Bros Push

The two albums John Hartford recorded for Warner Bros. in the early '70s stand as two of the most influential and groundbreaking albums in modern country music. For 1971's Aereo-Plain, Hartford and fiddler Vassar Clements, dobroist Tut Taylor, guitarist Norman Blake and bassist Randy Scruggs played a set of mostly original tunes that fused the irreverent hippie aesthetic with the hallowed bluegrass tradition, thereby more or less singlehandedly inventing the "newgrass" genre. And 1972's Morning Bugle built on Aereo-Plain's breakthrough with a stripped-down line-up of Hartford, Blake and jazz bassist Dave Holland. This two-CD set contains both albums with eight unreleased bonus tracks-four from each session.

Every episode of BBC Radio 2’s popular Sounds Of The 80s show takes listeners on a journey back to a well-loved decade with its distinctive musical landscape. Hosted by Gary Davies (and formerly Sara Cox) the show delves into the various genres that made the 80’s so musically diverse from classic and alternative pop to rock, dance and hip-hop. UMC and the BBC have teamed up to compile a set of official Sounds Of The 80s branded collections that will showcase the decade’s fabulous sounds in three bite-size chunks. Each carefully compiled 3CD album will include UK Chart smash hits taken from every major music catalogue including Universal, Sony, Warner and BMG to do the show and the decade the justice it deserves. I Think We’re Alone Now celebrates the biggest and best hits from the last three years of the decade and features the likes of New Order, The Bangles, Boy George, The Stranglers, Terence Trent D’Arby and many more…

Life Stories retains the synthesizers of Soda Fountain Shuffle but it gets a little warmer, adding backing vocals and the occasional live instrument, all in a move to help push the record closer to quiet storm. Although sometimes the sound is a shade glassy, Life Stories nevertheless succeeds: it's a nice, warm, grooving little record.