PETER BANKS
archives
the
Two Sides Of Peter Banks
Released 1973.
Sovereign SMAS 11217 [UK]
Sovereign 5C062-94664 [Netherlands]
Capitol SMAS 11217 [USA]
CD issues
2003 One Way S21-18009 [USA]
2008 Arcàngelo ARC-7286 [Japan]
2009 Esoteric eclec2165 [UK]
2010 Arcàngelo ARC-8026/27 [Japan] (SHM CD+CD mastered from LP)
TRACKS
1. Vision of the King (Banks)
2. White House Vale (Banks)
3. Knights (Banks)
4. Battles (Akkerman, Banks)
5. Last Ellipse (Banks)
6. Beyond the Loneliest Sea (Akkerman)
7. Stop That! (Akkerman, Banks)
8. Get Out of My Fridge (Akkerman, Banks)
Recorded at Advision Studios, London, England from November 1972 to June 1973. Geoff Young – engineer.
Personnel:
Peter Banks: Electric & Acoustic Guitar, Synthesizers, Fender Piano / Jan Akkerman: Electric & Classical Guitar / John Wetton: Bass / Ray Bennett: Bass / Mike Hough: Drums / Phil Collins: Drums
by Rolling Stone magazine, Aug 25, 1973
by Bob Eichler
This album is more of a collaboration between Banks and Jan Akkerman than a true solo album. Akkerman has co-writing credits on most of the tracks, and even full credit for the acoustic guitar ballad “Beyond the Loneliest Sea”. The interaction of the two guitarists is what really makes this album stand out for me – they’re both good on their own, and they’re great together. The first half of the disc (the original “side one” of the vinyl) consists of a continuous suite of songs, with composed sections and repeated themes alternating with solos and jams. Side two is mostly made up of the lengthy jam entitled “Stop That!”. Both sides are good, but overall I think I prefer the more composed side one. The entire album is instrumental, so those who must have lyrics may be disappointed. A word of warning – don’t be fooled by the impressive list of musicians on the back of the jewel case (Phil Collins, Steve Hackett, John Wetton, etc). What the packaging fails to mention is that most of those guys are only on a track or two. Still, this is a very enjoyable album, and definitely increased my respect for Peter Banks (who, before hearing this disc, I just thought of as “the guy who was kicked out of Yes so they could hire Steve Howe”).
Source: http://www.progreviews.com/reviews/display.php?rev=pb-ts
by Joe McGlinchey
The original Yes guitarist’s solo debut, made at some point while he was in Flash, features quite a line-up of guest artists. Predominantly, these are Jan Akkerman of Focus, who is Banks’ main collaborator, Phil Collins, and Flash bandmates Ray Bennett and Mike Hough. Briefer cameos are provided from Steve Hackett and a John Wetton who was just dipping his toes into King Crimson at the time.
The album opens with a beautiful electric guitar duet, Banks’ classic volume pedal tones and Akkerman ringing out with sad, gothic fifths characteristic of his work in Focus. The other duet, Akkerman’s “Beyond the Loneliest Sea,” is even more impressive, with more weeping willow support from Banks and Akkerman laying down some luscious classical guitar.
Banks takes the ball and runs alone with “White House Vale,” a melodic guitar poem which showcases some of his own classical moves, with a brief interlude that presages the next piece, “Knights.” The main riff of the two-parter “Knights,” incidentally, is almost exactly like one of main themes from Wendy Carlos’ Tron composed a decade later, though the similarity is almost certainly coincidental. On Banks’ post-Yes albums, he inevitably lets fly some terrific electric guitar solos, in the John McLaughlin “let them eat cake ’cause I’m gonna wing this mutha” spirit of sloppy exploration, even if it sounds nothing like Mahavishnu Orchestra. Here you can find that on “Knights” and “Stop That!” The album closes with a fun, and one can only assume tongue-in-cheek, electric hoedown between Banks and Akkerman entitled “Get Out of My Fridge.”
This album certainly won’t be to everyone’s taste (solo guitar album — hello!). However, it’s a shame that outside of Yes fandom — and sometimes even within it — Banks hasn’t really gotten his full recognition as an outstanding guitarist in his own right. Listening to this, I am reminded of that seemingly long-gone era of guitarists, who didn’t need to rely at all on a cadre of effect boxes or studio trickery, but had a command of the instrument that can only be had by playing and playing and playing.
Source: http://www.progreviews.com/reviews/display.php?rev=pb-ts
by Gary Niederhoff
I’ll grab pretty much any solo or spin-off LP from my favorite bands, and I’ve learned not to get my hopes too high. I have to admit, though, that the impressive guests featured on this ex-Yes/Flash guitarist’s first and only solo album for 20 years got them up a notch higher than I’d had for any Steve Howe release. The lack of vocal credits was another promising aspect, assuring a 43 minute instrumental onslaught. Most of the project was actually co-piloted by Jan Akkerman of Focus fame, and his input is noticeable at many points throughout the album. The framework is built around the two guitarists, side two containing a couple of loose jams which are quite enjoyable when taken as just that. Interspersed portions of the album are made up of noodly and jazzy guitar duets, sometimes with Akkerman, sometimes with Peter doing multiple tracks, split between the two stereo channels. The true splendor of this album, however, is brought to fore on side one in the trilogy of “Knights”, “Battles”, & “Knights- Reprise”, the latter of which features Steve Hackett on guitar, Phil Collins on drums and John Wetton on bass. The structure of these songs, like the material on side two, is somewhat flimsy by some prog standards, but launches into awesome guitar riffs, cycles through repeated themes and capitalizes well on the instrumental talents of the guests. Thanks to that, this LP didn’t leave the turntable (except to occasionally flip it) for a week or two. A pleasant surprise.
Source: http://www.progreviews.com/reviews/display.php?rev=pb-ts
All tracks written by Peter Banks except tracks 2, 6, 9, 12 – Banks/Goff and track 11 – Banks/Forth.
Published by Momentum Music Ltd. except track 11 – Momentum Music Ltd/Copyright Control.
Recorded at Basically Portable: Los Angeles; London Final Mix at Zero One, Surrey, England
Instinct
Released in 1993. HTD Records/Wildcat WLD-9205 [UK]
Reissued in 1999. Transatlantic TRACD 309 [UK]. Castle Music America 517 [USA].
TRACKS
1. No Place Like Home
2. All Points South
3. Fogbound
4. Sticky Wicket
5. Shortcomings
6. Code Blue
7. Angels
8. Anima Mundi
9. Swamp Report
10. Instinctive Behavior
11. Dominating Factor
12. Never The Same
by Mott The Dog
This superb, but alarmingly underrated guitarist has a fine pedigree, first coming to notice in the mid sixties in a wonderful flower power band called “Syn” with a certain Chris Squires on bass, then joined by vocalist Jon Anderson they became the marvellously monickered “Mabel Greer’s Toy Shop”. Finding this a bit of a mouthful, and with the addition of Toy Kaye on keyboards & Bill Bruford on drums, they found instant international acclaim as “Yes”.
Two wonderful albums followed “Yes”& “Time and a Word”, and at this point Peter Banks was booted out, due to his ambitions of entertaining an audience rather than trying to educate them (it was at this point that Mott became a fan, always wanting to have fun & cowering from education). To this day, Yes guitarist Steve Howe, and Trevor Rabin have made a career out of copying Bank’s trademark guitar licks.
Peter Banks went on to form “Flash” who released 3 respectable albums, once described as “Yes music played by Thunder & Lightning”, before being swamped by bad management & punk rock. After spending the eighties mainly in session work & looking for suitable musicians to work with, Peter Banks went solo in the nineties with this enchanting album “Instinct”.
From the opening rippling guitar chords of opening cut “No Place Home” to the final bell which closes the album your ears are held in thrall by this maestro of the six string.
An instrumental album, it always holds your attention by its diversity and humour (you will have to listen to the music to get that). Satriani, Vai, and Co would give their eye teeth to put out such a fine collection of fretwork & tunes.
The two central passages are track 4, “Sticky Wickets” played on a midi guitar synthesizer, which starts out funky, and then turns itself inside out to reach a shattering climax.
Before you have time to push the repeat button Banks is off again with track 5, “Short Comings” totally tasteless and not at all Jazzy with a relentless four in the bar bass drum, the night of a thousand guitars with Peter Banks, the fastest guitar slinger in town.
The final track is “Never The Same” a moving tribute to Peter Banks’s late mother. Never has such a beautiful piece of music been played on the electric guitar.
If you hear this music, like me I’m sure you will be mystified why Peter Banks is not an international star. The album cover & the inside sleeve notes are worth the price of the CD alone so you cannot lose. Dogs have superb instinct, trust this dogs instinct, and add this “Instinct” to you collection, you won’t regret it.
by Saley David William
Excellent instrumental rack guitar album. He must have been working on this ever since Flash broke up you can tell a lot of time and effort was put into each piece. There is a bit of experiment in this project and I think it turned out well. One funny thing in a lot of the tracks there are noises and voices in in the background and in track 5 “Shortcomings” you you can barely hear this woman say a reunion but where is Peter Banks? I guess that is his shot at Yes. A good album for people who like Steve Howe, Hackett Vai (he admits to being inspired by Vai on one tune- easy to tell which one also) etc. A guitar enthusiast must.
Source: http://www.wilmington.net/yes/back-issues/0112
by All Music, Paul Collins
Emerging from a two-decade exile from recording, Banks released this album of rock instrumentals. It’s clearly a personal production for him; the liner notes give the biographical context of each song, which lends them a resonance that they might otherwise lack. The songs themselves, though not always especially compelling given the apparent lack of live drums, show Banks’s chops still in fine form. Often they’re shot through with odd little voice and broadcast samples. The pointedly titled “Shortcomings,” for example, combines Oliver North testifying that Iran-Contra was “a neat idea” with a caller to a Yes radio interview asking why Banks hadn’t been invited to a reunion concert. (Ouch.) The series of over-the-top hammer-ons that run through the song musically beg that question: “Surely I’m as good as Trevor Rabin?” Ah well. At least Banks has kept his sense of humor, for as his liner notes muse, “If you enjoy listening to it half as much as the enjoyment had recording it, then I have had twice as much fun as you!”
Source: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:aifexqehld6e
Self-Contained
Released on January 31, 1995.
One Way Records OW 30339 [USA]
TRACKS
1. Radio Foreplay (Banks) – 0:55
2. Endless Journey (Banks) – 1:47
3. More Foreplay (Banks) – 1:09
4. Massive Trouser Clearance (Banks, Goff) – 7:27
5. Lost Days (Banks) – 2:34
6. Away Days (Banks) – 2:42
7. Two-Rides (Banks) – 1:14
8. Self-Contained (Banks) – 2:21
9. Clues (Banks) – 7:56
10. The Three Realms (Banks) – 5:17
11. Tell Me When (Banks) – 7:38
12. Funkin’ Profundity (Banks) – 6:15
13. It’s All Greek to Me (Banks) – 24:06
14. Thinking of You (Banks) – 4:11
Recorded at Basically Portable, London, England.
Personnel
Peter Banks: Various Instruments.
Gerald Goff: Keyboards.
by All Music, Mike DeGagne
The third solo release from this former Yes guitarist will most certainly please guitar buffs, but the 21 tracks from Self-Contained can grow a little tedious as Banks’ six string athletics take their course. Much more intricate than his work with Flash or Empire, Self-Contained is made up of full-fledged guitar manipulation and techniques, and although there are periodic smatterings of keyboard work from Gerald Goff, they’re only present to add a little bit of texture to Banks’ guitar playing. But even through the electric grind of bent chords and distorted notes, some appeal finds its way into the light. There’s a solid progressive rock feel on the eight different segments of “It’s All Greek to Me,” which is the best example of both fluctuation and melody, while shorter pieces like “Away Days” and “Clues” are easier to listen to when singled out, that is without listening to the album from beginning to end. Self-Contained is even more expressive (and more experimental) than both The Two Sides of Peter Banks and 1993′s Instinct, as Banks opts to reveal his proficiency as a guitarist first, putting any signs of musical fluency on the back burner.
Source: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0ifixquhldae
Reduction
Released November 29, 1999.
Castle Music America 542 [USA]
HTD Records 76 [UK]
TRACKS
1. Diminuendo in Bloom 1:38
2. Tone Down 6:56
3. The Age of Distortion 4:28
4. Fade to Blue 2:48
5. Fathat 3:48
6. As Night Falls… 2:32
7. Consolation in Isolation 4:24
8. Dirty Little Secret 3:59
9. As Ever 2:08
10. Pirate’s Pleasure 4:20
11. Rosa Nova 9:11
All songs written by
Peter Banks.
by All Music
If you’re expecting to hear a reproduction of Instinct on Reduction, you’ll have to settle instead for less. Peter Banks falls prey to the allure of gizmos, drowning out his own guitar work with drumbox beats and synthetic basslines. If the spoken snippets suggest Robert Fripp circa Exposure, the guitar distortion and aimless arrangements point squarely to Adrian Belew’s Desire Caught By the Tail (and you don’t want to be pointing at that). Like Belew’s failed first instrumental album, Reduction finds the guitarist sleepwalking through various settings, some languorous and others lively, trotting out the same by-now familiar sounds once too often. Banks doesn’t need to look beyond his guitar for inspiration; when he unplugs the drumbox for “Fade to Blue” and “Consolation in Isolation,” listeners are able to cut through the distractions and get to the core of Banks’ appeal. More than one good guitarist has been mesmerized by mechanical add-ons, as if audiences expect the guitarist to carry the weight of an entire album. And yet it’s fair to assume that most people who bought Reduction were hoping to hear Banks play his guitar, not diddle around with drum machines and club beats. Maybe one or two examples of aggressive rock would have been interesting for a change of pace (“Dirty Little Secret” does it very well), but Peter Banks would do better to stick to quieter, self-standing compositions. Songwriting has never been his strength — technique has. Better to put the toys away and let his original talents rise to the surface.
Source: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:3xfixqrkld0e
Can I Play You Something?
Released 1999. Blueprint BP301CD [UK]
Reissued on June 12, 2012 by Purple Pyramid Records as The Roots Of Yes 1964-68 [USA]
TRACKS
1. Can I Play You Something? Peter Banks, back insert
2. Bang/Crash Peter Gunn (recorded live in Los Angeles, 1980)
3. Hippie Loop
4. 14 Hour Technicolour Dream (The Syn, 1967)
5. You Better Move On (The Devil’s Disciples, 1965)
6. Beyond And Before (Demo - Mabel Greer’s Toyshop, 1968)
7. Beyond And Before (What Bass? Mix - Mabel Greer’s Toyshop, 1968)
8. Lima Loop
9. Grounded (The Syn, 1967)
10. For Your Love (The Devil’s Disciples, 1965)
11. Flowerman (Demo - The Syn, 1967)
12. Flowerman (The Syn, 1967)
13. Yesterdays
14. Electric Funeral (Demo - Mabel Greer’s Toyshop, 1968)
15. Electric Funeral (Radio Fun Mix - Mabel Greer’s Toyshop, 1968)
16. Cinnamon Touch
17. Get Yourself Together (Demo - Mabel Greer’s Toyshop, 1968)
18. Created By Clive (The Syn, 1967)
19. Images Of You And Me (Radio Fun Mix - Mabel Greer’s Toyshop, 1968)
20. I Saw You! (Bang/Crash - Yes, 1969?/70? “Affirmative Duo”) (Banks/Bruford)
21. No Time
by The Music Index
For many Peter Banks is the forgotten man of Yes which is a shame as Peter was a founder member of that band and as such an important part of the jigsaw. Although Peter likes to look forward and has released a number of fine solo albums I get the impression he is quite proud of his time in Yes and his pre-Yes incarnation. His previous project was Something’s Coming, a double CD containing radio and TV performances of Yes prior to his departure in 1970.
For this release Peter goes back to recordings made between 1964 and 1968 including his appearances in The Syn and Mabel Greer’s Toyshop, two names familiar to Yes fans as they precluded the creation of that band. As a document of what went before Yes, this is a fascinating dig into the past and includes material that would eventually appear on the first Yes album.
It is unlikely that this album will appeal to people other than those in the Yes circle, or those interested in British psychedelia. However there is a growing audience for archive material like this and all credit to Peter Banks for putting it all together. The sleeve is suitably reflective of the music contained inside and the copious sleeve notes are informative and entertaining. I look forward now to some reissued Flash material, or better still, some new stuff.
Source: http://www.themusicindex.com/rockahead/reviews/pbanks2.htm
by mwe3.com
When it comes to English progressive rock music, the U.K.-based Voiceprint Records and their auxiliary label Blueprint have got it down to a science. Fans of English rock icons such as Robert Wyatt, Soft Machine, Roy Harper, Asia and Gong are among the many illustrious artists featured in the Voiceprint catalog. The Blueprint division has been quite active of late and among the label’s more intriguing offerings is a comprehensive compilation of early recordings retracing the career of U.K. guitar hero Peter Banks. Subtitled The Pre-Yes Years – Recordings From 1964-1968, the recently released Can I Play You Something? answers a number of questions regarding the groups Banks recorded with prior to joining Yes in 1968. While progressive rock fans are quite well aware of Banks’ early work with Yes and his following group Flash, Banks’ early career was something of an enigma – until now. Can I Play You Something? revives 21 sundry tracks including some fabulous sounding songs by the pre-Yes bands Syn and Mabel Greer’s Toyshop, both of which featured a young Pete Banks performing alongside Yes founder Chris Squire and Squire’s early songwriting ally Clive Bailey. Rough sounding demos and various mixes blend nicely with a number of rarely heard pop curios with the CD taking on the aura of a well documented bootleg. Anyone interested in the heady psychedelic pop scene of swinging London in the late ‘60s, and specifically about the evolution of Yes, is recommended to check out the well documented Can I Play You Something? www.voiceprint.co.uk
Source: http://www.mwe3.com/archive/pastreview/2000/resummr2000.htm=
by All Music, Richie Unterberger
While he is most known as the first guitarist for Yes, Peter Banks passed through four other groups in the four years before he joined the band in August 1968. Much of this CD is devoted to odds and ends from those projects, yet the subtitle “The Pre-Yes Recordings from 1964-1968″ is a little deceptive. In fact, only a little more than half of the 22 tracks are from that era. The others are mysterious undated bits and pieces, most functioning as unnecessary arty “link” tracks and sounding as if they were recorded several decades later than the 1960s, although “Peter Gunn” is a live 1980 performance by the Peter Banks Band. What this manages to do is annoyingly impede the flow of rarities, which would indeed have sounded much more organic if Banks (who assembled the disc himself) had just slapped everything on in chronological order. Getting past the structural flaws to the bulk of the CD itself, it bundles a couple of songs (probably unreleased, although it’s not totally clear from the annotation) by his mid-’60s group the Devil’s Disciples; some but not all of the cuts from the 1967 singles by his fine, obscure psychedelic band Syn (which also included future Yes-man Chris Squire on bass), as well as a demo of one of those singles, “Flowerman”; and a few numbers by his subsequent, even more obscure psychedelic group, Mabel Greer’s Toyshop. Syn’s “14 Hour Technicolour Dream” is one of the greatest British psychedelic flower-power singles, and their “Grounded” is an excellent straight mod rock number; the Mabel Greer’s Toyshop cuts are okay but rather par-for-the-course British psychedelia, replete with the usual harmonies and slightly distorted guitar leads. The Devil’s Disciples tunes are nothing more than ordinary covers of Arthur Alexander’s “You Better Move On” and the Yardbirds’ “For Your Love.” Some of the Mabel Greer’s Toyshop songs are labeled as “radio fun” or “what bass?” mixes, yet the liner notes do not go into meaningful detail as to whether these are different mixes done in the 1960s, different mixes done recently, or how they are different in a way that should make listeners care. Banks has provided detailed and entertaining liner notes about many of the tracks, and a family tree of his progress through various groups up to Yes, yet manages not to make it entirely clear what the sources for all the vintage cuts were. There’s some good music here, but the unnecessarily obtuse packaging makes it hard to fully appreciate; in addition, the best cuts (by Syn) have long circulated on numerous collector-oriented British psychedelic rarity compilations.
Source: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kiftxqr0ldke bb
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