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At the dawn of the '80s, the three Genesis members had three solo LPs to their name, with Phil Collins' "Face Value" being the best-selling, while Rutherford's "Smallcreep's Day" was the closest to the group's typical sounds, at least regarding the "three left" period.
Tony Banks had a good record with "A Curious Feeling" and some ventures into soundtracks. Taking "Abacab" as a reference, the group's tabula rasa, it's difficult for many to admit that the same author behind that abrupt and traumatic sound change was composing the piano melody of "Evidence Of Autumn" just a year earlier. Yet, among the daring sounds of the title track, the drum machines, and the irritating "Who Dunnit", there was indeed Banks, the most forward-looking and updated among the three towards contemporary trends. Here is, in 1983, a negative manifesto of the keyboardist's solo work: his "The Fugitive". A solo record entirely sung by him that dives into pop-rock much more brusquely and much less refined than the almost contemporary "Man On The Corner" by Collins on "Abacab".
"The Fugitive" is a collage of irritating little songs, "Man Of Spells", if not cloying like "Say You'll Never Leave Me". More than a truly homogeneous work, it seems like a lab for experimenting with new sounds for the future Genesis, trying to give it real value, and with the instrumental "Thirty-threes", it hints at the dark atmospheres that will be more evident in "Genesis" towards the end of the year with "Mama" and "Second Home By The Sea", two of the group's best songs in this career phase. But the rest is really of little substance, starting with the dull "This Is Love", low-chart pop with a curious and disorienting interlude compared to the song's reggae flow. Furthermore, the singing is expressionless and unsuitable for solo parts, but the instrumental part highlights Banks' early '80s interest in filtered sounds, sampling, and programming experiments.
At least note the instrumental "Charm", which anticipates the "robotic" synth of "I Can't Dance" in the first part.
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