ALMOST LIKE LOVE

This single CD took me by surprise. First of all we got to know Yesterdays as a symphonic prog band and here they took a trip down to a seventies pop road.

There are two songs on this single CD, the first is Almost Like Love. Although the song reminded me of Abba, it's not so far away from prog. The instrumentation is quite sophisticated and clever. Harpsichord is mixed with Yamaha CP (loved by Tony Banks of Genesis or Geoff Downes of Yes) and also some vintage Elka Strings Machine and the mighty Clavichord. This kind of pop-prog can be familiar for all those prog fans who liked Spock's Beard's Snow album, especially the song Wind At My Back, the drumming of József Szűcs reminds me of the tricks and clever simplicity of Nick D'Virgilio in that particular song. Very catchy melodies all over, vocals dubbed by the band's new lead singer Raluca Bilatiu. Raluca shines through and thanks to the doubling techniques she sounds like the two Abba girls. And this is high a compliment.

The credits shows that the harpsichords were played by the band's flute virtuoso, Gábor Kecskeméti. Very authentic and groovy. The bass, played by Zoltán Kolumbán also reminded me of Spock's Beard's Wind At My Back. The guitar solo sounds vintage, nice rotary speaker sound and also some Brian May-like overdubbing in three voices. High Queen influences on Ákos Bogáti's playing.

After all, with all these pop influences, Almost Like Love is a nice progressive-pop song.

The "B-side" of the disc is a song from their last album, "Colours Caffé", the last song called Zápor, and here's the long awaited English version as a powerful remix too, sounds so much better than the original version on the C.C. album. Raluca's voice is so colourful and looks like the band started to use more vocal overdubbing techniques, so the whole thing is more dynamic and shiny.

This Single CD can be recommended for all those prog fans who love the Hogarth-era Marillion and Neal Morse era Spock's Beard. Very song-oriented, melodic prog. Recommended!

A nice and short single from Yesterdays. According to their website they tried to reach out for not only prog audiences, but - through gaining radio air time - more people. I must say that it was a good strategy, I've heard Almost Like Love in my local radio station one day and this is how I found out about this release.

Like their Winter EP, this was too an artist's edition and available only as digital download. But enough about the circumstances, let's jump on the music.

Almost Like Love is the title single, it sounds and feels like a Supertramp/ELO type hit for me. The instrumentation is very keyboard-centric, it's a nice mix of clavinet and harpsichord in the verse and Yamaha CP under the riff. The melody lines ar very catchy and Bilatiu Raluca's voice was a nice choice from the band, it's powerful, shiny and a perfect fit to this music. After a few listens, you'll find yourself singing along. The song sounds very refreshing, and it's good to hear a prog band in the radio. If you are into the bands mentioned above and Neal Morse's first two - song based - solo records, than you'll love this.

The second song, 'Torn Apart' is the remixed version of Zapor (from their Colours Caffe album) this time in English, for me it's a bit too Marillion-like, but if you haven't imagined Marillion with a female voice, this song can be a nice journey for you.

Since both songs are very catchy, I really hope that this single will gain more air time for the band. Melodic music to enjoy in cars, on long trips or when you are in a more light-prog mood. Four solid stars for this one. Recommended.