Any Robin Trower fans?

freakboy1610

I came across an old article about Robin Trower on the net and was interested enough to get For Earth Below which I really like. Can any Trower fans point me towards what's hot and what's not? Any tips would be appreciated.

Philly_Q

Bridge of Sighs for starters!

The first few albums, up to Long Misty Days, are all great, Hendrixy, psychedelic blues-rock (the Live! album is awesome).  Caravan to Midnight and In City Dreams were recorded in the USA and have a more R&B kind of feel. 

Victims of the Fury is a great back-to-basics rockier album, then he did a couple with Jack Bruce which are patchy but still have some great tracks.

Then there was a bit of a wilderness period in which he did a couple of fairly weak soft-rock albums (Passion and In the Line of Fire).

Since the mid-90s he's been drifting increasingly towards fairly low key blues material, and even started handling the lead vocals himself.  It's good, and the playing is still wonderful, but personally I miss the fire of the '70s albums. 

Philly_Q

I forgot to mention the late, great Jimmy Dewar, who made a huge contribution as vocalist, (usually) bassist and co-writer on the first nine Trower band albums.  It's never been quite the same without him.

JezWynd

Dewar had a beautiful voice -

In This Place

mudslide73

Easily the best tone I've heard in person. I'm a big fan of "Daydream".

scrumhalf

Philly_Q said:

I forgot to mention the late, great Jimmy Dewar, who made a huge contribution as vocalist, (usually) bassist and co-writer on the first nine Trower band albums.  It's never been quite the same without him.

Absolutely, a quite wonderful voice. His performance on Alethea is great, and he does a great Toby Ziegler impression as well.

Philly_Q

@scrumhalf I had no idea who Toby Ziegler was, but I see what you mean!

Speaking of Trower vocalists, Davey Pattison, Trower's second most-used singer, sounds a bit like Dewar.  Or at least, their Glasgow accents come through to their singing voices in a similar way!

freakboy1610

Thanks guys.

Bogwhoppit

Robin Trower Live: The ultimate recording that wasn't planned. Brilliant.

Very very facially expressive player. I've seen him live around 10 times all in the 70s, the most memorable was at Reading festival in 1975.

http://www.angelfire.com/ca/RobinTrower/Hans_I.html

axisus

I really wanted to like him as I'm particularly into expressive strat players, but I just haven't got into his stuff (so far)

richardhomer

I once met his brother (he worked at Tim Gentle Music in Leigh-on-Sea). Is this worth a 'Wow'?

Philly_Q

@richardhomer  Yes, I think it is.

freakboy1610

Philly_Q said:

@scrumhalf I had no idea who Toby Ziegler was, but I see what you mean!

Speaking of Trower vocalists, Davey Pattison, Trower's second most-used singer, sounds a bit like Dewar.  Or at least, their Glasgow accents come through to their singing voices in a similar way!

I wouldn't have guessed Glasgow in a million years! Great singer.

JezWynd

From Melody Maker '74

http://www.robintrowerlive.co.uk/The_Music_of_Robin_Trower/John_Peel_Show_February_1976/Meet_the_Band_June_1974/meet_the_band_june_1974.html

boogieman

I'm a fan. Philly_Q has covered most of it already and I agree the early albums Bridge of Sighs and Live are definitely his best material. He's still touring and playing really well, but I'm not that convinced by his latest bass player's vocals tbh.... Jimmy Dewar was a hard act to follow, mind.