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"Robin Trower" Bridge of Sighs


DIAMOND DUST

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One day this friend of my mom's pulled up in are driveway blasting this way spooky sounding guitar player. Turned out to be Trower. That was about a week after i got my first guitar. I still really love that album; (In this place)(About to begin). I know he got labeled a "Jimi" clone, but i always thought he had a great gig of his own.

 

That same guy came over the next weekend, and said "if you want to learn guitar you better do it right". He gave me "HARD AGAIN" and "KING BEE". :thu::thu:

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quote:
Originally posted by DIAMOND DUST:

One day this friend of my mom's pulled up in are driveway blasting this way spooky sounding guitar player. Turned out to be Trower. That was about a week after i got my first guitar. I still really love that album; (In this place)(About to begin). I know he got labeled a "Jimi" clone, but i always thought he had a great gig of his own.

 

That same guy came over the next weekend, and said "if you want to learn guitar you better do it right". He gave me "HARD AGAIN" and "KING BEE". :cry:

The story of life is quicker then the blink of an eye, the story of love is hello, goodbye.
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Originally posted by DARKLAVA:

Also it's sad about James Drewer the bass player

and lead singer passing away great voice :thu:

It's James Dewar.

 

He is one of my favorite vocalists... such a resonant and powerful voice. All the cd's he played on with Trower showed his range and skill and none of Trower's replacement have really lived up to that standard.

 

Bridge of Sighs was such an influential album for me... the combination of great heavy guitar tones, combined with fiery and passionate playing... some great songwriting and arranging... all make it Trower's masterpiece.

 

That opening riff on Day of the Eagle, at the beginning of the album is one of the most recognizable and distinctive hooks of that era of rock... and for me, it's nearly impossible to listen to it without "air guitar-ing" it!

 

The way the song fades into Bridge of Sighs is beautifully arranged and produced, and the whole album seems like it belongs together... which is not the case with all his music.

 

I couldn't be a bigger Trower fan, and if you enjoy him, he's certainly still worth seeing live. He's got an amazing control still of his sound and the last time I saw him, (about a year ago), he was excellent.

 

guitplayer

I'm still "guitplayer"!

Check out my music if you like...

 

http://www.michaelsaulnier.com

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I've loved Robin Trower's playing ever since I saw him with Procol Harum in '69 (I think...). Gary Brooker would sing and he and Matthew Fisher would play their quasi-classical lines, but every once in awhile Trower would step forward with a black Les Paul and blow everyone away with his spare but intense blues. Great band and a great player.

 

I always felt that Trower was very unfairly classified as a Hendrix clone. Yes they both played Strats through Marshalls, used Univibes and wah wahs and they both had blues and r&b backgrounds, but I think most of those things are superficial. If you listen to their music they are very different players with very different musical ideas. Just my $.02.

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Speaking of Procol Harum does anybody remember "Broken Barricades"? It was their only guitar oriented album and my personal favorite.

Jamie

But never fear, you're safe with me... Well maybe. - Les
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The song on this album that knocks me out is "In This Place". The soulful vocals and the effects Trower used on the solo. I don't know if it was an Echoplex and something else but it was a great bit of engineering and sound design.

 

Bridge of Sighs would probably make my top ten guitar album list.

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Wow! I just posted in the topic about your first gig, and I played some trower tunes in mine back in 1975. I played "In this place". I'm happy to see so many guitarists that recognize his music. I kind of thought he was mostly forgotten. Here's my Trower story: Back in the 70's I was in high school and the album "Bridge of Sighs" was all over FM radio. Trower had never been to San Francisco, but he was already a hit. I went to his first concert here, at winterland. I was in the front standing in front of the stage with a wall of Marshalls directly in front of me. Just before he comes out, they start the fog machines and we are enveloped by fog. Then he starts playing the intro to bridge of sighs and the wooden floor starts shaking from the volume, while that thundering guitar is blasting through the fog. It was an awesome moment that I'll never forget-what a rock concert should deliver. After each song, he got a tremendous response, and you could see the surprise and gratitude on his face-he didn't know how much the people there loved his music. Years later I got offered a gig by a bass player named Randy something who had replaced the great bassist/vocalist that had sung on the first records. I couldn't take the gig because of a management conflict, but I felt a sense of accomplishment just for being asked to play with a guy who had been in Trower's band. God bless RT.
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Originally posted by MartinC:

Wow! I just posted in the topic about your first gig, and I played some trower tunes in mine back in 1975. I played "In this place". I'm happy to see so many guitarists that recognize his music. I kind of thought he was mostly forgotten. Here's my Trower story: Back in the 70's I was in high school and the album "Bridge of Sighs" was all over FM radio. Trower had never been to San Francisco, but he was already a hit. I went to his first concert here, at winterland. I was in the front standing in front of the stage with a wall of Marshalls directly in front of me. Just before he comes out, they start the fog machines and we are enveloped by fog. Then he starts playing the intro to bridge of sighs and the wooden floor starts shaking from the volume, while that thundering guitar is blasting through the fog. It was an awesome moment that I'll never forget-what a rock concert should deliver. After each song, he got a tremendous response, and you could see the surprise and gratitude on his face-he didn't know how much the people there loved his music. Years later I got offered a gig by a bass player named Randy something who had replaced the great bassist/vocalist that had sung on the first records. I couldn't take the gig because of a management conflict, but I felt a sense of accomplishment just for being asked to play with a guy who had been in Trower's band. God bless RT.

Great story man!!! :thu::)
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I often wondered about the great 'chorus' effect on the guitar on "Bridge of Sighs". It is a wonderful flowing 'liquid' sound.

 

A couple of years ago I discovered that Geoff Emerik (sp?) was the engineer on that album and that it was recorded at AIR Studios (George Martin).

 

In his days working with the Beatles, Geoff Emerik was working with what was called an 'Automatic Double Tracking' machine that was developed by Abbey Road engineers. It was primarily designed for use by the Beatles who doubled the vocals on most of their recordings.

 

I wonder if that early technology was used by Geoff Emerik for the guitar on "Bridge of Sighs"

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I love Trower and Frank Marino's music. I always was amazed at Trower's ability to do that thing where he sounds like it's playing backwards. I last saw Trower live back in the mid 80's and it was an experience. He opened with Too "Rolling Stoned". When he got to the vamp, he changed keys, which is different than the recorded version. At that moment, you could hear a few of the audience members surprise as they cheered. Robin smiled and just plowed through it. When he was really into it, he would stand directly in front of two cranked Marshall stacks angled toward him.

 

Frank Marino always had a great tones on his albums (probably still does). "Loved by you" off the album "What if?" is a favorite. I hear alot of the tones later achieved by SRV. He claimed to use Fane speakers and that it made a real difference.

Yum, Yum! Eat em up!
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Yeah and both of those guys had distinct styles. I think there are a few guitarists-Hendrix was one, maybe EVH is another-where for a while it`s almost impossible to play rock guitar and not sound like them at some point. It`s the degree to which they dominate the sound of that genre.

Same old surprises, brand new cliches-

 

Skipsounds on Soundclick:

www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandid=602491

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