Robin Trower: Underrated, overrated or just about right?

[JeffCarney]

The guy gets it. He plays with a level of intensity that I really appreciate. Sounds cliché to say it, but he really gets inside riffs, bends ... just love his playing!

He's more disciplined than Hendrix, but his frequent use of similar tones and certain phrasings that are from the Hendrix school will probably forever keep him from being considered a first rate innovator.

[Staun]

A really tasty player, but most of his songs don't reach the level of his playing.

Sort of felt the same way about Rory Gallagher. As though there should have been more. Bridge is a classic.

[strawberrybrick]

Probably should be noted that Trower did a lot of experimenting with pedal effects in the mid 70s, check out Long Misty Days, In City Dreams and Caravan to Midnight. The former two went Gold in the US, but I remember them all as cut-outs oddly enough!

[100423]

The guy gets it. He plays with a level of intensity that I really appreciate. Sounds cliché to say it, but he really gets inside riffs, bends ... just love his playing!

He's more disciplined than Hendrix, but his frequent use of similar tones and certain phrasings that are from the Hendrix school will probably forever keep him from being considered a first rate innovator.

Frank Marino is another great player that is stuck with the Hendrix imitator tag (I guess he did do some Hendrix covers, though).

Sort of felt the same way about Rory Gallagher. As though there should have been more. Bridge is a classic.

I agree with that as while.

[Galactic Bulldozer]

Maybe they were faulty like the example above... and I don't mean the surface noise.

[Supersonic Scientist]

Just about right

For me, Trower = 70s bluesy hard rock

+1 here....sums it up perfectly....NB you're reading my mind again.

I'll add Frank Marino for 70s Hard Rock GTR icon too....(talk about underrated???????)

[JJ88]

Sort of felt the same way about Rory Gallagher. As though there should have been more. Bridge is a classic.

I don't think Rory Gallagher sounded like anyone in the same way Trower did, to some extent, with Hendrix.

I think my favourite Gallagher work is within Taste.

[Staun]

I don't think Rory Gallagher sounded like anyone in the same way Trower did, to some extent, with Hendrix.

I think my favourite Gallagher work is within Taste.

I'm going to defer back to what John said. Their playing and talent was more than the material they were both producing. Seems like there was more to them than what we were hearing.

[Staun]

After Hendrix, Trower did Bridge and it was pretty successful. Doesn't this mean they could co-exist even with some of the same tones?

[klothos]

Im not really sure what you guys are hearing about some of these guys: the best way to really make blues singing and soloing stand out is by keeping the arrangements stripped down, bare, and uncluttered. If anything, Gallagher took some chances with this.

Harmonic Minor Blues...Who'da thunk it?:

[StevegSr]

Since 2009, Trower is his own lead vocalist on a few albums. Live, I think he lets the bass player handle most of the singing, but here's one where he's at the mic:

Nice vid on RT..

My remark from RT's former manager (that Trower couldn't play and sing at the same time), a nice chap that I'll refer to as DK, was why Trower never sang his Procol songs live. And that was his answer to me. But having met both Trower and Gary Brooker in the flesh, it's my opinion that RT probably felt very inadequate singing in Brooker's company. And Brooker was one of those people that had an aura about him. He was a good singer, pianist and songwriter and he knew it. It felt to me like he was a McCartney to Keith Reid's Lennon, for lack of a better comparison. In other words, he was the star of the group and RT was an important part of it, but not the centerpiece he would become when he went solo. JMO.

[The Dark Elf]

I saw Trower in May. I don't much care for the overrated or underrated debate. All I know is the dude can still jam.

[mogrooves]

RT probably felt very inadequate singing in Brooker's company.

Very few wouldn't feel similarly.

[zombywoof]

Well I haven't really heard him 'rated' enough to consider him 'overrated.'

[strawberrybrick]

[JJ88]

^That's an oddity- was this before Bridge Of Sighs came out, as the lyrics for (what became) 'Day Of The Eagle' are different, not even mentioning that title! The arrangement is different, with the instrumental ending being faster.

After Hendrix, Trower did Bridge and it was pretty successful. Doesn't this mean they could co-exist even with some of the same tones?

Well of course by that point they were not co-existing! I think the Hendrix influence on Trower became more pronounced after his death...starting with the direct tribute 'Song For A Dreamer', I guess. It's not so evident on the first four Procol Harum albums, to my ears.

[yoyiceu]

^That's an oddity- was this before Bridge Of Sighs came out, as the lyrics for (what became) 'Day Of The Eagle' are different, not even mentioning that title! The arrangement is different, with the instrumental ending being faster.


Well of course by that point they were not co-existing! I think the Hendrix influence on Trower became more pronounced after his death...starting with the direct tribute 'Song For A Dreamer', I guess. It's not so evident on the first four Procol Harum albums, to my ears.

I remember an early interview he did where he said he had taken as an starting point what Hendrix was doing at the beginning: earthy rock with and R & B and soul background. He added that he thought Hendrix had lost his course when he became spacier and flashier afterwards.

[Trane]

Probably should be noted that Trower did a lot of experimenting with pedal effects in the mid 70s, check out Long Misty Days, In City Dreams and Caravan to Midnight. The former two went Gold in the US, but I remember them all as cut-outs oddly enough!

I seem to remember the latter two you cite and Victim Of Fury being cut-outs, north of the 49th Parallel

[100423]

I remember an early interview he did where he said he had taken as an starting point what Hendrix was doing at the beginning: earthy rock with and R & B and soul background. He added that he thought Hendrix had lost his course when he became spacier and flashier afterwards.

Which is why I prefer Hendrix as a songwriter, because he was willing to take wildly divergent styles of music and mix them up into a (generally) cohesive stew.

[Staun]

^That's an oddity- was this before Bridge Of Sighs came out, as the lyrics for (what became) 'Day Of The Eagle' are different, not even mentioning that title! The arrangement is different, with the instrumental ending being faster.


Well of course by that point they were not co-existing! I think the Hendrix influence on Trower became more pronounced after his death...starting with the direct tribute 'Song For A Dreamer', I guess. It's not so evident on the first four Procol Harum albums, to my ears.

Oh, I meant just from a total musical stand point.

[mogrooves]

I think the Hendrix influence on Trower became more pronounced after his death...starting with the direct tribute 'Song For A Dreamer', I guess. It's not so evident on the first four Procol Harum albums, to my ears.

+1

I remember an early interview he did where he said he had taken as an starting point what Hendrix was doing at the beginning: earthy rock with and R & B and soul background. He added that he thought Hendrix had lost his course when he became spacier and flashier afterwards.

He has stated that he dug RUX but not the following two LPS, and then apparently really dug BoG.

[NeonKnight]

I saw Trower in May. I don't much care for the overrated or underrated debate. All I know is the dude can still jam.

Even though you don't care much, congratulations for sealing the case for the "underrated" camp.

The dude plays his ass off still live at seventy something, (71?) and he does it, AFAIK, without any obvious decline in skill.

These days I'm sure, in front of hundreds instead of the thousands he should be playing for. If he was overrated in any way he would likely have ticket sales to show for it.

[Supersonic Scientist]

Yeah, I saw him last year here in ATL....Sold out the Variety Playhouse which holds ~ 1000....KILLER SET, bitchin solos, what's not to like.

Saw him 2x in the '80, once with Roy Buchanan...both times he killed it!!!

[StevegSr]

Very few wouldn't feel similarly.

As a recording engineer, I've heard quite a few in my time that thought they could sing until someone set them straight. Trower seemed much more humble and sensible.

[BobM]

Watching him play live these days, you can appreciate what a great musician he is. He wrote some iconic songs and has one album that is a bonafide classic. What's not to like. He's not a Hendrix and he's not stadium rock. He's just about right where he should be.