Break the Rules

"Break The Rules" is the debut record under the band name The Bryan Hughes Group.

We last heard Bryan Hughes on the wonderful Beau Geste album from 1986. A fantastic slice of pompous AOR from the French Canadian side of the 'Maple-Leaf mayhem' history-books. Bryan returns a couple of years later with his own project, and the album 'Break The Rules'. In many ways it's wasy to draw a comparison with his past works, but in all honesty, it's just a rung below the high class we heard before with BG. It is still a solid slice of AOR, albeit with a programmed feel this time around, which tends to make this sound slightly predicatable. The guitar and keyboard interplay are the highpoint, coming across like a mix between Greenway's 'Serious Business' and Aldo Nova's 'Twitch', with the obvious Beau Geste inflection factored in.

Bryan gives us a taster of his AOR menu with the pleasant opener 'She's The Type', an urgent-style rocker with just the right amount of AOR ingredients to get the taste-buds going. 'Who's Gonna Love You' is equally effective, subtly so, while the third track 'It's Too Late' is lovely streamlined AOR following in the footsteps of the great Russ Ballard. We get a rehash of 'Don't Go' (also featured on Beau Geste) a good version yes. 'Heartache' is definitely worth a listen, it's got everything an AOR fan would want to hear in 3 minutes plus. 'Rumours' sounds slightly 'tinny' while 'Give Me A Reason' is the standard ballad, and unfortunately doesn't stick, nor does 'Swept Away', the song living up to it's title.

Bryan Hughes: vocals, guitar
Dylan Haines: keyboards
Dave Edmead: keyboards