Conference napalm::guitar

Day of the Eagle -- one of the coolest Trower songs..

    re: .0 
    
    They both 'owe a lot to' or 'rip off', depending on how you look at it, 
    Jimi Hendrix.
    
    Peter

Big deal.  Everybody in rock since about '69 does.

Will

    I didn't mean that quite as negatively as it came out.  You're right
    that Hendrix has become part of the standard rock guitar vocabulary.
    But both SRV and Trower use the Hendrix sound as a starting point.
    IMO.
    
    Peter

Fair enough.  I'll buy that.  :)

Will

Immitation is the highest form of flattery ???!!

    Sincerest.

>
>    Haven't been able to find anything in here about Robin Trower...
>    Do any of you play any of his stuff?      
    

This is a bit off track from your request...but may throw up some replies. 

It's strange you should mention this guy Alan, I lost track of him some years 
ago, but wandered into my local guitar shop on saturday to buy a video...ended 
up getting Eric Johnson  (brilliant)......and started to listen to Robin's
latest instruction video. I only saw the first five minutes and was a bit 
put off. He seemed to be either high or very nervous, but I am wondering what 
the remaining part is like. Anyone seen/bought the video ? How much blues info 
is in it ? Because I like the stuff he does, I will probably go back and give 
it a second listen.

He certainly is an excellent but not world class player...hope that does not 
sound too negative..he would probably be in the top forty "Hall of Fame" !!

He does however, have great feel and is an emotive player, but one who has 
not put enough of his own identity in his music, but he does interpret well.

I have not been an avid collector of his stuff, but going back about five 
years plus, I well remember him recording some excellent live albums/tracks,
and I was very impressed with the power of his playing.

Dave

    
    
      I am quite a fan of Trower's old material as well as the new stuff.
    I've seen him play in a club a couple year's back and thought he did
    a great job. His Hendrix influence really comes through on those
    "spacey" phased bluesy songs. The most recent Trower release -
    "In the Line of Fire" is excellent and features ex Gamma vocalist
    Davey Pattison. You might be able to find it in the cheapie bins!
    Check it out, nice guitar work.
      Here's a listing of Trower releases I have that are close to the
    order they were released:
    
    		Twice Removed from Yesterday
    		Bridge of Sighs (his biggest seller)
    		For Earth Below
    		Long Misty Days
    		Caravan to Midnight
    		In City Dreams
    		BLT - Bruce, Lordan, and Trower (Jack Bruce)
    		Take What you Need
    		In the Line of Fire
    
      There was a release on an independant label called "Passion" that I
    don't have. It was just before "Take What..."
    
    							-B()()M-

    Re: .9
    
    There were two Bruce/Trowers, "BLT" and "Truce", both out of print.  A
    CD-only compilation from the two (must have most of the stuff, it's 16
    tracks) is available called "No Stopping".  Not as good as you would
    expect but it has its moments.
    
    						Brian
    
    					Jack Bruce wannabe

    You're all negelecting the man's ROOTS, and I mean as lead guitar for
    Procol Harum on albums 1-5 (last album with Procol was "Broken
    barricades", and the first one to feature his new, "Hendrix-like" sound
    on "Song for a Dreamer".)
    
    Before he developed his hendrix emulator he sounded a bit like Clapton
    on some cuts, but most of his work with Procol was limited to
    Les-Paul-through-Marshall-everything-on-10 lead breaks in the midst of
    pseudo-classical bach-like chord changes (wasn't it?)
    
    I still like it.
    -Mark

    
    
    and they're planning a tour!

    
    
    Was that Robin on "Bringing Home the Bacon"?  That sure wasn't
    pseudo-classical bach-like chord changes!
    
    Kevin

    Did he play the solo on "conquistador"? I always loved the way
    that one built up.
    
    - Dave

    The studio version of "Conquistador" (from the first LP) is Robin, the
    live version is someone else.
    
    
    						Brian

    
    The live version is with David Ball (ex-Bedlam) on guitar....
    
    Peter
    

    
    There's a 3-page article on Robin Trower in this month's edition of the
    UK publication "The Guitar Magazine".
    
    One of the more interesting "insights" that he revealed is his habit of
    tuning the guitar down by a tone to allow the use of heavy gauge strings 
    without any compromise on the string-bending front.
    
    Dom

    I think this is actually a pretty common practice, primarily for
    Strat players as the 25.5" scale makes for higher string tension
    than on the slightly shorter Gibson scale.  Hendrix and SRV did this
    fer sure; that's why the tunes on the records often seem to be in
    E-flat, etc. when you try to play along.
    
    It's a drag for bass players, as you either have to turn down too or
    play in weird keys all night.

    If I playd bass, I think E flat would be the worst key to play in. No
    picnic on guitar, either.

    rjb

   re: .19

   Not a problem on the 5 string...  :-)

   -- Sam

    Re: .19
    
    What's the hassle with Eb?  If you ever get in to a band with horn
    players you'll spend a lot of time in keys like Bb, Eb and F and
    they're simple enough to deal with.  Yes, you can't get the Eb below
    open E but that's hardly a fatal problem.  Heck, get a five string and
    you can start complaining about songs in Bb  8^)  8^) 
    
    In my band's current repertoire, we have songs in all twelve keys. It's
    been a healthy experience...before this band I was only used to the
    usual guitar keys.  
    
    						Brian

    To second what Brian sez, I love to play in flat keys.  F sounds so
    much better than E to my ears.  Besides, if'n you spend all night
    hanging out E,A, and G, it sounds monotonous.

    sure, playing tasty F and B-flat tunes is cool.  But this tune down thing
    is typically a blues/rock guitarist trick.  It's more like you end up playing
    E-flat, A-flat, and G-flat all night instead of E, A, G.  I still say it's
    a drag.

    Getting back onto the original subject  8^)
    
    A month or two back, I rented a movie about narcs ("Rush" I think?)
    that had "Bridge of Sighs" on the soundtrack.  That got me to drag out
    my Trower elpees and tape 'em.  After listening to the tapes more than
    a few times, I'm starting to remember how samey Robin's material could
    get  8;(   Particularly the way the followup LP "For Earth Below" seems
    to clone almost every song on the previous album! 
    
    I think James Dewar, who sang and held down the bass for Trower in
    those days, was vastly underrated as a vocalist.  He was in the mold of
    Paul Rodgers, sure, but it's easy to see why he left Stone the Crows
    (where he had to deal with Maggie Bell who was such a dynamite vocalist
    that he was never going to get much room to sing).  I wonder what
    happened to him after he left the Trower band...in his last days with
    them he was singing only and someone else was playing bass.  I also
    really dug Robin's original drummer Reg Isadore.  His feel on the
    slow-drag tunes was absolutely hypnotic.  
    
    Around 1981, Robin did two albums with Jack Bruce (a compilation pulled
    from  them is on a Chrysalis CD as "No Stopping") and while it's not
    quite as good as you might have hoped, it's not as bad as West, Bruce
    and Laing turned out, either. It's as close as we're gonna get to
    hearing Jimi jam with Cream  8^)  
    
    I have to admit that once he stepped into Jimi-isms Robin never seemed
    to figure out how to get out of the trap!  At least SRV had other
    angles to his playing, namely the Texas blues thing, so he wasn't stuck
    with being a Jimi clone.
    
    I've heard that Robin is leaning back in to the blues again these days,
    I'd like to hear that for sure.  
    
    							Brian

    	The latest that I've heard from him is called "In The Line of
    Fire". Its more varied than earlier efforts and and the vocalist could
    pass as a clone of James Dewar. Funny thing though all most all the
    tunes are in D. Maybe he's tuned down further......
    
    BTW It's a great disc..
    
    FJE

    	So what is Robin trower up to these days? anybody know? 
    I was listening to 'Bridge of Signs' last night and really homed
    in on his sound/tone for a few tracks. Obviously a Marshall-Strat
    combo, but it sounds to me (listening VERY closely) that he is
    using a Delay set super short,with a pretty good amount of effect.
    tThis produces a doubling of his final signal,like two guitars.I 
    played with my delay for a little while (plugged in the ROTOVIBE)
    and the it was! Very cool and very unmistakably Trower.
    
    	-kev
    

    Picked up a copy of Robin Trower 'Live' yesterday...WOW!
    Quite a amazing player (imo).I am looking for a copy of 'Twice Removed
    From Yesterday' (his 1st release) on CD.It has just been disco'd,and
    may be still kicking around.Any help would be appreciated,or may be
    someone may even have a copy they might be willing to part with for a
    small sum?
    
    -kev
    

    OK,just one more Trower note.I'm wondering if anyone has or has seen
    his instructional video.It's goin' for about $70 at the local and i'm
    considering it,but a little scared.
    
    I love'm thank you,
    
    -kev
    

    
    >From Yesterday' (his 1st release) on CD.It has just been disco'd,and
    
    
    	It's been disco'd?  ALRIGHT!!
    
    	I love Santa Esmeralda's cover of the Animals' "Please Don't Let
    	Me Be Misunderstood" ... wonder if this one would be as good?
    

    I kinda lost track of Robin Trower after the first couple of albums.
    However, I thought he was pretty talented and the band's material
    wasn't bad either.
    
    One story sticks in my mind about the early days of the band. Eric
    Clapton was driving down the motorway one night listening to his car
    radio, and the DJ played a track from Trower's recently released first
    album. Clapton, thinking that he was the proud owner of literally
    everything that Hendrix had ever recorded, was so astonished that he
    pulled the car over to the side of the road to listen better. On
    hearing that it was indeed Robin Trower and not Hendrix, he vowed to 
    contact Trower as soon as possible.
    
    Maybe this had something to do with Gary Brooker playing in Clapton's
    band at the beginning of the eighties; both Brooker and Trower were
    menmbers of Procul Harem.
    
    Dom 
                                        

    SO THAT'S WHERE ALL THOSE HENDRIX BOOTS CAME FROM!!
    ERIC....YOU DOG!!
    
    -kev

    
    Did Trower have a "hit" called "Daydream"? 
    
    If so what album?  And, if you know, is the
    rest of that album any good? 
    
    Also, did he tune down to D or Eb?
    
    Dave
    

    
      "Daydream" was off one of the first two Trower albums. It really
    wasn't a hit per say. My guess is that it was on "Bridge of Sighs" and 
    I remember playing it years ago using standard tuning.  Crack out your 
    MXR phaser to play this one!
    

    If your thinking of picking up some RT, try and find his first live
    release (not the recent BBC release).It's awesome!
    Speaking of Trower, anyone ever see any bootlegs of his floating
    around?
    
    -kev