Tony Banks
The Wicked Lady

Tony Banks' solo production is considered by many critics as an underwhelming expression of Banks' compositional talent. To many, the keyboardist demonstrates extraordinary talent with Genesis but delivers very little when focusing on his own works. His debut with "A Curious Feeling" in '79 actually arose from the break the band took to allow Phil Collins to recover after the end of his marriage; it was a good effort but not exceptional, with much of its strength and charm lying predominantly in the instrumentals. In the early '80s, Banks decided to dive into soundtracks but this choice would not be rewarded. Tony found himself composing for films with little commercial impact and soon abandoned film music.

"The Wicked Lady" is the soundtrack for the film of the same name that Tony crafted in '83. The film would be a partial flop, and this work would quickly be forgotten by the author and critics alike. It is not available on CD today, found only on Atlantic vinyl; it's a US pressing, a small rarity. A Genesis fan may find the work interesting because it is essentially a collection of instrumental tracks that are an expression of Banks' talent in composing melodies of great impact and complexity without ever betraying that calmness and humility that make Tony the antithesis of colleagues like Wakeman and Emerson. The record presents the orchestral version of the soundtrack and, much more interestingly, the home demos of all the tracks. Tony, in his home studio, recorded all the compositions utilizing his vast knowledge of the world of synthetic sounds, thus, "The Wicked Lady" assumes a charm all its own, a journey into the work of a composer. The theme of "The Wicked Lady" is a composition with a very pop base, a fixed drum and bass setup over which Tony adds the main theme on synth—a track that in its framework recalls the Genesis era. "Spring" is a piano piece with an organ part insertion, "Chase" is yet another organ piece over a fluid plot of synthetic sounds, a powerful and very interesting track. The more romantic Tony emerges in "Caroline," a piano piece with synth harmonizations for a melody that shifts from gentle to epic, and "Barbara," a piano recapture of the main theme.

Many of these tracks demonstrate they have the potential for a life of their own, detached from a cinematic context, but Tony would not give these compositions further consideration, and all would end up forgotten as Banks focused more on writing "Invisible Touch," an album he inexplicably still loves to this day.