Robin Trower - For Earth Below/Live
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Free Music Notes for For Earth Below/Live
Free Music Review: Guitar Alchemy, Voodoo Vocals & Bill Lordan To Boot!
Hit: 5 Stars
Good to see Trower finally emerging from the confining 'Hendrix-clone' tag that dogged him throughout the 70s & 80s. True, the influence permeates all of his 70s work, but here's two news-flashes: 1), there's a difference between an honest, heartfelt homage and a crass, note for note ripoff; and 2) Hendrix strongly influenced EVERYONE in the early-to-mid 1970s. (Maybe the bigger insult to Trower was the way he was continually associated with Frank Marino's Mahogany Rush - we'll know the reissue boom is totally out of gas when HIS annotated box set comes out.) Vintage Robin Trower lps provided not just scads of soulful, distortion-heavy guitar but the supernatural blues vocals of bassist Jimmy Dewar, who's maybe my favorite singer of this era. He never imposes himself or overstays his welcome in a song, and he knew how to modulate that husky low tenor like an instrument. (I was shocked & saddened to learn of his debilitating stroke in the late 80s. This truly is a musician whose recorded work needs to be reappraised up to its true value). Brit label BGO has been quietly doing the fan a favor by reissuing the remastered back catalog on twofer CDs at an affordable price...I recommend starting here, as this one features Trower's best studio album along with a brilliant live-in-Stockholm set from '76. FOR EARTH BELOW captures the band honing the spacy blues-rock of their first two records to a diamond-tipped point, resulting in ferocious jams like 'Confessin Midnight' and the shimmering icy perfection of the title cut....after 20+ years, I still get chills hearing this song. And the live tracks are KILLER. 'Daydream' is not only enduringly gorgeous but as deeply-felt a tribute to the shade of Jimi Hendrix as you'll ever encounter....he's not mimicking a technique here, he's summoning, and capturing, a moment in time from out of thin air. Incredible version of this song! In fact, Trower himself - always a modest, unassuming, almost ascetic personality - seemed a little out of his element even by 1976, as if was '66 when he'd gone to sleep the night before. When he eventually teamed up with Jack Bruce at decade's end, it felt almost inevitable.Free Music Review: If you love the electric guitar you will love this album
Hit: 5 Stars
This is actually two albums of course, and each has its own personality. Both are excellent in their own ways. The live album is more upbeat and aggressive, while the studio album is laid back and 'trippier', a delight for the chemically challenged among us.The knock on Trower has always been that he was a Hendrix clone. I have never subscribed to that theory, though he was of course influenced by Hendrix, who wasn't? But I have never listened to a Trower album and thought "Gee that sounds just like Hendrix". I really don't see that much similarity. Trower is a great guitarist in his own right, just listen to "Too Rolling Stoned" once and I'm sure you'll agree.
Face it folks, guitar gods are a dime a dozen. You can find many guitarists who are as good or better than Robin Trower technically. You won't find more than a handful who bring the complete package that you'll find on this album. Listen carefully... the singer can actually sing! The songs have melodies! Too many guitar wizards do nothing more than blister their way through scales and chord progressions so fast that it may as well be coming out of a computer program. Music is about emotion and soul. Pete Townshend said in a song "It's the singer, not the song.. that makes the music move along". That's why this album is BETTER than Hendrix, Better than Satriani, Better than Vai etc. etc. It's music beyond mere technique. It has soul, it has something to say. Listen to it.
Free Music Review: Guitar never sounded better
Hit: 5 Stars
The critical album on this release is "Live." Anyone curious to hear how good an electric guitar can possibly sound should purchase this CD. Trower deals in both overdriven and clean sounds with his Fender Strat, and his use of effects like the wah-wah pedal and the Uni-Vibe, while sometimes drawing unfair and shallow comparisons to Hendrix, is unparallelled in grace and style.
When Trower unleashes a sustained feedback note (i.e. near the end of "Daydream"), I want it to last thirty minutes. But he's also capable of dramatic bursts and flurries of notes, punctuated by bends and whammy bar workouts ... as Robert Fripp himself noted, Robin Trower has mastered the "bends and wobbles."
During the last solo of "Lady Love," Trower plays a pinch harmonic that is THE sweetest single note I ever heard, anywhere.
Jimmy Dewar lays down a great bass groove throughout - and his voice is quite powerful. He has a rich, soulful vibrato that compliments the music nicely.
Bill Lordan is a good, jazzy drummer, although occasionally his cymbals do clutter the sound, especially on the live album. But let's face it, the reason we are all listening to this is to hear what Robin is gonna play next :)
I could write pages about how great this CD is - do not wait a minute longer. Order it!
Free Music Review: Classic Live Album
Hit: 5 Stars
Unlike many live albums from the 70's this sounds nice neat rehearsed and even the extremely long improvised sections sound tight, crisp and well - produced. Many live albums from this era sounded sloppy and unrehearsed as if they threw together a live album just because they didn't have any new material to release. This along with Mahogany Rush Live is one of the great unheralded classic live albums from this era.
This is 2 great albums back to back - the studio "For Earth Below" and then the "Live" album. Both on the same cd is a must have for any Trower fan.
"For Earth Below" has a different feel to it than it's predecessor - "Bridge of Sighs"; there is a loose,jamming feel to the studio album as if many of the songs were written in the studio. AS usual very little overdubbing, lots of upbeat tunes with the wah wah but without the structured thought-out feel of "Bridge of Sighs".
Robin Trower "Live" is a pleasure from start to finish. Great tone, and great feel to all of the tunes which of course actually are played live. This shows what a great band they were live and interestingly enough the song "Althea" sound almost identical to the studio version from "For Earth Below" except for the drum solo. Great buy for fans - 2 great albums back to back demonstrating Trower's ability to duplicate is studio sound live.
Free Music Review: An awesome live album
Hit: 5 Stars
I'll confine my comments to the Live album. Robin Trower Live is a gem, and has always been one of my very favorite recordings. This was a very special band. James Dewar is a great singer, with a deep, smoky, melancholy delivery that is the perfect complement to the music. The drummer, Bill Lordan, is one of the most criminally underrated drummers in rock. His playing here is fast, explosive, heavy , funky and hard, with beautiful cymbal work and thrilling fills ( and a short, absolutely kick-ass solo ). Trower, of course, is astonishing. He can play blindingly fast or he can wring bucketfuls of soul out of one heartbreaking note. He demonstrates an unerring and tasteful mastery of the use of feedback, but mainly he just blows your mind again and again with his ability to play the damn guitar. There are so many guitarists who are celebrated who don't have a tenth of Trower's talent. If you like heavy, bluesy rock guitar, you should probably own this album. By the way, I've seen Trower three times in concert, and he is wicked on stage. He blows away his audiences with his guitar, and charms them with his friendliness and his obvious joy in playing the guitar.