Band : Afterhours
Album title : Against The Grain
Label : AOR Heaven
Distributor : Rough Trade Benelux.
Release Date : 29/04/2011
Release : CD

When I put this CD on, I was quite frankly seriously surprised by the vocals.  It was quite some time ago I’d heard this kind of voice.  Not that John Francis has that powerfull a voice, but he has quite a unique sound; and one I quite like.  As a matter of fact he reminds me a wee bit of Peter Gabriel, but also of one of AOR’s finest voices Steve Perry.

As far as history of this band is concerned, they started out in 1987, and released their first album ‘Take Off4 in 1988 on BMG Ariola.  They enjoyed quite some success at that time, and despite their keyboard player Rick Young leaving the band, started writing material for a follow up album.  However they changed to another record company called Global Satellite, based in Munich, who wanted them to record their second album in Munich instead of in the UK.  At this point three of the other band members decided to leave, leaving John Francis and Tim Payne to complete the album.  The self-titled album ‘Afterhours’ was eventually released in 1992, but the band , or what was left of it, called it a day.
By pure luck, original band members Martin Walls, Tim Payne and John Francis met again in 2008, and went to a reformation of Afterhours. 

And the result, is a very fine AOR album indeed.  Had this been released in the eighties, this album might have become a million seller (well, maybe that’s a bit exaggerated). I cannot recall which was the last AOR album that immediately caught my attention in this way, and which spin after spin grew on me, never becoming boring.

97/100

Erik Morren.