Tony Banks – Banks Vaults: The Albums 1979 – 1995 (7CD/DVD) – Info & review

The original intention was to re-release all of Tony Banks’ solo albums on CD/DVD – remixed and remastered. There would be not just a new mix on the albums but also a bonus DVD with a 5.1 surround sound version and bonus material, if available. Unfortunately, this series was not continued after A Curious Feeling and The Fugitive. When we spoke with Tony about FIVE in our GNC interview last year (click here) he seemed at a loss at how to proceed.

The announcement in May came as a surprise, then: All solo albums will now be re-released in a 7CD/DVD set. This includes the soundtrack for The Wicked Lady. There will also be a bonus DVD with eight promotional videos that were shot during Tony’s solo career. The set is called Banks Vaults: The Albums 1979-1995, and will be released by Esoteric/CherryRed in mid-July.

The package

The set comes in some sort of double secured slipcase (there is an outer case and an inner case). The single CDs and the DVD come in cardsleeves and are integrated in the slipcase besides the book. Images of the finished product can be seen in this article.

The full 60-page booklet contains all lyrics and information about each album (as well as their covers and photos from the period – some of them even rare and unavailable until today or other takes from the sessions back then) in chronological order. Why The Wicked Ladyhas been placed at the rear of the book, even behind the information about the bonus DVD, remains unclear.

Nevertheless, the whole package is high quality!

Sound, Remaster and Remixes

Nick Davis had begun to remix the albums. But after Esoteric stopped the CD/DVD 5.1-Surround reissues, new mixes of the albums were discontinued. We now know that the albums A Curious Feeling, The Fugitive and parts of Soundtracks have been remixed. Some tracks from Bankstatement have also been remixed (please check the track list below to see which songs), but Still and Strictly Inc were not remixed. The question why Nick Davis didn’t finish the remixes remained unclear until Tony Banks himself explained this in our inerview him from 27th June 2019 (click here to read it). It was neither necessary nor affordable to do that with the later tracks. The Wicked Lady actually contains the same mix that was already used in 2013 for the CD release that has gone out of print since.

Remastering was done at Abbey Road Studios by Nick Davis and Mike Showell using 24-bit digital re-mastering. Showell is also responsible for the remaster of Seconds Out (vinyl version, released in June 2019) and the Collins back catalogue, which came out remastered in 2016.

The CDs themselves do not contain any additional bonus material, but there is a bonus DVD with music videos. The box set does not contain 5.1 surround versions and also the bonus DVD is in stereo only.

The tracklists of the individual discs

CD1: A Curious Feeling*

From The Undertow

Lucky Me

The Lie

After The Lie

A Curious Feeling

Forever Morning

You

Somebody Else’s Dream

The Waters Of Lethe

For A While

In The Dark

Remastered 2019 by Miles Showell and Nick Davis at Abbey Road Studios

CD2: The Fugitive*

This Is Love

Man Of Spells

And The Wheels Keep Turning

Say You’ll Never Leave Me

Thirty Three’s

By You

At The Edge Of Night

Charm

Moving Under

K

Sometime Never

Remastered 2019 by Miles Showell and Nick Davis at Abbey Road Studios

CD3: Soundtracks

Shortcut To Somewhere*

Smilin’ Jack Casey

Rebirth

Gypsy

Final Chase

You Call This Victory*

Lion Of Symmetry*

Redwing*

Lorca

Kid And Detective Droid

Lift Off

Death Of Abby

produced by Tony Banks except:

CD4: Bankstatement

Throwback*

I’ll Be Waiting*

Queen Of Darkness*

That Night

Raincloud

The Border*

Big Man*

A House Needs A Roof

The More I Hide It*

Diamonds Aren’t So Hard

Thursday The Twelfth*

produced by Tony Banks and Steve Hillage

CD5: Still

Red Day On Blue Street

Angel Face

The Gift

Still It Takes Me By Surprise

Hero For An Hour

I Wanna Change The Score

Water Out Of Wine

Another Murder Of A Day

Back To Back

The Final Curtain

produced by Tony Banks and Nick Davis

CD6: Strictly Inc

Don’t Turn Your Back On Me

Walls Of Sound

Only Seventeen

The Serpent Said

Never Let Me Know

Charity Balls

Something To Live For

A Piece Of You

Strictly Incognito

An Island In The Darkness

CD7: The Wicked Lady

Music from the film

The Wicked Lady

Portrait Of Jerry Jackson

Caroline’s Theme

Scherzo

Pastorale

Prelude To The Wicked Lady

Kit’s Theme

Finale

Versions played by Tony Banks

Barbara

The Chase

Spring

Kit

Repentance

Caroline

Jerry Jackson

The Wicked Lady (custom version)

Remastered 2019 by Miles Showell and Nick Davis at Abbey Road Studios

DVD: Videos

For A While

The Waters Of Lethe

This Is Love

Shortcut To Somewhere

Throwback

I Wanna Change The Score

The Gift

Only Seventeen

The bonus DVD contains eight promotional videos made over the years for songs by Tony Banks. Some of them are rather banal, but they are all part of the Genesis history and so it’s nice to see them published here. The bonus DVD has only stereo sound.

Banks Vaults: The Albums 1979-1995 was released on July 19th and can be purchased at CherryRed or amazon-UK.

You may discuss this release in our forum in this thread.