About the band/artist: a bit of a conundrum here, as the song is sometimes ascribed to the band Strictly Inc., and sometimes to Tony Banks. Strictly Inc. was a short lived 'band' formed by Tony Banks with Wang Chung lead vocalist Jack Hues. Tony Banks (1950) is a Brittish musician, songwriter and film composer, primarily known as the keyboardist and founding member of the rock band Genesis. Banks is also a prolific solo artist, releasing six solo albums that range through progressive rock, pop, and especially classical music. Strictly Inc/Tony Banks currently have one song in my list of about 200 best pop/rock songs of all time.
About the song: in 1995, almost 20 years after the last progressive masterpiece by Genesis (One for the vine from the Wind and wuthering album), Tony Banks came up with this 17 minutes gem on the otherwise rather mediocre self-titled Strictly Inc. album. The singer is more than adequate, but the real strength of the song is the plethora of gorgeous instrumental passages, not only the pianowork from Banks himself, but also the guitar play of Daryl Stuermer. In many ways, this anachronistic and nostalgic epic reminds me of one of the best Genesis songs, Firth of Fifth. Run time 17:20.
