Retracing Our Steps (2007–2014) KSCOPE

ON THE SURFACE, guitar trends in 1986 looked downright wild and perverse — a weird parade of shred-happy virtuosos, anthemic power pop heroes, dirtbag metalheads and eccentric alt-rock outsiders. But

Andrey Gugnin (piano) Hyperion CDA684712 83 mins This album of Russian ballet transcriptions sparkles like a glass bauble hanging amidst the fairy lights. Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky wrote so colourful

Martin Barre MCNIDDER & GRACE

They emerged from a Virginia university in 1973 with great acclaim, but Happy The Man never reached the heights of their UK and European counterparts and disintegrated six years later. Thanks to a very generous friend, their self-titled debut and its follow-up, Crafty Hands , have been revamped and reissued to sound exactly as the band intended them to all those years ago. Co-founders Stanley Whitaker and Rick Kennell tell Prog about their unexpected journey.

The Accidental EARMUSIC