Robin Trower
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
While Procol Harum helped launch Trowers 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, 1974s Bridge of Sighs. With rock fans still reeling from Hendrixs death a few years earlier, the album sounded eerily similar to the late guitarists 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, Trowers stock continued to rise throughout the mid-70s, as he became an arena headliner on the strength of such hit albums as 1975s For Earth Below, 1976s Robin Trower Live!, and Long Misty Days, plus 1977s In City Dreams. Further releases followed, yet by the dawn of the 80s, it became quite obvious that Trowers 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, 1981s B.L.T. and 1982s 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 lues-rock style (such as 1987s 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 (1991s Prodigal Stranger), before backing ex-Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry on a few releases (1993s Taxi and 1994s Mamouna, the latter of which Trower earned a co-producer credit for). Trower continued to issue solo albums in the 21st century (2000s Go My Way), while a steady stream of live sets and compilations appeared. Trower returned to work with Ferry once more on 2002s 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.
