COLOURS CAFFÉ (10TH ANNIVERSARY REMIXED EDITION)

I always thought this second Yesterdays album was underrated, it was titled too "commercial". I think many of these opinions were drawn from the sound of the first edition. Maybe this was the reason the band members decided to remix the material with a better, more transparent and dynamic sound. And yes, they pulled this through!

It all started as an experiment during the quarantine lockdown of 2020, just to kill time, but - according to their FB - it came out sounding so much better, they went for the whole album. And this remix was born.

With the magically improved drum sound and overall better sonic picture I began to like the album even more.

Játék is the opening track, it's an upbeat prog song, it reminds me of Rabin era YES (the guitar intermezzo quoting Cinema from 90125) with a seventies sound and Wakeman-like Moog themes, harpsichord intermezzo, driving chorus.

Forog a tánc is one of the heavier prog songs on the record. Virtuoso hammond organ with Drama era YES influences on guitar by Ákos Bogáti-Bokor. Catchy verse á lá Neal Morse but after the first chorus the real proggy moments are starting to happen. A nice flute solo is followed by guitars and moogs and an orgy of backing vocals. The ending takes this song to another level. ROBERT FRIPP like guitar solo with a touch of HOLDSWORTH with Hungarian jazz guitar solo guesting: Tamás Mohai (EAST, FAXNI, RABB). The ending is a psychedelic, virtuoso duel between fusion guitar and fusion drums (by Gergo Borlai).

Éjszaka is the first piece of the Némafilm Suite. A dark, strange sounding intro with additional steel guitar, verse driven by amazing bass guitar playing, a fantastic solo section of guitars and moog and also an extended flute solo at the end, overlapping with the next song:

Némafilm. The longest piece on the record. It starts as a catchy, easy tune but after the long guitar solo (very SUPERTRAMP-like, even with DAVID GILMOUR influences) it all goes dark and moody. The second part of the song is breathe-taking. Karola Antal guesting as lead singer here does a fantastic job. I just love this second part, especially the very end, total PINK FLOYD sound with rich female backing vocals and uplifting instrumental playing. For me, this is the highlight of the album.

Mélyrepülés is a strange song with percussion, arpeggiated synthesizer sounds, vocoders and rich vocals again. The ending drum/bass duel rips this song apart from the more straight forward pop feel.

Tükör is clearly a JETHRO TULL influenced song with an upbeat feel. Nice stereo effects, glockenspiel and 12 string guitar. A lovely little prog jam.

Bábu is one of the highlights, with more JETHRO TULL influences, the whole thing in 5/4, crazy monophonic synth sound warbling and a crazy jazzy instrumental solo part (both flute and guitar). This is my second favorite song from this album.

Flautoccata is a gentle flute instrumental soundscape with analog synths and e-bow acoustic guitar sounds and it's overlapping with Megpihensz which is a beautiful acoustic jam with shiny lead vocals, mellotrons.

Prelude and Zápor are closing the album with haunting melodies on heavily processed modern trumpet sounds. Zápor has strong MARILLION influences, it's like a song from their Marbles album. Loving it!

The original edition had a hidden track (I've never loved those big pauses after the last song...), but here the band left that big space out and made the last little song a separate 12th song called Kérdés. Again, beautiful flutes by Gábor Kecskeméti, classical guitar and fretless bass, mellotron and Karola Antal's beautiful voice.

With this new sound this album has found its way to me, I think it fits this music better than the sound of the original 2010 release. I gave 3 stars to that, but now I can give a confident 4 stars for the sound. Lovely edition and with the original CD added to the box set you can experience many new colors, new solo takes, new instruments that were hidden in the original version.

First things first: a remix should always be better than the original. In this case the difference is night and day! I've started to follow Yesterdays after their 3rd album Senki madara (that sounds amazing!) so I had high expectations about this release. After A-B-ing the 2010 version with the 2020 remix it's clear, this remix had to be made. Sounds so much better.

I won't go into details about the obvious Jethro Tull, Yes or Genesis influences, because this band is also very original. While their first and 3rd albums are more vintage sounding, this one is more powerful, more catchy in a very positive way and the sound needed to be on this level of a more modern approach. If pop music comes to mind, for me it's like some very well written SONGS, like Hogarth era Marillion or Stardust era of The Flower Kings, where melodies have priority and yes, you can listen to some prog in your car. Colours Caffé for me it is like that. The first half of the album is very intense, every song is like from a different world. The second half has more soundscapes, moody passages, mellotron everywhere, flutes, effected trumpet, acoustic guitars, fretless bass and rich melodies.

I am not always a fan of remixes, but after this version I am more curious about their new materials in the future. Colours Caffé is a nice addition for fans of more melodic prog, a colorful collection of well written songs and also, a beautiful tribute to their keyboard player Zsolt Enyedi (who has sadly passed away this year).

Hungarian proggers are back after the success of their Senki madara album, but this time they have travelled back in time to re-imagine their second album, Colours Caffé, so their first home made album got a proper mix, showing how well crafted this music is. Using the original studio recordings the material got remixed from scratch. What a good idea. The drums, the vocals, the whole stereo image, everything sounds better now and I think this new-old sound lives up to my high expectations because that amazingly dynamic, high quality sound of the 3rd album, Senki madara.

I am in love with the sound of Hungarian language in prog music. Loved AFTER CRYING, YOU AND I, EAST, and YESTERDAYS is a great addition to my Hungarian collection.

Colours Caffé showed a more powerful side of Yesterdays back in 2010, it's in contrast with their beautiful debut called Holdfénykert which was a mellow, dreamy album (one of my favorites till this day). Upbeat prog, great melodies, catchy and powerful choruses all over. I need to admit that a few songs are even radio friendly.

I am happy to see, to hear that there are bands like this with a more dynamic, less compressed sounding approach, where the transparent, clear sound is this important. Also, I am very happy to see that this lovely Eastern European band is still active, so I am looking forward to their new materials in the future.

Strong 3.5 stars album. Recommended!

Let's go back to Transylvania for some good old fashioned symphonic prog! As Yesterdays' Senki madara album was my favorite prog album in 2018 I was curious to check out their first two albums also. Holdfénykert/Moonlit Garden was a fantastic debut in 2006 and Colours Caffé was something different, more rocky, with more power and nicely crafted songs.

In this box set I got the old 2010 version and the new one and the difference is massive. This comes to show how much depends on the sound, the mixing. Many previously muted instruments are back in the mix, "new" mellotron, hammond, slide guitar parts appeared, and the guitar solo parts in Bábu (a JETHRO TULL-ish fantasy in 5/4) is different in each version (the original, the one from the Japanese Bonus CD, the music video and now this!). I love these little changes, surprises!

Némafilm Part II. and Megpihensz are following their debut album's mood, it's not a surprise that they did play these tunes with the first lineup of YESTERDAYS in 2007. It's nice to see the old live versions on YouTube.

Forog a tánc ends with some fusion madness, with two of the most interesting Hungarian musicians guesting: Gergo Borlai (dr) and Tamas Mohai (g). That drum-guitar duel at the end is fantastic!!!

With Gabor Kecskemeti (fl), Yesterdays gained some more flute power and their Jethro Tull influences are more evident now. I am happy that he is part of this project still to this day, because the Senki madara album wouldn't be the same without those rich flute solos.

Now that my Yesterdays discography is complete, I am looking forward to the next single, and hopefully the live DVD they were talking about on the band's FB.

Colours Caffé for me it's like a new Yesterdays album, and a very strong one indeed. 4 stars!

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.