Preview: Robin Trower at the Brook

Robin Trower’s ‘The Playful Heart Tour’ comes to the Brook in Southampton on 6th October 2011

Robin Trower, one of the most justly-acclaimed of British Rock music’s elder statesmen, released his latest album The Playful Heart on the Repertoire Records label in May 2011.

During the forty-odd years since his departure from Procol Harum, the unassuming Robin Trower has assembled an incredible body of work. From his commercial high-water mark with the epochal Bridge of Sighs in 1974, through to the brand new The Playful Heart. His music has never attempted to make concessions to commercial demands, and his improvisational skills have consistently re-set the bar in terms of blues-soaked inspiration and intensity.

Never abashed about crediting the late Jimi Hendrix as one of his main influences, Trower remains one of the most talented musicians that the UK has ever produced. The Playful Heart is another vibrant and vivid contribution to the Trower canon. Produced by long-time Trower co-conspirator Livingston Brown, The Playful Heart offers a seductive blend of well crafted songs and styles. They range from the upbeat title track, to the slow and moody Don’t Look Back, the sensuous Dressed In Gold and the spooky, ethereal Prince Of Shattered Dreams. The album shows that Trower has now developed a vocal style that beautifully complements his innovative guitar excursions. Long-time collaborator Davey Pattison also weighs in with five fine vocal outings.

The Playful Heart comes hard on the heels of recent Trower releases such as What Lies Beneath, and Seven Moons, his 2008 collaboration with Jack Bruce and offers yet more proof that his inspirational wellspring has far from run dry. Robin Trower spent the early 60s playing guitar in various London-based outfits, the most successful one being The Paramounts. Specializing mainly in covers, they also issued several singles between 1963 and 1965 and were a favourite band of the Rolling Stones. In 1967 Trower received his big break when he joined Procol Harum, playing with them until 1972. Trower released his solo debut Twice Removed From Yesterday in 1973. His next release 1974ís Bridge of Sighs skyrocketed into the US top ten, peaking at number seven; selling a million and a half copies . It still sells 15,000 copies a year to date worldwide.Although Bridge of Sighs was his most popular solo release, Trower’s stock continued to rise throughout the mid 70s. He became an arena headliner on the strength of such hit albums as 1975’s For Earth Below; 1976’s Robin Trower Live and Long Misty Days; plus 1977’s In City Dreams. Further releases followed in the 80s, and a brief union with ex-Cream bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce spawned a pair of releases, 1981ís B.L.T. and 1982ís Truce, before Trower returned to his solo career.

The 80s saw Trower expand his audience with several releases that updated his blues-rock style -such as 1987ís Slick produced Passion. During the early 90s,Trower returned back to Procol Harum for a brief reunion -1991ís Prodigal Stranger, before backing ex-Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry on a few releases -1993ís Taxi and 1994’s Mamouna, the latter earning Trower a co-producer credit . The 90s saw Robin consistently touring the USA with his power trio. In 2002, Trower returned to the production role, linking up with Bryan Ferry again, to work and play on Bryanís Frantic album. In the following years Trower concentrated on writing and producing film music for releases such as Good Humour Man. In 2005, Fender released a Robin Trower signature guitar to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stratocaster. Alongside this 100 Bridge of Sighs custom shop Stratocasters were produced to mark the 30th anniversary of this legendary album.

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