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Another Days Blues’ is a brand new album from British rock guitar legend, Robin Trower. As the title suggests,
this new CD finds the one-time Procol Harum man in a fairly bluesy mood with a collection of nine self-penned and three cover tunes.
Standing at the mike for most of the songs is Scottish singer, Davey
Pattison, Trower’s trusted sideman for the best part of the last twenty years and perhaps the one and only person to have effectively filled the shoes of the band’s original vocalist, the great late James Dewar.
Davey’s refined yet raucous rock vocals provide much of inspiration for this collection and he turns in some exquisite performances notably on Robert Johnson’s ‘Crossroads’ and Chuck Willis’
‘Feels so bad’.
But Trower takes charge of vocals on two songs. ‘21st Century Blues’ is a lilting 12-bar affair with the tempting refrain “bring me some good news” and the most perfect backing
from Dave Bronze on bass and Pete Thompson on drums. ’This Blue Love’ is pure revelation with Trower’s vocals in a very different league to anything he has ever attempted before. “I don’t want you, I
don’t need you” sings an almost falsetto Mr Trower.
Hazel Fernandez, starlet of Jamiroquai’s 2005 tour band, is guest vocalist for ‘Looking for a true love’ a tasty blues funk affair with a catchy
drum riff provided by Stevie Bacon.
Trower assembles a team of first-class support for this CD. Reg Isadore, the drummer man on Robin’s signature album from the seventies’ ‘Bridge of Sighs’ is
reunited with Trower on nine of the tunes here. Nicky Brown’s fluid Hammond organ dominates the much of the album’s soundscape. In the mix again, Dave Bronze has done a fabulous job perfectly weighting the
performances of the nine-strong cast.
Trower sets out on the road again next week, his second tour in the UK this year. He will be backed by Davey Pattison, Pete Thompson and Dave Bronze. Let’s hope
something from ‘Another Days Blues’ makes it onto the setlist.
After a long lay-off and, it must seem like a lifetime on the road in the United States, Robin Trower hasfinally come home. Many happy
returns!
Alan Howard, 2005
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