The 1991 Genesis song Tony Banks always resented: “It sounds like Phil a bit”
Genesis found their footing as an unconventional prog-rock band under the leadership of Peter Gabriel but gradually migrated to a more pop-conscious sound.
When Gabriel departed Genesis in 1974, the reins were left to the capable hands of drummer Phil Collins, with Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford completing the core longstanding trio.
Towards the end of the ’70s, Collins’ effervescent creative whim began to spill over into a solo career. His penchant for soul-tinged pop wasn’t entirely shared by Banks and Rutherford, who also set their sights on respective solo endeavours at this juncture.
That evolution in Genesis’ sound remains one of the most divisive aspects of the band’s legacy. For some longtime fans, the move away from sprawling progressive compositions toward concise pop songwriting represented a betrayal of the adventurous spirit that defined albums like Foxtrot and Selling England by the Pound.
Others viewed it as a natural progression, with Genesis proving unusually capable of adapting to changing musical landscapes without completely abandoning the sophistication that had always underpinned their work.
“I resent it because it’s very much my chord sequence”
Tony Banks
Banks’ comments about ‘Hold On My Heart’ also reveal how subtle the band’s internal balancing act had become by the early 1990s. While Collins supplied the recognisable voice and mainstream accessibility, Banks continued sneaking harmonic complexity into the material wherever possible, preserving traces of Genesis’ prog foundations beneath the polished production.
“One ambition is to do my own album which will have a lot of variety. I write songy stuff, as well as some from the Brand X area,” Collins told Modern Drummer at the time. “I’m also hip to what [Brian] Eno does – those kind of soundtracks which I’ve always been interested in – two or three minutes of just mood. The album, when it does come out, will have a lot of different styles on it.”
Indeed, Collins’ debut solo album, Fave Value, contained a pleasing range of music, from the rip-roaring drum fill in ‘In the Air Tonight’ to a synth-laden cover of The Beatles’ psychedelic classic ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’. Despite the success of this 1981 album and its 1982 follow-up Hello, I Must Be Going, Collins persevered with Genesis, taking heed of the 1980s’ synth-pop sensibilities as he went.
By the time Genesis released its fourteenth album and last to feature Collins, 1991’s We Can’t Dance, the quirky edges of Nursery Cryme had been ground clean off. By this point, Collins’ stronghold on the band’s direction was palpable in its consistency with concurrent solo endeavours.
Of the 12 songs stretching across four sides in a double LP set, Collins sang seven and wrote most of the lyrics. Notably, he was centrally responsible for the power pop hits ‘Jesus He Knows Me’, ‘I Can’t Dance’ and ‘No Son of Mine’. Elsewhere, several poignant, reflective songs, such as ‘Hold On My Heart’, offered crucial balance to the album.
In the brooding track, Collins offers his delicate yet powerfully soulful vocals over a progression many presume to be his own. However, Banks co-wrote the song and resents such presumptions. “I can understand why people say [it sounds like a Collins solo effort], but in a way, I resent it because it’s very much my chord sequence,” Banks said in the Way We Walk documentary.
“The reason why it sounds like Phil a bit is because there are certain kinds of chords that I went to because his voice sounds good over them,” Banks continued to explain. “I put them together in a particular kind of way that I thought was quite attractive.”
Although Collins and Rutherford craved pop-conscious simplicity on the record, Banks spiced things up a little with “exotic chords” reminiscent of the early Genesis material. “I used to get a look from Mike or Phil, and they’d say, ‘You’ve gone too far this time.’ But, I would try to slip a few things in without them noticing,” Banks revealed in a 2018 interview with Songfacts. “Even a simple song like ‘Hold On My Heart,’ the opening chords are pretty exotic, actually, and I crept those in without them really noticing what was happening.”
Listen to ‘Hold On My Heart’ by Genesis below.
