Tony Banks to release new orchestral album Five

Tony Banks
Tony Banks (Image credit: Getty)

Tony Banks has announced that he’ll release a new orchestral album titled Five early next year.

Five will launch on February 2 via BMG Records and features a collection of five compositions that were written by Banks, with the album produced by his long-time collaborator Nick Davis.

It’ll be his third orchestral album and follows 2004’s Seven: A Suite For Orchestra and 2012’s Six Pieces For Orchestra.

Orchestrator and conductor Nick Ingman is also involved with the project and agreed to collaborate after Banks played him some of the demo material.

In the past, Ingman has worked with David Bowie, the London Symphony Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

A statement on the release reads: “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 premiere on July 5, 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.”

Five will be available on CD and 2LP gatefold. Find the cover art and tracklist below.

Tony Banks Five tracklist

  1. Prelude To A ​Million Years (15:34)
  2. Reveille (08:58)
  3. Ebb And Flow (12:49)
  4. Autumn Sonata (10:16)
  5. Renaissance (10:14)

The Top 5 Tony Banks Moments as Chosen by Prog Editor Jerry Ewing

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.