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Robin Trower
Robin Trower
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Throughout his long and winding solo career, guitarist Robin Trower has had to endure countless comparisons to Jimi Hendrix, due to his uncanny ability to channel Hendrix's bluesy/psychedelic, Fender Strat-fueled playing style. Born on March 9, 1945, in Catford, England, Trower spent the early '60s playing guitar in various London based outfits; the most successful one being the R&B group the Paramounts, who specialized mostly in covers, but managed to issue several singles between 1963 and 1965. It wasn't until 1967 that Trower received his big break however, when he joined Procol Harum. The group had just scored a worldwide smash hit with "A Whiter Shade of Pale," but the only problem was that the band's leader, singer/pianist Gary Brooker, didn't have a proper band to back him. Brooker was previously a bandmate of Trower's in the Paramounts, and offered the guitar slot in his new fast-rising project to his old friend. As a result, Trower appeared on such Procol Harum classics as 1967's Procol Harum, 1968's Shine on Brightly, 1969's A Salty Dog, 1970's Home (which spawned the popular Trower tune "Whiskey Train"), and 1971's Broken Barricades.

While Procol Harum helped launch Trower's career, the guitarist realized there was limited space for his guitar work, and eventually left for a solo career. Enlisting singer/bassist James Dewar and drummer Reg Isidore (who was soon replaced by Bill Lordan) as a backing band, Trower issued his solo debut, Twice Removed From Yesterday, in 1973. The album barely left a dent in the U.S. charts, but that would change soon enough with his next release, 1974's Bridge of Sighs. With rock fans still reeling from Hendrix's death a few years earlier, the album sounded eerily similar to the late guitarist's work with the Jimi Hendrix Experience (especially his 1968 release, Electric Ladyland), and as a result, the album sky rocketed into the U.S. Top Ten, peaking at number seven.

Although Bridge of Sighs was to be his most popular solo release, Trower's stock continued to rise throughout the mid-'70s, as 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, yet by the dawn of the '80s, it became quite obvious that Trower's star was rapidly fading, as each album sold less than its predecessor. A brief union with ex-Cream bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce spawned a pair of releases, 1981's B.L.T. and 1982's Truce, before Trower returned back to his solo career.

The '80s saw Trower try and expand his audience with several releases that attempted to update his blues-rock style (such as 1987's slick produced Passion), but none returned the guitarist back to the top of the charts. During the early '90s, Trower returned back to Procol Harum for a brief reunion (1991's Prodigal Stranger), before backing ex-Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry on a few releases (1993's Taxi and 1994's Mamouna, the latter of which Trower earned a co-producer credit for). Trower continued to issue solo albums in the 21st century (2000's Go My Way), while a steady stream of live sets and compilations appeared. Trower returned to work with Ferry once more on 2002's Frantic, again earning a production credit. Reassembling most of his late-'80s band, Trower released Living Out of Time in 2004 and returned with Another Days Blues in late 2005. ~ Greg Prato, All Music GuideMore

Fan Comments

Dec 17th, 1:50pm
HELLO Robin Trower FROM KATON - HIRAX
http://www.hirax.org
Aug 7th, 5:40pm
LIVE CD UPDATE - 08.01.2008
The CD of the show at the Royal Oak Theater on the 2008 tour will soon be available. As many fans know we tried to record a DVD on that night, but the picture quality did not meet with Robin's approval. The audio, however, did.

We had to wait for mixmaster extraordinaire Marc DeSisto to be available to mix the tracks, and then for him to work with Robin to get the mix just right. It is now done. The working title is "RT @ RO 08"

We have a wonderful cover shot taken by a fan, and are now looking for more photos from that night. If you have one that you particularly like, and would like to see it on the CD package, send it to photos@trowerpower.com. If we use it you will get a free cd -- so be sure to identify the picture and give us your name address.

More info to come in a couple of weeks, including pre-order instructions.

TOUR UPDATE - 06.16.2008
There will not be any more US touring for the Robin Trower band this year.

We hope to have information on the next touring period at the end of the summer, but there is nothing like a plan in the works yet. The earliest possibilities start in March 2009.

For all the Australian Fans who have been emailing, I am sorry to report that although we have investigted the possibiity of a tour down under, the expenses vastly outweigh the possible income.

We will post it here as soon as we have a definite period for more dates. Including a possible few shows with Jack Bruce after Jack's Summer tour schedule is completed. (No Promises!)

-Derek Sutton

UPDATED TOUR PLANS - 05.20.2008
We have been unable to get dates routed well enough to make a proper four week tour in the September through November time period. So we are now looking in Feb-March 2009.

Because the cancelled shows in Cleveland and Columbus cannot be resheduled until early next year, please contact your local ticket outlet for instructions on what to do with those unused tickets. It will depend on the local venue whether they refund your money or keep the tickets valid until the replay date.

Robin asked me to tell everyone who had tickets to those two shows that he is really sorry that this happened -- and that he's looking forward to getting to Ohio as soon as possible.

-Derek Sutton

ROBIN TROWER ON NPR WORLD CAFE - 03.24.2008
On Thurs. April 17, 2008 Robin Trower will appear on National Public Radio's World Cafe radio show. To find your local station, click here to go to the NPR website and use their station locator. For International fans, you can listen online at WXPN/Philadelphia.

NOTE: The April 17 date reflects the schedule that the show will be fed to the NPR affiliates. Individual stations my choose to revise their broadcast dates. So make sure to check well in advance with your affiliate to find out the actual broadcast date in your area.

ROBIN TROWER ROCKLINE RADIO INTERVIEW! - 02.06.2008
UPDATE: Thanks to all the fans who called in. The switchboard was lit up the entire time.
This Wed, Feb 6, Robin Trower will appear on Rockline radio. If there's ever a question you've wanted to ask of our guitar hero, now's your chance -- this is a CALL IN SHOW! Head over to the Rockline Radio website for more info.

ROBIN TROWER COMMUNITY SITE: JOIN NOW! - 01.23.2008
To provide a place for Robin's fans to band together, we have created a site where fans can join in on discussions, post show reviews, share photos, post blogs, etc. Head over to the Robin Trower Community site and sign up. We're hoping this will provide a great resource for RT fans all over the world.

SEVEN MOONS CD: PRE-ORDER NOW! - 12.17.07
If you have been following Robin's blog, you know that he and Jack Bruce have reunited in the studio. Their Seven Moons CD will be released on Jan 8, 2008. Pre-release orders are being taken now. Click here to place your order. For a preview of the CD cover click here. We will keep fans updated via the TrowerPower mailing list. If you haven't yet subscribed, click here.

WEBSITE REDESIGN - 12.12.2007
After lo these many years, we have updated the Trower Power website. We hope you like the new look. There are some pieces that are still not complete... namely the Music section. Robin has such a large catalog of music that it is taking us a little longer to get everything there online. As we add content to the new site, we will send out notifications to the mailing list subscribers. If you have not yet subscribed to the mailing list, click here to subscribe.

World Tour 2008 Update - 9.6.07
The band for the upcoming shows is now complete. Glenn Letsch has agreed to accept the job playing bass. He will join Davey Pattison and Pete Thompson for the 2008 tour, both in the USA and Europe/UK. Rehearsals will take place in England in December, and the tour will start in Ft Pierce FL on January 16th. We are still tweaking the tour routing, but will announce the first leg dates in a couple of weeks. Click here to view the current tour schedule.

Robin Trower Blues Quest Interview - 8.1.2007
The Blues Quest radio show is now online. Click here to stream it to your computer. There are three sessions; total running time is about an hour. Enjoy!

Fake Steve Jobs is a Trower Fan! - 7.27.07
For us tech-heads who follow the "Fake Steve Jobs" blog site... who'd have known... Fake Steve is one of us!
Aug 6th, 6:06am
WE HAVE NOW POSTED-LIVING OUT OF TIME STUDIO TRACK'S JUST HIT THIS LINK AND ENJOY THESE INCREDIBLE TRACK'S,YOUR FRIEND,GEOFF BELLE-ISLE http://www.imeem.com/catherinealexandra/playlist/19gtE4yA/trower_robin_the_complete_collection_music_playlist/
Aug 5th, 3:00pm
I SWEAR THIS IS THE BEST STUFF THIS SIDE OF SOUTH SATURN DELTA FOLK'S,INCREDIBLE STUFF,MR ROBIN TROWER YOU HAVE GIVEN SO MUCH TO SO MANY AND WE THANK YOU AND LOVE YOU AND YOUR MUSIC WITH ALL OF OUR BLEEDING BLUES HEARTS,THIS MUSIC IS TIMELESS,TO ALL THE FANS KEEP ON ROCKING AND SPREAD THESE TRACKS FAR AND WIDE,LET THE NEW GENERATION OF ROCKERS AND BLUES FANS KNOW THAT THIS IS MANDATORY LISTENING,NOBODY EVER DID IT BETTER,GOD BLESS ROBIN TROWER AND FAMILY AND THANK YOU FOR OVER 40 YEARS OF GREAT MUSIC,YOUR FRIEND AND FAN-GEOFF BELLE-ISLE