COLOURS CAFFÉ (10TH ANNIVERSARY REMIXED EDITION)

Colours Caffé was YESTERDAYS' second album in 2010, a new musical pathway, moving away from the acoustic sounds of their debut "Holdfénykert" and implementing more electric sounds. When the pandemic happened in 2020, the band's keyboard player Enyedi Zsolt tragically has passed away. During the lockdown, Yesterdays guitarist Ákos Bogáti-Bokor took the opportunity to re-mix the whole album. The 2010 release was the band's very first self-produced product, a home-studio effort and they've told this lots of times since then that they weren't happy with the sound. I think it wasn't bad at all, KING'S X guitar player TY TABOR was the mastering engineer back then.

This new mix really has put this album to the right place. Everything sounds better, more balanced, especially the drums. So this re-mixing effort was really worth the extra work. In the new digisleeve cover the band dedicates this 10th Anniversary Edition to the loving memory of their beloved keyboard player Zsolt Enyedi.

Játék, the opening tune is like a YES song from the '80-s, nice moog sounds, SUPERTRAMP-like harpsichord passages and lots of mellotrons.

Forog a tánc features Hungary's most famous fusion drummer Gergő Borlai and jazz guitarist Tamás Mohai (from FAXNI and EAST). Such a dynamic song, catchy chorus, it's like Yesterdays' answer to YES' TEMPUS FUGIT.

Éjszaka is more neo-prog-ish with driving bass guitar melodies, haunting moog mellody, slide guitar and great singing from the new lead singer Linda Horváth.

Némafilm takes us back to Yesterdays' first album moods, no surprise here, it's the oldest song on the record, they've played this during the Moonlit Garden shows back in 2007. But with the new bass guitar player Zoltán Kolumbán there's a more edgy sound to the songs, reminiscent of Chris SQUIRE or Jonas REINGOLD (TFK). This epic song starts off as a SUPERTRAMP-like song from 1977 but the second part is what really shines. I love the voice of Karola Antal. This one is a pure symphonic prog gem and Mélyrepülés is a nice song to end this trilogy (The Némafilm Suite).

Bábu is the most fun track, it's the most retro sounding tune on the album, with a crazy moog sound, IAN ANDERSON-ish flute extravaganza, 5/8 rhythms mixed with 4/4 and 6/8. The middle section it's like a jazzy JETHRO TULL. One of my favorite songs on the album.

I can understand that hardcore proggers found this album a little bit too accessible, pop-music-like, but I am a sucker for well crafted songs and this new remix makes these songs even more powerful.

Zápor, the last song could be a song on MARILLION's Marbles album, very clear influences here, but with female vocals.

I am recommending this album for fans of NEAL MORSE (his popmusic-like works) and Marillion. Lyrics are in Hungarian this time so keep this in mind. Symphonic prog fans who are open to a new discovery can enjoy this album very much. 3.5 glowing prog stars for this album.