Lee Abraham - Colours album review

How nice that Lee Abraham is once again a member of Galahad. The bassist-turned-guitarist had made some rather fine solo music since parting with the band almost a decade ago, and Colours continues that tradition. Regular bassist Alistair Begg, pianist Rob Arnold and drummer Gerald Mulligan remain in place along with a plethora of guest singers, though while prog remains Abrahams’ default setting, this time things are slightly different. After six albums his melodic approach now fully embraces a love of AOR acts such as Toto and Asia. Apart from its 14-minute swansong The Mirror Falls, sung by Jadis’ Gary Chandler, the album’s proggiest moment is Find Another Way, featuring Robin Armstrong of Cosmograf. Simon Godfrey belts out the power ballad Survive and Dec Burke helms two songs: the title track and Warning Sign. Both feature thrusting, glistening keys, the latter decorated with cries of ‘woa woa woa’. Voiced by Mark Atkinson of Riversea, Broken Dreams actually refers to a ‘cold heart of stone’. So why not go the whole hog and ask Steve Overland of British AOR-sters FM to croon Always Yours? Purists may bridle, but there’s no denying the quality on display.