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‘Robin Trower Live’ (Chrysalis CHR 1089)
Suffering as we do these days from a surfeit of mediocre music the
pleasure of discovering a really exciting album becomes rarer. Occasionally one despairs of ever hearing something that really hits the mark as one waits for that killer album. This time it’s from Robin Trower and
his sidemen Bill Lordan and Jim Dewar.
Their last effort ‘For Earth Below’ was pretty fine but altogether too cool and calculated to really stir the emotions. It lacked the fire with which the trio charge
their stage work. But ‘Live’ is an entirely different proposition – simply because of its immediate qualities.
It is a complete exoneration of the producing school of thought that demands all the rough
edges should be retained in the final mix if the feeling is just right.
Trower himself was extremely excited about this album when I spoke to him before last year’s Reading Festival and having heard the
outcome, I think it’s easy to see why. It goes a great deal further than Trower’s previous records in catching the real quality of his work. He is undoubtedly the last of the guitar heroes, a label that has
often been used in a derogatory sense.
But he fits the bill perfectly – a reticent, quiet man offstage who becomes animated the moment he holds a guitar. This sense of a man in perfect sympathy with his
environment is beautifully captured on ‘Live’. The sound quality is excellent with neat separation between the instruments achieved without sacrificing the excitement of a live show.
Recorded in the
wood-panelled Stockholm Concert Hall, where Nobel Prizes are awarded each year, the album has an electrifying opening with the chunky wah-wah chords of ‘Too Rolling Stoned’, the perfect ass-kicking curtain
raiser.
Lordan lays down an excellent foundation with his crisp, flashing cymbal work coupled with razor-sharp snare shots. Dewar’s bass is lost a little at times but he’s never been in better voice,
round, resonant and authoritative. And Trower is quite magnificent. I have a personal preference for his faster numbers anyway but even a natural bias such as that doesn’t detract from Trower’s stunning
dexterity.
The pace slows a little with the mellifluous ‘Daydream’, which catches the band in their most charmingly lyrical mood. But then it builds once again on a gutsy reworked version of the classic
blues number ‘Rock me Baby’. It speaks volumes for them that they can take such a hackneyed song and turn it inside out.
Side two is another old favourite selection with a fine foursome which I rate as
Trower’s best-loved songs – ‘Lady Love’ and ‘Little bit of sympathy’ from ‘Bridge of Sighs’, ‘Alethea’, the stand-out track from ‘For Earth Below’ and ‘I can’t much longer’ from
‘Twice removed from yesterday’.
All four are tried and tested winners but they’re considerably enhanced by the live atmosphere. I envisage Trower fans playing these versions in preference to the studio
ones.
In total, ‘Live’ is a genuine listening pleasure and a milestone in Trower’s career. If anything’s going to establish this talented guy and his band once and for all, this album is the one to
do it. Certainly it’s an impressive argument against those who would casually dismiss Trower as a ‘Hendrix rip-off’.
Barry Harrigan, Melody Maker
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