from seven...

 

[rtbluray]

Here's a portion of an interview Tony did with genesis-news.com:

GNC: Let's talk about you solo stuff in general. You started to rerelease your albums remastered and in 5.1. What happend to these releases?
Tony: I don't really know. Perhaps Esoteric got cold feet. I wanted to do the A Chord Too Far boxset. I wanted to have something out there that included the best things I have done. I was of course very happy when they wanted to put out the individual albums as well. I just think it cost them more money than it should have. They may come back to them, I suppose. I'd like to do Bankstatement and Soundtracks. We did those already when we were working on A Chord Too Far. They are quite easy to do and could come out any time, whereas Still and Strictly Inc will be much more of a problem as they are very long and we have to remix them from the beginning. It would have to be very worthwhile to do that. I'm not sure that's going to happen. It's a shame but I think it's not going to happen now.

Another interesting bit:

GNC: Speaking about 50 years of Genesis - is there something we can expect in the future like rereleases and boxsets?
Tony: God no! You know this seems to go on forever. People repackage, rerelease etc. The group is not in favor of this. We feel that it looks like we're trying to get more money out of the fans. I don't feel comfortable with it. The record company wants to do it all the time. Management says we have to do it etc. Phil and I always put the damper on it (laughs). We're not interested really, but sometimes you can't stop it. There is stuff like the BBC archive, different live versions etc. There is nothing particular new. There may be rereleases in new formats, who knows, like Blu-ray, but nothing new. I don't think there's anything terrific or exciting to come. I always feel sorry for Nick Davis, because he must have heared a song like Home By The Sea 500 times, deciding which is the best live version etc. It's out there. So for people who want that kind of thing, well … yes there will be more stuff. Speaking about the 50th anniversary - we never made the most out of our anniversaries. It's quite a long time. Perhaps we should just rerelease The Silent Sun, our first single. Perhaps it could be a hit this time around (laughs). Should've been a hit the first time, but it wasn't.

Full interview here: http://www.genesis-news.com/c-Tony-Banks-The-Five-Interview-23rd-January-2018-s665.html

 

[privateuniverse]

Well that's a drag. Surprising that Esoteric lost interest when they've continued to churn out Anthony Phillips reissues. Especially since Bankstatement and Soundtracks are already mixed.

Maybe sales of A Curious Feeling were really poor because there had already been a 5.1 reissue and that scared Esoteric off?

 

[leahypc]

Well that's a drag. Surprising that Esoteric lost interest when they've continued to churn out Anthony Phillips reissues. Especially since Bankstatement and Soundtracks are already mixed.

Maybe sales of A Curious Feeling were really poor because there had already been a 5.1 reissue and that scared Esoteric off?

A Curious feeling must've done pretty well since they decided to release it a second time. It was probably The Fugitive that didn't do so well.

 

[rtbluray]

Esoteric are releasing an 8-disc Tony Banks box set in July that includes remastered editions of all of his solo albums plus a DVD of all of the music videos accompanying those albums. Unfortunately, there is no surround sound content.

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product...-the-albums-1979-1995-8-disc-7cd-1dvd-boxset/

 

[privateuniverse]

Well, of course I would like to hear the remaining albums in surround and it's unfortunate that 5.1 mixes are not included. However, at least this means that Esoteric haven't abandoned Banks' solo catalog. It's been ages since they released the first two albums. I had assumed they had given up. So maybe a little later down the road they can do individual sets with the 5.1 mixes. If I remember correctly, I believe that a while back Tony said that some others had at least been started. Fingers crossed!

 

[privateuniverse]

Over on the Genesis Movement website they had this to say about the Banks box set:

Esoteric will release a new Tony Banks Compilation "Banks Vaults: The Albums 1979-1995" containing new stereo and 5.1 mixes of the albums A Curious Feeling, The Wicked Lady, The Fugitive, Soundtracks, Bankstatement, Still and Strictly Inc. There will also be an additional bonus DVD with music videos.

This obviously contradicts what is on the Esoteric website so I certainly would not get my hopes up. I did leave a comment though just to see if they had some inside info that Esoteric hasn't posted yet.

 

[key_wiz]

You are right in how far Banks is removed from music and technology, with quotes like these:






But then again, how many people off of this board do you think are really aware of what reissue labels like Audio Fidelity and Analogue Productions are doing with multichannel SACD?
The fact is apart from Audio Fidelity (and an occasional release from Analogue Productions), multichannel SACD will most likely never be in use again for popular genres of music.
And in this particular instance (Tony Banks re-releasing his catalogue through Esoteric), it doesn't even matter anyway as these reissues will most likely be released on DVD-V or DVD-A. (Maybe Blu-Ray if Tony feels strongly enough about it)

That last quote of his sounds like virtually every over 55 year old I know.

 

[karlkastner]

Who in the world is Tony Banks?