Robin Trower - unsung guitar genius

Robin Trower is one of the few remaining masters of blues/rock guitar. From his early progressive rock days with Procol Harum, to his arena rock heydey in the 70's, to his return to the blues in the 90's and beyond he's never lost his signature voice...and in fact he's a better player now than ever before.

He was one of the few players that really "GOT" what Hendrix was laying down and he was able to take Jimi's innovations as a jumping off point to creating his own absolutely unique guitar sound. He's been an influence on players as diverse as Stevie Ray Vaughan and Ty Tabor from King's X.

The man has a long list of "must-own" albums including:

Twice Removed From Yesterday
Bridge Of Sighs
For Earth Below
Live
Long Misty Days
Victims Of The Fury
...and those are just the early highlights.

His most recent release with Jack Bruce is the best album either artist has recorded in many years:



If you need an "introductory" disc to start with, these newly released collection has a nice overview of his 70's work:



Any other Trower fans here?

I discovered Robin Trower through of all things Hit Parader article when I was kid. They used to have a section called Legends of Rock, and they profiled him so I took a chance a bought 'Bridge of Sighs' what a great album.

And as much as I love his guitar playing the instrument that stands out the most is James Dewer's voice. That guy sang with so much emotion and on songs like 'In this Place' and 'Bridge of Sighs', you could feel he meant every word, Robin Trower and James Dewer were magic together, excellent guitartist paired with an excellent sympathic singer. Brillant.

Believe me, I don't downplay Dewar's contribution, one of my top 5 favorite vocalists of all time.

Trower's albums without Dewar were never as good (though the Jack Bruce albums come close).

detuned wrote:

Believe me, I don't downplay Dewar's contribution, one of my top 5 favorite vocalists of all time.

Trower's albums without Dewar were never as good (though the Jack Bruce albums come close).

I do like the albums without Dewar also, maybe I downplayed Robin Trower's contribution to his own solo career, Trower til this day has never phoned in his performance, he still plays with passion and fire, overlooked and under rated guitartist. Critics ( especially Rolling Stone) used to claim he was a Hendrix clone, shows how clueless and hard of hearing most critics are.

I'm a fan. I have Bridge of Sighs and his Essential collection. I just listened to Bridge of Sighs the other night while I was going through a stack of mail.

I'm not sure but I think Jimmy DeWar was a friend of Paul Rodgers. Whether that's true or not I do hear a similarity. Great, great voices. Also Davy Pattison of Gamma. All of those bands had just killer vocal/guitar chemistry, but of the three I'd say that Trower/DeWar was the best.

I have Beyond The Mist, Bridge, and Portfolio. I do appreciate his work alot, definately more than yer average old school rock fan, but I'm not a major insane fan of his work but I can understand why one would be a huge fan of his cuz he's great.

never heard of this guy, blues you say? will have to check it out

sam wrote:

never heard of this guy, blues you say? will have to check it out

More blues rock than straight blues...but he fits into the same category as Hendrix, SRV, Jeff Beck, etc.

Love Robin Trower. Another Hendix prodigy. Always thought he had a very heavy guitar tone.

Agree with Ult, his guitar tone is incredible.

detuned wrote:

sam wrote:

never heard of this guy, blues you say? will have to check it out

More blues rock than straight blues...but he fits into the same category as Hendrix, SRV, Jeff Beck, etc.

will definitely put on my want list

A friend gave me one of his CDs a while back, I have always liked this guy since back in high school but have never bought any of his music. I need to remedy that, he is a great guitarist.

Good interview with Jack Bruce about the recording of the Seven Moons album with Trower.

http://www.mwe3.com/archive/pastfeature/featureJackRobin2008.htm

That's weird. I have no recollection of this thread, even though I posted a reply. Looks like I picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue. Oh well.

Anyway, yea, great guitarist. I just picked up Seven Moons recently and it's great. Any fan of Trower or Jack Bruce should do themselves a favor and get it.

An object lesson in tone.

Trower is great. A friend turned me on to him a long time ago with his essential Robin Trower album. I like the song "Too Rolling Stoned" among others.

I haven't expanded into any of his other stuff except "Bridge Of Sighs". Even so, I have played that record countless times. Also to my luck, he is playing at a newly-opened venue in my town! So excited!

Lol. I bought “ Day of The Eagle “. Had to.
I’ve heard his name over and over.
I didn’t have any high hopes about the CD.
Just finished listening to “ Bootleg “ AEROSMITH.
So I toss on Trower’s CD. Had it for a year or two now.
This time…..I was floored….by how fun it was to listen to. A jammer.
I can just imagine what one of his concerts were like.
A good poll would be Nugent or Trower.

One of the top 5 best Hendrix inspired players imo.