Back when I was still in elementary school, circa the mid-'70s, I could always count on my older brother for a couple of new albums on my birthday. The deal was, I got to pick one album of my choosing, which was probably some kick-ass Styx, Foreigner, or Boston at the time, as long as he got to pick the other album — thereby sprinkling a little salt on my rather lean musical appetite. Being twelve years older than I was, he usually picked some crap that I had never heard of, or wasn't particularly interested in hearing at that young age. 1976 was the year that my album choice was accompanied by Robin Trower's Bridge Of Sighs.
"What the hell is this bro? I asked for Kiss' Destroyer! And what's with the weird album cover?" At that age, album cover art was very influential on my album purchasing decisions, since I didn't actually know jack about music yet. My first incursion into Black Sabbath territory was actually via Technical Ecstasy, solely because it had the coolest album cover. Little did I know it was their worst album. My collection still proudly has every one of those albums that my brother Dave got me — Abraxas, Innervisions, Aja, Beck-Ola — but they have since been elevated from my "crap" list to my essential list.
Well, my brother's master plan to broaden my musical horizons was slowly having an effect, because even for an 11-year old musical genius like myself, the powerhouse, psychedelic-laced, blues-rock I found on Bridge Of Sighs was a revelation. From the killer opening guitar riffs on "Day Of The Eagle", to the mind-bending title track, and on to the album's stunning closer, "Little Bit Of Sympathy", every single track was astonishing. One of those rare no-filler albums. I still consider Bridge Of Sighs to be one of the greatest guitar albums of all time, even though I still don't know what the hell that thing on the cover is.
Living Out Of Time (Live) was recorded at the Harmonie in Bonn, Germany, for the Rockpalast TV show, on March 9th, 2005 — Trower's 60th birthday. When he first takes the stage, Trower is greeted by an audience singing "Happy Birthday" and showering the floor with huge sparklers. I have never seen Robin Trower live, and have not seen photos of him in well over a decade, so I was a little bit startled at how old he looks now. He looks much closer to 70, rather than the 60 years he was celebrating this night, which made me wonder if he had been experiencing any major health problems recently. It just seemed a little weird watching your grandfather fire off these ferocious guitar licks from his Fender Strat, like he was possessed by Hendrix himself.
Article comments
1 - Joanie
Cover art alert! Oy, we just had this argument over Joe Bonamassa's upcoming release.
Isn't it amazing that Trower is still so solid? Yes, we all age, and some of us do it with less grace than others, but when I hit 60, I hope I have as much passion and energy as Trower does.
2 - Joanie
P.S. The thing on the cover of BoS is a mobius. And, the full explanation of the cover (by the artist) is actually available online!
3 - Paul Roy
Thanks for the mobius explanation and link Joanie. I had already heard this, but was just trying to be a tiny bit humorous. I remember my brother telling me that it was probably the thing Trower used to get that killer sound out of his guitar.
4 - Joanie
I just used this review and your story to illustrate why some of us are rather less than impressed with Joe B's latest cover.
5 - Dave
I've seen him many times live, all with Pattison, and this DVD captures it well. Trower is all about performing live - recordings can't really capture the power of his sound - so it's great to finally have a DVD of him in his element. Amazingly, he hasn't lost a thing after all these years.