Andy Burrows - 'The Colour Of My Dreams' (Vertigo) Released 26/05/08

There are few words to say about Andy Burrows’ solo effort ‘The Colour Of My Dreams’ because it doesn’t even last fifteen minutes. The more intrigued of us have been waiting on this album since the final confirmation was established about a month ago. Those expecting a stripped down Razorlight will be disappointed. Those wanting something a little diverse with added charm rather then the overdose of charisma will be contented.

From the opening moments of ‘Boxes’ as Burrows counts in “One, two, buckle my shoe,” it becomes evident that there is something pleasurably unexpected. The record is an inspirational tender collection of magnetic sketches. Although each song is about the length of a short demo – and the recording quality is equal in weakness – there are times where Burrows’ gentle tones fashion an unforeseen trance.

The album was made with the intention to raise funds for the Jack’s Place appeal at Naomi House in Burrows’ home city of Winchester. After stumbling across a book of poems written by a family friend during a break from his touring commitments with Razorlight, Burrows decided to set some of the words to the simple sound of an acoustic guitar and eventually wound up with an album of material.

The amalgamation of the buoyant lyrics and comforting acoustics exude an immediate feeling of nostalgic visions. There are cheeky glimpses of bright annotations on life with lines such as  “We hate winter go away/Except perhaps on Christmas day,” during ‘Winter’.

Moments of childlike uncertainties make their way through ‘Boxes’ with lines such as “Why do we always want to tidy things up” and “I like losing my way/And not being able to find things.”

An ode to a great big hug is the source of ‘Cuddle’. “I’d rather have a cuddle then ketchup, chips or peas/ A computer can be lovely but a cuddle’s what I need,” confesses Burrows. (Someone should have just got him a cup a soup)

There are striking images from days of art class in primary school and the most attractive vocal performance on the title track. Burrows explains: “I make these scary monsters/ I draw these secret lands/ I get my hair all sticky/And paint all on me hands.”

Some tracks such as ‘Moon’ and ‘Peace’ really do expose the problem of the lack of running time on the album. The songs fail to offer anything as affectionate as their predecessors and prevent the album reaching that next salient level.

The most zealous of Razorlight fans will already know Burrows has a yielding flair in his voice. He even provided vocals on the 40th Anniversary recordings of Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band singing The Beatles classic ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’. Even though he didn’t write the poems for the songs on his album Burrows has proven his abilities to pen a top tune – being the creative mind behind his band’s biggest hit to date ‘America’.If the man behind the sticks would have stuck a few more minutes to his songs he might have had a brilliant album on his hands as well.

Nethertheless, with recording of Razorlight’s third album due soon and Burrows sharing much of the song writing responsibilities hopefully we’ll be shown a new colour to the familiar dreary white of the Johnny Borrell Razorlight.