Robin Trower - Living Out of Time (1 Viewer)

[Brian L]

This is the new one from Robin. Got it yesterday, having pre-ordered it from his official web site trowerpower.com

If you are a fan, its a must buy, IMHO.

All I can say is, if you like Robin, you will not be disappointed. Probably not a lot of new ground being broken, but for me that's a good thing.

I never get tired of the tones he manages to pull out of a strat and a Univibe (well, a Univibe clone, a Fulltone DejaVibe I suspect).

Very well recorded as well

On a side note, there is a note that came in the package from Robin's manager pleading with buyers to NOT post MP3s of this album on the net. Robin is basically his own record company at this point, and the note suggests that, unless they can make money selling the CDs directly, they will no longer record. They are already finding it impossible to tour and still make any money.

As a Trower fan, and a fan of great guitar playing in general, I would consider that a great loss.

I dropped an e-mail to his management through the web site, and asked if they had any plans to release any of his back catalog on hi-rez, preferably in 5.1.

I got a speedy reply from Derek Sutton, Robin's manager, saying that they no longer own the rights to his older works. They are owned by EMI UK, who he said seems only interested in repackaging his existing works, and without any input from Trower.

He did say he thought hi-rez would be a good idea, and would bring it up with EMI.

I can only hope! As S&V mentioned in an article a while back, Bridge of Sighs is a title that begs to be heard in hi-rez 5.1.

BGL

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Brian- How are ya? Mescalero came out last week. I'm going to try to get it tonight. Did you get it yet? ICE has something from Rhino coming out from them Oct 14th. 4-CD set called Chrome, Smoke, and BBQ. No more info more than that.


Re Robin Trower: I like two periods: Bridge of Sighs era, and Victims of the Fury & BLT, but some of the stuff in between isn't that great, and I lost track after Passion.

How would you characterize this one?

He did a King Biscuit or something after Victims of the Fury came out. I have a cassette copy off the radio, but man, I'd kill for a cleaner copy of life stuff from that era.

 

[Brian L]

Well, I probably lost track of Robin about the same time you did, at least in terms buying his albums. I do have the Biscuit live CD. Haven't listened to it on the he-man rig, but on the office system it sounds OK. I think it is available from his site.

The new one has bits and pieces that will be familiar to any Trower fan. Like I said, nothing really new, but then again, there is one cut that you would swear is Hendrix, and another where he is coping SRV's tone pretty well. I would say it slots in well around the VoF and BLT era, with a few slow numbers that allow for some extended soloing.

There is one tune that sounds to me like a slow version of Lady Love, with a very nice extended solo.

I know a lot of people categorize Robin as a Hendrix wanna-be. I could not disagree more. He has a style and tone that are unmatched.

The guy on vocals at times sounds a lot like the late Jimmy Dewar, which is a good thing indeed.

Side story relating to RT: I was working on a project in 1994 in Porterville, California. In case you don't know, its a small town at the foot of the Sierras. I was traveling with a gal that worked for my company at the time. We are looking for a place to eat, and as we drive by what looked like an Elk's Club or a VFW hall, I note on the marque the name Robin Trower. I am thinking NO FREAKIN' WAY.

Sure enough, he was slated to play there in two weeks time. We bought two tickets and made sure we left some unfinished business on the project. The night of the show, we get their early. There were perhaps 10 people in the crowd, us included, that were hard core Trower fans. Everyone else appeared to be locals out for a good time.

It was mind boggling to see people getting up to dance. I can only imagine what he thought. To this day, I can't fathom how he was booked into such a small place, but I consider myself supremely lucky to have been there.

On to ZZ Top. I don't have Mescalero yet. Waiting to see what the buzz is. I did see some discussion about the boxed set on Steve Hoffman's site. Supposedly they are going back to the original tapes. I think I read that Bob Ludwig was going to do the mastering. Someone commented that they were so glad they were not using the "drum machine" tracks from the 6 pack.

As you and I had discussed before, I like the 6 pack. Oh well.

BGL

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Yeah, that must have been a great Robin Trower show.

I'll let you know what Mescalero sounds like.

The sticker on the front has blurbs from 2 reviews that suggest it's more like the old stuff too.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Brian- Another thread all to ourselves?

Listened to 1st 7 tracks from Mescalero this am. Not quite as good as Rhythmeen, but better than Antenna and XXX IMO.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Sorry to butt in here.

I just grabbed the remastered Twice Removed (my favorite Trower album bar none)/Bridge of Sighs, and it has been playing quite a bit around here lately.

I've only seen Robin live once, at a medium sized club in Vancouver, but that was an awesome show. Sure, he was influenced by Hendrix (who wasn't back then?), but he has a style and sound all his own.

Interesting about the MP3 note, I'll have to remember that, and I hope his fans oblige. There are very few artists with the musical sensibility that Trower has, and I know that his influence is ever present in my own work. I'll have to find that new CD.

 

[Brian L]

There are very few artists with the musical sensibility that Trower has, and I know that his influence is ever present in my own work. I'll have to find that new CD.

I have been playing it non-stop for two days. As I said initially, its really not breaking any new ground, but I am really, really liking it.

The recording quality is quite good. There are no tracks that rock out like, say, Day of the Eagle, but mostly slow and medium tempo stuff.

The man's vibrato and phrasing just leave me in awe.

There are a couple samples on his site. I don't recall which ones, but I remember after the 1st one was posted, I immediately made the decision to order the CD.

Hopefully, we can keep this discussion going, and keep the thread near the top. Then maybe people will be interested enough to track down some of his work

BGL

 

[Brian L]

Mind boggling.

Someone has the new CD on E-bay, and its current bid price, excluding shipping, is more than you can buy it for INCLUDING shipping from www.trowerpower.com.

Why does that never happen when I am selling something?

Side note: They have posted the letter to fans that I mentioned, asking us not to post MP3s of the album on the internet.

BGL

 

[Marvin]

Hopefully, we can keep this discussion going, and keep the thread near the top. Then maybe people will be interested enough to track down some of his work

OK, I'll do my part. In case anyone wasn't aware, he was the guitar player for the first 5 Procol Harum albums, the last two of which ("Home" and "Broken Barricades") were their most guitar-oriented albums (songs include "Whiskey Train", "Simple Sister", "Memorial Drive"). Highly recommended for any Trower fans out there.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I'm hoping they can set up a Paypal payment for international customers, as the cost of acquiring this disc will be close to $50CAN by the time it arrives, which at this time, is too rich for my blood.

 

[Brian L]

OK, I'll do my part. In case anyone wasn't aware, he was the guitar player for the first 5 Procol Harum albums, the last two of which ("Home" and "Broken Barricades") were their most guitar-oriented albums (songs include "Whiskey Train", "Simple Sister", "Memorial Drive"). Highly recommended for any Trower fans out there.

Thanks Marvin.

I knew he was in PH, but was unaware just how many albums he played on. I am quite ignorant of PH, other than Whiter Shade of Pale, which I don't think even has a guitar on it

I will see if I can track down those last two.

Speaking of PH, the last issue of Stereophile that I bought had an extensive article about PH. Trower is mentioned, but only in passing.

Jeff, I would agree on the cost. As much as I like the new album, 50 Bucks Canadian, even when converted to real money is pretty steep.

BGL

 

[Marvin]

Brian,
There's not too much guitar on AWSOP and he didn't join the group until after they released that song.
By the way, he was also on the 1991 PH album "The Prodigal Stranger" and on a few songs of "The Long Goodbye" (not really a PH album, just orchestrated versions of some of their songs).
There's more info on him at this page (and website):
http://www.procolharum.com/procolrt.htm

 

[Kevin C Brown]

He was also the original guitarist announced to play guitar for the Jimi Hendrix movie soundtrack, but the flic took so long to make that somehow they ended up with someone else.

I always like Conquistador. Have to get that track on CD sometime.

Listened to Victoms of the Fury last night. Awesome...

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

If anyone is just getting into Trower, the new reissues offer some pretty good value with two albums per disc.

 

[Marvin]

I always liked Conquistador. Have to get that track on CD sometime.

Actually, if you're talking about the live with orchestra version (the one that was a hit single in '72), Trower had left the group by then. They had a different guitar player for that one album (David Ball, who was then replaced by Mick Grabham). Trower was on the original studio version (from their first album) but there wasn't much guitar on that version.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Brian is a very bad person. He posted some stuff about ZZ Top a while ago, and I ended up getting the last 4 (I had given up on them after the synth pop they did in the 80's). (Only kept two of them, but you get the point.)

Now he posts about Robin Trower. Haven't listened to him in years. (Had 'em all on lp once.) I have the double For Earth Below/Live, the original single CD of Victims, and the expanded Bridge of Sighs. Listening the FEB/Live now. I'm now looking around for the doubles with Twice Removed from Yesterday and Long Misty Days, and even Victims of the Fury to get it remastered...

BGL: What are you listening to / buying next?


Marvin- Yeah, the Orchestral version. Actually had that on cassette a long time ago...

 

[Brian L]

Hey, Kevin. What goes around comes around...

I had to track down XXX on E-bay 'cuz of you! And Mescalero is on my ht list. And now Marvin will have me searching out a couple Procol Harum albums.

And I want to correct something I said earlier about the new CD......

Trower's vocalist on the new CD does not really sound like the late Jimmy Dewar. I played the King Biscuit live CD this morning, and while his phrasing at times can conjure up memories of Jimmy, they each have a pretty unique vocal range.

I didn't want someone chiming in suggesting that I might need to put down the crack pipe.....

What will I be listening to next? Who knows. I do have front row seats for Steely Dan on Tuesday night (nayh, nayh, nayh, nayh!!!!), but I expect you boys will already have all the SD you want to have.

BGL

 

[Marvin]

I had to track down XXX on E-bay 'cuz of you! And Mescalero is on my ht list. And now Marvin will have me searching out a couple Procol Harum albums.

And after you find those couple of albums, I'll recommend their other 10 albums.

 

[Brian L]

Marvin,

I have been hunting around on e-bay and Amazon for Home and Broken Barricades.

Are there any specific editions that are better than the others? I see German imports, UK imports. etc. There is even a MFSL CD of home on e-bay right now.

BGL

 

[Marvin]

Brian,
I have the Westside remastered-plus version of Home, which Deep Discount CD lists for $10.91 with free shipping:

http://www.deepdiscountcd.com/index....c=144750353532

Amazon lists this one at $14.98.

As for Broken Barricades, I have the limited edition one put out by their fan club (Shine On) (http://www.procolharum.com/merchand.htm) but that was before Repertoire (the German import) put out a new version with bonus tracks.
(The CD had been out of print for a while.)
You'd probably be better off getting the Repertoire release of that one: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...788446-8051024

I also have the earlier MFSL copies of each and although I've never done a side-by-side by comparison, my impression was that the newer ones sounded brighter. I've never heard the Repertoire reissues but I'd guess they sound closer to the Westside remasters than to the earlier MFSL issues.