Chris Rainbow

Active as a solo recording artist between the years of 1975-1981, Chris Rainbow wrote and recorded three very highly regarded albums, Home Of the Brave (1975), Looking Over My Shoulder (1978) and this release, his third full length recording, White Trails (1979), as well as a collection of singles throughout his valued career. Chris Rainbow also worked extensively adding vocal contributions to artists’ work of the calibre of The Alan Parsons Project, Culture Club, Elaine Paige and Toyah Wilcox, as well as producing albums for the likes of Scottish Gaelic rock group Runrig.
Features the sought after bonus tracks ‘Body Music’ (7” Version), ‘Girl In Collision’ (12” Version) and ‘Body Music’ (12” Version). All material has been fully remastered especially for this release.

After the commercial failure of the excellent Home of the Brave, Chris Rainbow was brought back down to earth with something of a bump by Polydor. Out went the exotic recording locations and top American sessionmen but, more critically, out too went the innovative production team of Malcolm Cecil and Bob Margouleff, who had been responsible for giving HOTB much of its spectral beauty. Perhaps the setback affected Rainbow's confidence, too, for much of Looking Over My Shoulder finds him settling back into the cosy easy listening rut of his earliest singles…

This album, with which the singer reached his commercial peak, reflects Chris Rea's love/hate relationship with the car. The title track is famously inspired by Rea's experiences of the M25, but this is not a simple tract on the evils of the automobile–in 1988, he bought himself a racing car. His vision of hell is the traffic jam that stops you from using all that expensive acceleration. In this sense Chris Rea–the epitome of maturity compared to most in his business–shows himself still very much a rock star. The Road To Hell, despite the melancholy piano riff of the song itself and its Leonard Cohen-ish lyrics, is an optimistic album with a warm, embracing sound. This album is graced with some of Rea's finest creations: the spacey "Daytona", the topicality of "You Must Be Evil" and the catchy "That's What They Always Say". "Texas" is another witty commentary on the need for speed, and like many of the tracks on this disc it has the mellow groove that Rea has made his own.

The follow-up to his smash 2009 concert album Live in Boston, Chris Botti's studio album Impressions features more of the cool trumpeter's crossover jazz, pop, and classical stylings. Focusing on Botti's love of melody, Impressions is an aesthetically varied album featuring works by classical composers Frederic Chopin and Astor Piazzolla as well as standards by George Gershwin and Harold Arlen. While Botti's virtuoso playing is always the focal point of his albums, here we get more of his acclaimed collaborations, including tracks with such artists as jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, guitarist Mark Knopfler, country singer Vince Gill, composer/pianist/producer David Foster, and more.

No, not *that* Nirvana… long before Kurt and Courtney were more than a glint in their parents’ eyes, there was a psychedelic British band of the same name. Their first two albums will be re-released, with a wealth of unreleased material, in a new double-set Rainbow Chasers: The ’60s Recordings (The Island Years) on 18 May.

The Road to Hell is the tenth studio album by English singer-songwriter Chris Rea, released in 1989. It is Rea's most successful studio album, topping the UK Albums Chart for three weeks, and was certified 6x Platinum by BPI until 2004. The second part of the two-part title track, "The Road to Hell (Pt. 2)", is also one of Rea's most famous songs.