I spent untold hours circa 1974-75 playing Robin Trower’s Bridge of Sighs over and over again on my funky BSR turntable (you know, the kind where you stacked three or four LPs on the spindle and let ‘em rip!). Although I was a fan of Trower’s work with Procol Harum, his skills were often overshadowed by that band’s keyboard-dominated sound. I dug Trower’s debut, 1973’s Twice Removed From Yesterday, but the quantum leap the guitarist underwent for Bridge of Sighs was unparalleled. The ‘Master of the Stratocaster’ might have taken influence and inspiration from Jimi Hendrix, but he took his spacey, jagged, ethereal six-string experimentation into another realm with songs like “Little Bit of Sympathy,” “Too Rolling Stoned,” “Day of the Eagle,” and the title track, a classic stoner jam if there ever was one.
As amazing as Bridge of Sighs was and is, subsequent efforts like 1974’s For Earth Below and 1975’s Long Misty Days – while featuring fine craftsmanship – lacked the spark of Trower’s sophomore effort. Trower doesn’t get much love these days from classic rock radio, but the recently-reissued 50th anniversary edition of Bridge of Sighs is befitting the guitarist’s royal stature. Available as a two-LP vinyl set or four-CD box with demos and alternative takes, I opted for the vinyl set and was quite chuffed…the remastered sound adds depth and resonance to the recordings, and the classic songs really leap out of your speakers.
The second LP offers a May 1974 live show from The Record Plant in Sausalito, the band playing Bridge of Sighs in its entirety along with a pair of other songs – “Alethea,” which would appear on For Earth Below and “Rock Me Baby,” from the debut. The sound on the live disc isn’t as good, but the performance is fire, and special mention should be made of bassist/vocalist James Dewar, who brought a grounded confidence and immense soulfulness to balance Trower’s otherworldly instrumental trips. (Chrysalis Records, released March 7th, 2024)
Guitarist Robin Trowercame to prominence during the 1960s as a member of
British rockers Procol Harum. While Trower’s textured six-string contributions
to Procol Harum’s first four albums were often overshadowed by the band’s
trademark heavy keyboard sound, his talents were an essential part of the band’s
early success. Trower broke from Procol Harum in 1971 to launch a solo career
that would result in phenomenal commercial success during the 1970s, cooling off
considerably during the ‘80s, only to be reinvigorated somewhat during the 1990s
by the guitarist’s return to his blues roots, an undeniable influence that had
always been part of Trower’s sound, even during his arena-filling heyday.
Although Trower continues to burn up the highways in both the
U.K. and the United States with frequent touring, and the guitarist releases new
records on a fairly regular basis, it’s not too soon, perhaps, to take another
look at the roots of a legendary career that is now in its sixth decade. In
2010, Chrysalis Records (a Capitol Records subsidiary) released the three-CD
Robin Trower compilation A Tale Untold, which included the guitarist’s
first four solo albums as well as his 1975 concert disc Live!, along with
a handful of rare bonus tracks. Although this first box set neatly wrapped up
Trower’s breakthrough years with Chrysalis, circa 1973 through ‘76, it only told
part of the story.
Robin Trower’s Farther On Up the Road
To fill in the blanks, Chrysalis/Capitol has released
Farther On Up the Road: The Chrysalis Years 1977-1983, another
three-disc set that features the six albums that made up the rest of Trower’s
tenure with Chrysalis, as well as a pair of obscure bonus tracks. Trower’s
transition from pop star to bluesman is quite apparent across these three CDs,
beginning with 1977’s In City Dreams. Moving away from the
psychedelic-blues sound of his earlier solo discs, Trower tried to update his
sound for end-of-the-decade audiences with some success; the album would rise
to #25 on the Billboard magazine albums chart.
Trower made
changes to his band line-up with In City Dreams, relegating his
longtime bassist/vocalist James Dewar to the microphone and bringing in new
bass player Rustee Allen to keep the rhythm with veteran drummer Bill Lordan.
Allen would bring a funkier edge to the material, his fluid basslines
throbbing behind Trower’s soaring fretwork. Nowhere is this more obvious than
on the album’s lead-off track, “Somebody Calling,” Allen’s strutting rhythms
straining in counterpoint to Trower’s screaming psyche-blues guitarplay. The
album’s highlight is “Farther On Up the Road,” from which this set takes its
name, Trower and crew delivering a raucous take on the blues-rock standard
with plenty of raging guitar and crashing drumbeats. “Little Girl” comes the
closest to Trower’s early 1970s work, while the album’s title track virtually
channels Trower’s “Bridge of Sighs” both sonically and emotionally.
Victims of the Fury
Trower kept the band line-up intact for 1978’s Caravan To Midnight,
further pursuing the previous album’s funk-infused sound with tracks like the
flaccid chamber-pop of “Birthday Boy” or the misguided “My Love (Burning
Love),” which sounds too much like a bad Foreigner single. The album is not a
complete loss, however, as the instrumental title track crosses over to truly
ethereal turf with melodic guitarplay that reminds of Carlos Santana, sans the
obvious Latin influences. Allen’s bass playing on the song is jazzy rather
than funky, and the backbeat is kept to a minimum; ditto for “Fool,” a bluesy,
smoldering, mid-tempo track with riff-happy guitars that evinces a pub-rock
vibe similar to Frankie Miller’s best work.
Perhaps
unsatisfied with the reception and direction of his previous two albums,
Trower stripped the band back to the power trio format he made his reputation
on, putting Dewar back on bass and vocals for 1979’s Victims of the Fury.
Working with new producer Geoff Emerick, who had engineered the guitarist’s
first two solo albums, and bringing in songwriter Keith Reid from Procol Harum
to help with lyrics, Trower begins his evolution back to the blues. Starting
with “Jack and Jill,” a tough-as-nails tale with scorched-earth fretwork and
squalls of bass and drums, Victims of the Fury pursues a blue-hued,
harder-rocking sound. Trower cuts loose and lets his freak flag fly with
“Roads To Freedom,” the guitarist’s Jimi Hendrix-styled Stratocaster sound
accompanying a moody, psychedelic-blues soundtrack. “Into The Flame” sounds
like early 1960s-era Eric Clapton mixed with late 1960s-era Cream…with Eric
Clapton, while “Mad House” pairs a locomotive rhythm with an unrelenting
barrage of riffs to great effect.
Truce With
Jack Bruce
The first of several collaborations with former Cream
bassist Jack Bruce, the horribly-titled 1981 album B.L.T. (named for Bruce,
Trower, and drummer Bill Lordan), with its ill-conceived cover art (a bacon,
lettuce, and tomato sandwich with raw bacon) remains one of Trower’s most
critically acclaimed and commercially-accomplished albums (rising to #37 on
the Billboard albums chart). With Bruce’s grittier, more soulful voice up
front and his legendary fat-string guitar in the mix, B.L.T. successfully
melds blues and rock with elements of jazz and funk. “No Island Lost” is a
bombastic number that reminds of West, Bruce & Laing’s larger-than-life
brand of blues-rock-on-steroids, Trower laying down some Hendrix-styled riffs
that will singe your speakers. Bruce’s original song “Life On Earth” blends
Cream’s dinosaur-rockin’ blues with a new wave edge, while the Trower/Reid
composition “Carmen” is a beautiful piece with shimmering fretwork that
remains part of the guitarist’s repertoire to this day.
Truce,
released a year later, continued Trower’s artistically-satisfying
collaboration with Bruce, this time with original Trower band drummer Reg
Isidore (who had also played with Peter Green) on the cans. Stylistically, the
album differs little from B.L.T., the performances mixing blues and rock with
a few progressive elements and even strains of funk and soul. Recorded across
two full days of intense session work, Truce brought out the best of all the
players, and even the normally-pedestrian Isidore rises to the occasion and
bounces rightly off of Bruce’s taut bass lines. The album also features a few
Bruce/Peter Brown songs, the bassist teaming up with his old Cream songwriting
partner for gems like the invigorating “Thin Ice,” Bruce’s vocal gymnastics
matched by a spry syncopated soundtrack and Trower’s wiry guitar. Bruce and
Brown tag-team with Trower on the fascinating “Last Train To the Stars,” the
guitarist’s shimmering fretwork exploring new frontiers of sound while Bruce’s
soulful, soaring vocals jump all over the place.
In 1983, Trower
recorded his last album for Chrysalis, the hard rock collection Back It Up.
Reuniting with vocalist Dewar, and sporting a fine new rhythm section in
bassist Dave Bronze and drummer Alan Clarke, the album seemed an attempt to
appeal to the heavy metal-crazed early ‘80s youth market, to no avail.
Trower’s normal inclination towards a blues-oriented sound is downplayed here
in favor of a straight-forward, six-string Sturm und Drang, and while tracks
like the riffish “Black To Red,” the psychedelic-tinged “Benny Dancer,” and
the beautiful, mesmerizing instrumental “Islands” evoke the Robin Trower of
the early 1970s, it proved to be too little, too late for a generation
fascinated by MTV and insipid British pop music. Back It Up would fail to
crack the Billboard Top 100 albums chart, leaving Trower in the commercial
wastelands for the rest of the decade until his U-turn to the blues during the
1990s.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Farther
On Up the Road provides an intriguing coda to Robin Trower’s years with the
Chrysalis label, preserving both the guitarist’s creative triumphs and musical
missteps during the era. The three-disc set is worth the price of admittance
(around $20 last I checked online), if only for the two albums recorded with
Jack Bruce, which remain out-of-print in the U.S. and available only as a
British import from our friends at BGO Records.
You can’t beat six
Trower albums for the price of two, and for less than the cost of a night at
the club, you can grab both Farther On Up the Road and A Tale Untold and have
eleven vintage Trower albums in two nifty box sets! An innovative and
imaginative guitarist who has taken blues music to new artistic heights, Robin
Trower is one of the true giants of the blues-rock style. (Chrysalis
Records/Capitol, released March 13th, 2012)
Steve Earle – Guy (Yep Roc Records)
Much as he did for his mentor, Townes Van Zandt, Americana legend Steve Earle pays tribute to his friend (and musical influence) Guy Clark by tackling some of the scribe’s best songs on Guy. As great a songwriter as Van Zandt may have been, much of his material depended on his own laconic delivery style; Clark, on the other hand, was a traditional country/folk songwriter which, IMHO, makes his material better for interpretation. Earle does his old friend right, with stellar performances of well-worn Clark tunes like “Dublin Blues,” “Rita Ballou,” “L.A. Freeway,” and the classic “Desperados Waiting For A Train” as well as lesser-known songs like the lovely “Old Friends” or the rollicking “Texas 1947.” The performances, by Earle’s talented touring band the Dukes, are filled with grit, emotion, and spirit but it’s Earle’s heartfelt vocals and Clark’s transcendent lyricism that make Guy a true joy to hear. Grade: A BUY!
Nils Lofgren – Blue with Lou (Cattle Track Road Records)
Springsteen’s E Street Band cohort Nils Lofgren is an acclaimed solo artist in his own right, with a couple dozen acclaimed albums to his name. Blue with Lou is Lofgren’s first studio LP since 2011’s Old School, and it’s a real banger, one of the best in Lofgren’s extensive catalog. Half the twelve tracks here were co-written with the late Lou Reed and their electrifying performances provide a fitting tribute to the rock ‘n’ roll legend. Nils’ original songs like “Rock or Not” and “Dear Heartbreaker,” his tribute to Tom Petty, prove that Lofgren is no slouch in the songwriting department himself and if “Remember You” – an ode to his late dog Groucho – doesn’t leave you in tears, you’re not human. Blue with Lou offers a dozen guitar-driven songs featuring Lofgren’s warm, distinctive vocals and vivid, colorful fretwork, the result an entertaining old-school rock album that revels in its innocence. Grade: A BUY!
Lone Justice – Live At the Palomino 1983 (Omnivore Recordings)
Years before signing with Geffen Records, Lone Justice was just another L.A. band trying to make a name on a competitive, creative local scene that ran the gamut from Los Lobos and the Blasters to X and Black Flag. Featuring Maria McKee’s soaring vocals and guitarist Ryan Hedgecock’s inspired, underrated guitar playing, Lone Justice combined rock and country music, delivered with punkish intensity unlike anyone else at the time. Live At the Palomino 1983 captures the band at its most feverish, this captivating live show offering glimpses of their debut album in original songs like “Working Late” and “You Are the Light” as well as red-hot covers like Merle Haggard’s “Working Man Blues.” Celebrity fans like Tom Petty, Little Steven, and Linda Ronstadt got the band a major label deal, and even if they didn’t last very long, Live At the Palomino 1983 is proof that Lone Justice burned brightly. Grade: A BUY!
Adam Sandler – 100% Fresh (Warner Bros.)
Former SNL cast member Adam Sandler’s humor has always been an acquired taste, his stand-up chops questionable at best. Still, I’ve always cut him some slack; if he’s not as funny as his buddy Chris Rock, Sandler was still good for a couple of memorable bits per album. With 100% Fresh, the soundtrack to his new Netflix special, Sandler’s stand-up sinks as low as his recent made-for-streaming movies. A scattershot collection of half-baked sketches, unfinished songs, and plainly unfunny bits that take on the modern culture of ride-sharing, electric cars, cell phones and, yes, Amazon, there’s barely a single laugh to be had among the album’s 55 ‘tracks’. The production quality is shit, the club audiences obviously drunk, and Sadler’s smug, self-satisfying delivery tiring. Save your money and leave this turd on the shelf; buy something by comedic talents like Lewis Black, Kathleen Madigan, Mike Birbiglia, or Patton Oswalt instead. Grade: F BUY?
Sour Ops – Tinder Flame EP (Feralette Records)
Nashville’s cyclone-strength rockers quickly follow-up on their critically-acclaimed 2018 LP Family Circuit with a similarly-tailored five-song EP that’s guaran-damn-teed to blow the roof off your mobile home. Tinder Flame offers more of the same, but different, from the title track’s new wavish guitarfest and intriguing lyrics to the popish “Hung In the Trees,” which is Big Star by way of the Replacements. “Animal Magnetism” is simply magnificent, from its shimmering guitars (courtesy of brothers Price and Mark Harrison) to its heavy, uranium-weight rhythms (via bassist Tony Frost and drummer George Lilly) while “Again” is a relentless, psych-drenched leviathan demanding your allegiance. Sour Ops incorporates four decades of rock history into a sound entirely its own. If you’ve been looking for guitar-driven rock ‘n’ roll played the way the music’s forefathers (Chuck, Elvis, Mick & Keef) intended, check out Tinder Flame. Seldom have sixteen minutes of music been so damn satisfying! Grade: A BUY!
Robin Trower – Coming Closer To the Day (Provogue Records)
At an age when most artists would be content to rest on their laurels, 1970s-era guitar hero Robin Trower continues to regularly crank out albums. Coming Closer To the Day – the follow-up to the guitarist’s 2017 album Time and Emotion – manages to mix the bluesy undercurrent of Trower’s previous few releases with the psych-drench six-string pyrotechnics of his classic early LPs like Bridge of Sighs. While it’s always been good, Trower’s guitar playing hasn’t sounded this provocative in years, songs like the soulful “Truth or Lies,” the boogie-blues tune “Tide of Confusion,” and the exotic title track displaying a fire and purpose that you didn’t know was missing from his recent work. Yes, Trower’s flawed vocals pale in comparison to former frontmen like James Dewar or Davey Pattison, but who listens to a Robin Trower LP to hear him sing? His transcendent fretwork says all that needs to be said. Grade: A BUY!
Jimmie Vaughan – Baby, Please Come Home (The Last Music Co)
Aside from being an incredibly-talented guitarist, Texas blues legend Jimmie Vaughan is also a remarkable song stylist. Albums like 2011’s Plays More Blues, Ballads & Favorites are loaded with covers but, unlike his friend and contemporary Duke Robillard, who perfectly captures the original vibe of an old standard, Vaughan also puts his own stank on each performance. Baby, Please Come Home is a true musical celebration, the guitarist revisiting influential blues and R&B tracks by legends like Lloyd Price, T-Bone Walker, Fats Domino, Jimmy Reed, and others. Price’s title track is infused with vintage ‘50s horn blasts, Walker’s “I’m Still In Love With You” is a sizzling shuffle with tinkling piano, Fats’ “So Glad” is a swaggering Orleans-flavored strut, and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown’s “Midnight Hour” is simply drenched in soul. Vaughan’s fretwork is astounding throughout, so if old-school rhythm and blues is your game, then Jimmie Vaughan is your man! Grade: A BUY!
Hey now, this is more like it! The floodgates open in March and no matter your taste in music, there's something here to satisfy, pacify, and tickle the fancy of even the most hidebound hater. Blues fans will dig new albums by Tommy Castro, Nick Schnebelen, Robin Trower, and the first solo effort by the great Reese Wynans while metalheads will be bangin' their craniums to jacked-up new music by In Flame, Demon Hunter, Queensrÿche, and Devin Townsend.
Indie-rock fans will groove to LPs by Weezer, Meat Puppets, Stephen Malkmus, Ty Segall, and Lambchop, among many others. Americana aficionados aren't left out, either, with new albums by Steve Earle, Todd Snider, Son Volt, and a cool reissue of the long-ago debut by Uncle Walt's Band. Speaking of archive release, wrap your brains around long-lost tunes by Robin Lane & the Chartbusters, guitar maestro Dennis Coffey, Americana legend Townes Van Zandt, and the one-and-only Frank Zappa!
If you’re interesting in buying an album, just hit the ‘Buy!’ link to get it from
Amazon.com...it’s just that damn easy! Your purchase puts valuable ‘store credit’ in the
Reverend’s pocket that he’ll use to buy more music to write about in a
never-ending loop of rock ‘n’ roll ecstasy!
MARCH 1
Ian Brown - Ripples BUY!
Tommy Castro & the Painkillers - Killin' It Live BUY!
Kid Creole & the Coconuts - Live In Paris 1985 BUY!
Dennis Coffey - Live at Baker's BUY!
Demon Hunter - Peace BUY!
Demon Hunter - War BUY!
In Flames - I, The Mask BUY!
Robin Lane & the Chartbusters - Many Years Ago [box set] BUY!
Pond - Tasmania BUY!
Queensrÿche - The Verdict BUY!
Royal Trux - White Stuff BUY!
Nick Schnebelen - Crazy All By Myself BUY!
Weezer - Weezer (The Black Album) BUY!
Reese Wynans - Sweet Release BUY!
MARCH 8
Flight of the Conchords - Live In London BUY!
Patty Griffin - Patty Griffin BUY!
Amanda Palmer - There Will Be No Intermission BUY!
Meat Puppets - Dusty Notes BUY!
Townes Van Zandt - Sky Blue BUY!
Leo "Bud" Welch - The Angels in Heaven Have Done Signed My Name [produced by Dan Auerbach] BUY!
MARCH 15
Dennis Brennan & the White Owls - Live at Electric Andyland BUY!
The Brian Jonestown Massacre - The Brian Jonestown Massacre [vinyl] BUY!
The Faint - Egowerk BUY!
Stephen Malkmus - Groove Denied BUY!
Karen O & Danger Mouse - Lux Prima BUY!
Todd Snider - Cash Cabin Sessions, Vol. 3 BUY!
MARCH 22
Matt Andersen - Halfway Home By Morning BUY!
Andrew Bird - My Finest Work BUY!
Lambchop - This (is what I wanted to tell you) BUY!
Jenny Lewis - On the Line BUY!
Megadeth - Warheads On Foreheads [anthology] BUY!
Leroy Jodie Pierson - Rusty Nail BUY!
Mighty Mike Schermer - Bad Tattoo BUY!
Strand of Oaks - Eraserland BUY!
Henry Townsend & Roosevelt Sykes - Blues Piano and Guitar BUY!
Robin Trower - Coming Closer To the Day BUY!
MARCH 29
Steve Earle - Guy BUY!
L.A. Guns - The Devil You Know BUY!
Yngwie Malmsteen - Blue Lightning BUY!
Mekons - Deserted BUY!
Ty Segall - Deforming Lobes BUY!
Son Volt - Union BUY!
Devin Townsend - Empath BUY!
Uncle Walt's Band - Uncle Walt's Band BUY!
Whitechapel - The Valley BUY!
Frank Zappa - Zappa In New York [deluxe vinyl reissue] BUY!
Album of the Month: Tommy Castro & the Painkillers' Killin' It Live. Yeah, I know that I listed this one for February, but I goofed up...the album release actually kicks off March, with multiple Blues Music Award winner Tommy Castro and his band delivering a spanking live set of red-hot blues that showcase Castro's underrated, soulful vocals and scorched-earth fretwork. There's a reason why Castro is probably the most "in-demand" live artist on the blues scene today, and it's shown quite nicely in the grooves of Killin' It Live. Got it? Get it!
The list of albums scheduled for May release is mighty impressive, including new music from old friends like the Afghan Whigs, Blondie, Robin Trower, the Suicide Commandos, Todd Rundgren, and the Mountain Goats. There's also a career retrospective from Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, a long-lost LP from rock 'n' roll legend Dion, reissues from Neil Young and Jethro Tull, and cool new blues tunes from Janiva Magness and John Nemeth, both amazing vocalists you should know about. And don't forget our "album of the month," from Nashville's Raging Fire. No matter your taste in music, there's a lot to like in May; here's what you'll be spending your hard-earned coin on buying this month...
MAY 19
Selwyn Birchwood - Pick Your PoisonBUY!
DragonForce - Reaching Into InfinityBUY!
Jethro Tull - Songs From The Wood (40th Anniversary) BUY!
Pokey LaFarge - Manic RevelationsBUY!
The Mountain Goats - GothsBUY!
John Nemeth - Feelin' FreakyBUY!
MAY 26
The Charlatans UK - Different Days BUY!
Justin Townes Earle - Kids In The Street BUY!
(Album release dates are subject to change without notice and they don't always let me know, so there...)
Album of the Month: Raging Fire's These Teeth Are Sharp, the Nashville rock legends first new music in 30 years. The popular rockers were one of the best unsigned bands of the '80s, but they never managed to catch the break that would propel them out of the underground and into the major leagues (to be honest, it was hard being a rock band in the Music City in the 1980s...). The surviving band members (Michael Godsey, R.I.P.) reunited in the wake of the release of the retrospective Everything Is Roses 1985-1989 and, liking what they heard, recorded the songs that would become These Teeth Are Sharp. Check 'em out on the band's website and you'll agree that Raging Fire is the best band you've never heard! Watch for a review of the album here in the next couple of weeks, and check out the Reverend's That Devil Music review of Everything Is Roses...
The good folks at Back On Black and Let Them Eat Vinyl have been reissuing classic slabs o’ rock ‘n’ roll history on glorious, inky-black vinyl records in the U.S. and Canada for nearly five years now. Each LP release is stamped onto heavyweight vinyl for the best sound quality possible, and many titles are available in a variety of colors with the rabid collector in mind.
On June 16th, 2015 Let Them Eat Vinyl will reissue a large chunk of Procol Harum’s catalog on vinyl for the first time in nearly a quarter-century. Among the Procol Harum titles receiving the deluxe vinyl treatment are 1971’s classic Broken Barricades, 1973’s Grand Hotel, the following year’s Exotic Birds and Fruit, Procol’s Ninth (1975), and Something Magic (1977). The band’s 2003 reunion album The Well’s On Fire will be released on vinyl for the first time, as will Procol’s commercial breakthrough, 1972’s Live In Concert With The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and the 2004 archive release Live At The Union Chapel.
Of these vinyl reissues, Broken Barricades remains my personal favorite. The band’s fifth album and its last to feature guitarist Robin Trower, it features the classic Procol Harum line-up of singer/pianist Gary Brooker, keyboardist/bassist Chris Copping, drummer B.J. Wilson, and lyricist Keith Reid. It was Live In Concert With The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, which spawned the Top 20 hit single “Conquistador,” which would become the band’s highest-charting (#5 U.S.) and best-selling album.
The band had a hard time following up their live disc’s overwhelming success, however – although Grand Hotel rose to #21 on the chart, it included no hit singles, and Exotic Birds and Fruit struggled to hit #86 on the chart at the time of its release. Procol’s Ninth fared somewhat better, yielding a minor U.K. hit in “Pandora’s Box,” but after the poor showing of Something Magic, the band broke up. Although best known for their chart-topping 1967 classic “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” all of these 1970s-era Procol Harum albums have their charms. Now, a new generation of fans can rediscover this great music the way that the Reverend first heard it – on vinyl!
