Tony Banks

Genesis of Dreams: The Genesis Keyboard Architect Who Shaped Progressive Rock

De: Caius D. Merrow

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Tony Banks has always been Genesis’ quiet architect—the keyboardist whose piano, organ, and synthesizer landscapes defined the sound of progressive rock, yet whose name was often eclipsed by Peter Gabriel’s theatrics and Phil Collins’ pop stardom. Tony Banks — Genesis of Dreams is the first full-length biography to place Banks at the center of Genesis’ story, treating him not as background accompanist but as the band’s indispensable architect of continuity.

From his childhood in East Heath immersed in Rachmaninoff and choir hymns, through Charterhouse friendships with Gabriel and Rutherford, to the first fragile studio sessions under Jonathan King, Banks emerges as the disciplined strategist who transformed youthful sketches into coherent, symphonic rock. Each chapter tracks a decisive era: the grandeur of Foxtrot, the risk of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Gabriel’s dramatic 1975 exit, Collins’ reluctant rise, Hackett’s departure, and the band’s pivot into chart-dominating stadium tours with Invisible Touch and We Can’t Dance.

Along the way, the book examines Banks’ solo projects, soundtrack scores, and his arsenal of instruments—from Mellotron choirs to Prophet-5 synths—that became central to progressive rock’s vocabulary. It also situates Genesis within larger cultural and technological shifts: the economics of labels, the rise of MTV, the transition from vinyl to digital, and the eventual streaming era.

By weaving scene-by-scene storytelling with scholarly analysis, Genesis of Dreams reframes Genesis as Banks’ long architectural project. Far from being overshadowed, he is revealed as the composer whose discipline held the band together through decades of rupture and reinvention. For fans of Genesis, progressive rock, or the history of modern music, this is the definitive portrait of the man whose keyboards built cathedrals of sound and whose legacy now stands poised to influence conservatory studies.