Lane Records/Truth Music artist: The Black Gold Orchestra - Genesis - New Release Review

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Genesis, from The Black Gold Orchestra and it's exciting. Opening with Gyau (Walton's Call)/On The Move, with Melvin Jones, Michael Cruse, Terrence Harper and Steven Fowller on trumpet and Mike Walton, Frank Houston, Mike Burton, Derrick James, Jamel Mitchell and Fareed Maluhli on trumpets and Wilbert Williams, Derrick  White, Herman Spearman, Wilbert Neal and Christopher Burns on trombone. What a powerhouse horn section. Walton and Jones really crank up the heat with dynamic solos and Larry Wilson really nails with spectacular drum and percussion work making this an exceptional opener. Midnight Oil is a really cool track with a driving bass line by Joel Powell and featuring great work by Cruse on trumpet, Rod Harris Jr. on guitar and Banks Jr on piano. Intoxicating Beauty has a really nice melody line laid out by Houston on sax and full orchestral compliment. I really like the trombone solo by Herman Spearman on Merging Lanes and rich sax work by Jamel Miller is out of sight carried by the deep groove of Powell on bass and the fireworks of Wilson on drums. Wrapping the release is high strung, NutVille Remix featuring a cool, heavily bent guitar solo by Clay Benjamin and Larry Wilson on keys. Excellent closer for an excellent release. 

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TONY BANKS RELEASES BRAND NEW ORCHESTRAL ALBUM 'FIVE' TODAY

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE ON CD/LP/DIGITAL 

"Five is a gorgeous collection" - Best Classic Bands

"A wonderful piece of work." - SongFacts

"5 is a shining gem of sonic beauty that is truly deserving of your attention and a round of emphatic applause. Bravo, Mr. Banks!" - Cryptic Rock 

"Fifty years ago Tony Banks started bringing pastoral English eccentricity to nascent progressive rock with Genesis. Now he’s taking this most dignified (but difficult) next giant step for any classically-grounded prog pioneer by bringing up to date and thus keeping alive the music that first inspired him." - Prog

 Tony Banks today releases his brand new orchestral album entitled Five via BMG. Five is available on CD, double 12” gatefold vinyl, digital download and stream.

To celebrate its release, Billboard.com is premiering a behind the scenes look into the making of the album. Click here to watch

A Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee as a member of Genesis (2010), Five is Banks’ tenth album outside of the band and his third orchestral album following the releases of Seven: A Suite for Orchestra (2004) and Six Pieces for Orchestra (2012).

Five is a collection of five compositions written by Tony Banks and was produced by long-time collaborator Nick Davis. Nick Ingman, renowned orchestrator and conductor, agreed to be involved in the project immediately after hearing the demos played to him personally by Banks. Ingman has worked with a plethora of artists and musicians from David Bowie and Oasis to the London Symphony Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

The recording was built up over various sessions, the first in London’s Angel Studios where solos and percussion were recorded before a transfer to Prague for a week where concentrated sets of three sessions a day with the orchestra and choir. Recording section by section is a more rock/pop method and seen as unorthodox for an orchestral album, but this method allowed Banks, who also played all of the piano parts*, to use his vast musical experience and give himself greater creative control.

The impetus for Five was a commission for the 70th Cheltenham Music Festival in 2014, for which Banks composed the original version of what now appears as the opening track, ‘Prelude to a Million Years’. Then it was entitled ‘Arpegg’ and received its world première on Saturday 5 July 2014 with Maxime Tortelier conducting the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

Following some consideration, Banks and Davis worked on four further pieces to join ‘Arpegg’ and form this new album. Feeling incomplete as an album of four compositions, Banks pulled inspiration from an earlier piece composed during his Genesis days and named it ‘Renaissance’ which completed the album.

CLICK HERE TO STREAM "PRELUDE TO A MILLION YEARS"

CLICK HERE FOR A LIVE PERFORMANCE VIDEO OF "PRELUDE TO A MILLION YEARS"

                                                       

Tracklist:
01. Prelude To A Million Years
02. Reveille
03. Ebb And Flow
04. Autumn Sonata
05. Renaissance 

Producer Nick Davis
Orchestrations/Conductor Nick Ingman      

Click here to purchase and/or stream Five    

Photo credit: Emily Banks

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