Genesis/Tony Banks Covers

Doesn't get enough love tbh.

I don't know if anyone's done a cover of Throwback? Anyway, here's one to fill the void. Full of cheesy 80/90's horns.Strictly (inc) speaking, this one comes under the pile of guilty pleasures. I'm not a fan of the horn sound, either with the original or this one - a bit too eager to try and find a 'Collins' sound, if you ask me. But the bridge is probably the best part of the tune.Please note, I can't mix for toffee and the only effects I use here are some stereo widening and reverb. Also, not done very well. However, it is what it is.

Instrumentally a cover. Vocally a rip from the original.

It's strange how adding a vocal can considerably change a mix, volume-wise and sometimes other fundamentals. Parts that were high in the mix on the non-vocal version has been lowered and other parts are mixed higher.

Entirely VST - no real guitars were harmed in making this. Guitar tracks created by my own software, hopefully a certain level of realism is achieved, although I can spot where it's not perfect.

The guitar tabs were from a YouTube video (I will post the link when I find it).

Now with added Mellotron choir (slight).

Now with added percussion (shaker/tambourine).

As an experiment to see if the music stands up to the original with the vocals, this is my version albeit with vocals ripped from the original song (Spectralayers 9). I've had to re-time the vocals a little bit. I think the second half is more successful than the first half and it's obvious I don't have professional mixing or mastering but for something I've had to figure the music out for myself I'm quite pleased with it.

As this contains original vocals copyright must be respected a bit more than a usual cover. I haven't sought permission for the vocals and I make no claim to any part of this version of the track apart from the instrumentation and arrangement of the backing track.

There is always the instrumental version available elsewhere on my playlists.

Maybe time to give the album Calling All Stations some love? No?

Provide your own vocals.

Instruments used:

DX7 (VST)

Padshop

Halion

Groove Agent

Bass Guitar

Ovation Guitar

Yamaha Piano as controller

Wavestation (VST)

Cubase 12 Pro

'Congo' sample taken from the original track, but played around with - everything else either live or quantized!

Requires mixing properly. One of Tony's simpler tracks it still has the ability to surprise with a few twists and turns. The Fugitive album is, for me, one of the lesser albums but there are some good tracks (and some inspiring music) like Charm. Done as a bit of fun and most of the instrumentation is an approximation. I like to use slightly different sounds to the original to bring (at least part of) it past the 80s.

VST instruments used (Halion, Padshop) and the guitar is a mixture of Stratocaster and Ovation acoustic. I haven't played a guitar in a couple of years (it shows) and now my fingers hurt.

I've used some stereo widening and converted most of the mono tracks to stereo in the process. The whole thing has taken 3 weeks (an hour or two at a time every couple of days).

Still not as good as the real thing, which I suggest you buy.

A slightly different version of Tony Banks' In The Dark from the album A Curious Feeling. The whole thing is from memory and not from a MIDI, or analysis of the original track so I'm not confident the chords are correct. However, they seem to fit ok and don't sound horrific so that's good enough for me.

Featuring:

Waves Audio CP70/80 VST (now replaced with the Yamaha)

Prologue 2 - Synth Bass

Halion - Synth Bass

Padshop - Strings, Pads

Symphonic Orchestra - Oboe

No quantizing at all on this :)

Originally performed on a Yamaha piano the MIDI was recorded and replayed using the Waves Audio CP70/80 VST via Cubase. The Clarinet was recorded via the iMac keyboard (!) and the same with the bass. The backing strings and pads were recorded via the piano with the swell modulation added in post (no mod/pitch wheels on the piano).

Obviously this is not exactly like the original recording and has been worked out by ear (loosely). But I think it sounds pretty good for a first attempt. Quite pleased with the result.

11-April-2021 - Re-recorded the synth basses

I wanted to give this a go - writing is a bit of a blank at the moment. Varying degrees of success and failure on this, but as a first try I'm happy with it. Certain things are missing and the whole thing is unfinished. There's no guitar solo either - cuz I'm a rubbish guitarist.

All VST apart from guitars and bass.

The drums are VST, albeit played live with an e-drumkit.

There are some Simmons samples in this!! Gotta love the 80s!

Revisions:

2022-07-13 - Synth Bass redone

2023-02-14 - Added DX7 (Dexed), re-eq of snare and some guitar