Trees & The Villages

Bron Area started life as a duo in March 1979, emerging from a community of musicians in Nuneaton, England. Martin Packwood and Steven Parker had been involved in a number of projects before meeting Peter Becker, who supported and encouraged them in the early stages of Bron Area. With the reorganization of Reluctant Stereotypes, which resulted in the departure of Martyn Bates and Chris Dunne (who would drum on all later Bron Area records), Bates arrived at a Bron Area gig to be introduced to Becker, and thus Eyeless in Gaza came into being. Ambivalent Scale Recordings was later established and saw the release of Bron Area's One Year cassette album (1980) and Fragile Sentences 7 EP (1981) as well as Eyeless in Gaza's Kodak Ghosts Run Amok 7 EP (1980) and Kevin Harrison's On Earth 2 cassette (later released in remixed form as a Cherry Red album). As Eyeless in Gaza moved on to greater glory via their deal with Cherry Red, the momentum of Nuneaton's music scene diminished, Bron Area subdued their efforts somewhat until David Barker of Glass Records, having heard two songs from the Alternative Sounds zine's Facet I compilation tape (1981), asked them to appear on his compilation LP The Wonderful World Of Glass Volume One at the end of 1981. So impressed was Barker that he signed Bron Area to Glass at the beginning of 1982. The band's first vinyl release on the label was a 12 EP titled Different Phrases, which was released in March 1982 (and later released as a 7 on the Posh Boy label in the USA). Bron Area spent the best part of 1982 in the recording studio, and released their debut LP, The Trees and the Villages, in 1983. For this first-ever reissue, The Trees and the Villages has been remastered here by original producer John A. Rivers.