Lee Abraham - Colours - 2017
“... an album that is more influenced by AOR ...”
intro
Everyone who loves progressive rock will know the name Lee Abraham. The bass player of Galahad who left the band and is now back as their guitar player. Lee made some wonderful albums full of symphonic oriented Rock. In 2004 his second album “View from the Bridge” made quite an impression. He then successfully auditioned the position of bass player for Galahad. Lee featured on their brilliant album “Empires Never Last”. When he was working on a new solo album in the year 2008 he parted ways with Galahad to concentrate on song writing and production. The next year the album “Black and White” was released. Between 2012 and 2014 he worked in his newly built Dockside Studio on the “Distant Days” album. This strong album was followed up by an album that conquered the hearts of many progressive rock fans, “The Seasons Turn”. Last year F2 Music released his sixth solo album entitled “Colours”. It is an album that is more influenced by AOR.line-up
Dec Burke - lead and backing vocals; Lee Abraham - guitars, keyboards, backing vocals; Alistair Begg - bass; Gerald Mulligan - drums; Marc Atkinson - verse vocals and backing vocals; Rob Arnold - electric piano, Hammond organ, piano; Steve Overland - lead and backing vocals; Robin Armstrong - lead and backing vocals; Chris Harrison - backing vocals; Simon Godfrey - lead and backing vocals; Gary Chandler - lead and backing vocals
review
All songs (“Colours”, “Broken Dreams”, “Find Another Way”, “Warning Sign”, “Survive” and “The Mirror Falls”) on “Colours” are written, produced and mixed by Lee Abraham at Dockside Studio. The album is mastered by Karl Groom at Thin Ice Studios. You can find 7 tracks on this album that sounds fresh and transparent. Six out of this seven tracks can be categorized as AOR influenced rock songs. Lee Abraham has surrounded himself with fantastic singers which are responsible for most of the lead vocals on this album. A wise decision of a man who knows that he is capable of providing good backing vocals but is happy to outsource the lead vocals to a bunch of great vocalists. The seventh song is more in the vein of his previous albums. With more than 14 minutes “The Mirror Falls is also the longest track of the album. And for me this is also the highlight of the album. Maybe it is because I just bought original copies of his previous albums “View from the Bridge”, “Black and White” and “The Seasons Turn”. The other one was completely sold out. When you know these albums you can imagine that my expectations where high when I asked for a promo copy for a review on progVisions. But as Lee Abraham had already told beforehand this album is different and more influenced by AOR music. If you are into this kind of music, this is definitely an album for you. Otherwise I would like to recommend you to first have a listen to some of the songs. It are good songs but it is not progressive music. But on the other hand if you like the previous albums of Lee Abraham you have to buy this album also because the last long track is fantastic. It has all the fine ingredients for a great progressive / symphonic rock song. A beautiful piano intro, symphonic keyboard strings, great drumming, delicious synth melodies, great guitar solo’s, great vocals (by Gary Chandler), rhythm changes, great melodies, beautiful vocal harmonies and an ending that is pure bliss.conclusion
Well what can I say more. This sixth solo album of Lee Abraham is a fine album full of AOR music and a great last song of epic proportions. Personally I find this album not as strong as the previous one, but this is due my preference for Symphonic and Progressive Rock music. If you like AOR oriented music this album is definitely for you.