Robin Trower or/as Jimi Hendrix

[White Knight]

:guitar: Does anybody remember Robin Trower of Procol Harum and his solo career thereafter? I was always a great fan of the late great and much missed Jimi Hendrix. When I heard Robin Trower on some of his initial solo albums, it struck me that he was trying to emulate Hendrix, whether deliberately or not, and came up with a very haunting and --in its own way--original sound. Am I mistaken in this impression, or do other people come away with the same conclusion? And from a technical/innovative and melodic standpoint, how does Trower stack up against Hendrix.

 

[teddy]

Always liked PC Steve. Had a quick listen to Robin on spotify. Sounds good. He reminds me of someone else but I can not think who. Will try again later and come back to this thread.

teddy

 

[White Knight]

Teddy, thanx so much for your feedback to my poser. Could you clarify tho who or what you mean by PC. Ciao for now and I look forward--as always--to hearing from you soon.:wave: Steve.

 

[teddy]

Steve

Sorry PC = Procol Harum, not - politically correct.

teddy

 

[White Knight]

Teddy, stupid me! I should have figured your PC referred to Procul Harum given the context of my thread.:guitar: Anyway, I hope you are well and look forward to hearing from you again. Ciao for now, Steve.:wave: p.s. how is this color for the peepers?:grin:

 

[teddy]

I see he recordeed quite a few CREAM numbers with Jack Bruce. Certainly shades of Hendrix on Bridge of Sighs and in some of his guitar playing he seems to emulate him. But on a lot of his solo tracks I hear CREAM. Was he a Clapton fan? There is certainly a blues influence on Rock Me Baby amojngst others. Maybe this is why he teamed with Bruce as he was the main vacalist with CREAM as well as writing some of their numbers.
Like him. He will go on my list

teddy

 

[White Knight]

I see he recordeed quite a few CREAM numbers with Jack Bruce. Certainly shades of Hendrix on Bridge of Sighs and in some of his guitar playing he seems to emulate him. But on a lot of his solo tracks I hear CREAM. Was he a Clapton fan? There is certainly a blues influence on Rock Me Baby amojngst others. Maybe this is why he teamed with Bruce as he was the main vacalist with CREAM as well as writing some of their numbers.
Like him. He will go on my list

teddy

Great point you make about Trower being a blues aficionado; however, I don't know if he is a Clapton fan or devotee to explain the blues motif in some of his work. I'll try to do some research on this and get back to you. As do you, I hear a lot of Hendrix inflection/influence in his work, especially on Bridge of Sighs. :wave: Hope to hear from you soon, Steve.

 

[teddy]

Steve You could always post a thread on Trower. Colin did some excellent ones.

teddy

 

[White Knight]

Robin Trower or/as Jimi Hendrix

Steve You could always post a thread on Trower. Colin did some excellent ones.

teddy

Ok Teddy, I'll look into doing that

 

[John Watt]

Yeah! I saw Procul Harem play in the dirt floor, livestock auction arena in Edmonton, Canada, 1970. Robin Trower was using a white, double P.A.F. Humbucker S.G. through a 100 watt Marshall stack, and I think, no floor effects. I next saw Robin Trower as a headliner in the early eighties in Hamilton. It was difficult for me. All my friends loved him, and I had been singing and playing two of his songs in a band, but there was a ritual involved with this club, and apparently, Robins' gig. After about half an hour, in this stand up room, a lineup formed to the stage, all these guitarists taking turns standing in front of him, hearing how he sounded in front of his amp, looking at his fingers and guitar, the effects on the floor, and getting a nod of acknowledgement from Robin himself. I didn't want to look in his eyes. He looked like an old gnome, and looked like a weak person, but I was urged and prodded by everyone else to be part of the lineup, so I was there, and the look in his eyes was haunted.

Of course, the fact he switched to a Fender Stratocaster, like Jeff Beck, Jimi Page and Eric Clapton brought out onstage after Jimi passed away, and was beyond reverb with echo, phasing, 9-volt distortion and feedback, makes him a Hendrix freak too. Robin Trower might have developed a more expansive classical, symphonic style than Jimi, by the early eighties, being more of a live, stage player than an in-studio enthusiast. Even though the bassist singing made the band more blues-rock, James Dewar being long gone, Robins' ability to build slow songs into majestic overtures influenced me the most.

Not as much as spending twenty minutes talking with McCoy Tyner, between sets,
if I'm going on about building up majestic soundscapes.

 

[White Knight]

John, just a quick clarification: when you first saw Trower in 1970, was Jimi Hendrix still alive? And if so, did you mark any changes in his style to a more--for lack of a better term--"Hendrixian" type of playing and mood setting after his death?

 

[John Watt]

Wow! Was Jimi still alive when I saw Procul Harem in 1970? I can't answer that, right away. I'm pretty sure it was 1970, me living in Edmonton for four or five months back then, tripping around with my guitar.
I saw The Jimi Hendrix Experience in Toronto, early in the year he passed away, and that was 1970 for sure.

But yes, it might not be a time frame that resonates now as much as it did then, but after Hendrix died a lot of guitarists came out onstage with Strats and Marshalls with effects, Robin being one of them.
He must have been totally serious about catching that sound, switching from S.G.'s to a Strat, a huge change of scale length, going from the shortest to the longest, with the wider Fender neck. Robin was a shorter person, compared to Jimis' 6'1".

Robin seemed to concentrate on the soft, phasey sound, sounding like some Hendrix, but by not getting into the more extreme effects, or screaming feedback, he could get into more notes and develop his dense, live classical style.

What I liked about listening to Robin live was what I'd call his fall-back style. He'd be building, adding tone and notes with deep and long echo, but then he'd retreat a little, go back to a previous voicing, and bring it on again to a greater resolution, or so you thought, until he did it again. That was nice, being led along, thinking that was hot, but then hearing it built up again, especially when the whole audience seemed to be other guitarists, a very intense and concentrated crowd.

If there's one specific musical thing I took away, it's what you can do with an F#m.

 

[White Knight]

John. I wish I were a musician like yourself so that I could understand some of your observations better, but thanx for sharing your experiences and insights with me. I saw Procol Harum in the early seventies--I believe--just before I was going into the Army in 1974. And for the life of me, I can't recall if Trower was playing in the group at that time or not. Oh well, I guess it's just another function of my getting old. :bawl:Happy Holidays to you and I hope you are well. Steve

 

[garethbarnes]

I saw Robin Trower with Procul Harum in the 70s in Oxford. He was a little restricted in that role and only appeared to shine on one number called Simple Sister. I got his first three solo albums which were excellent but then the press over here got after him for the Hendrix thing and he left for the US and never came back as far as I know. He did go a little commercial and I think the power trio is a hard one to develop. Jimmy Dewar was the first bass player and very good vocalist but he's dead now! Trower is an artist in his own right and not simply a Hendrix copyist...

 

[teddy]

Robin Trower is touring in the USA quite extensively in 2011. Too far for me to go unfortunately but could be OK for you Steve. He has just finished a tour of Europe.

teddy

 

[White Knight]

Teddy, hi. Thanks for the heads up on Trower; I'll look into it, though I doubt I can afford to go any more. Happy Holidays to you and I hope your eye is better. Steve

 

[White Knight]

I saw Robin Trower with Procul Harum in the 70s in Oxford. He was a little restricted in that role and only appeared to shine on one number called Simple Sister. I got his first three solo albums which were excellent but then the press over here got after him for the Hendrix thing and he left for the US and never came back as far as I know. He did go a little commercial and I think the power trio is a hard one to develop. Jimmy Dewar was the first bass player and very good vocalist but he's dead now! Trower is an artist in his own right and not simply a Hendrix copyist...

Hi garethbarnes and thanx for that 411 on Trower; I was unaware that he had caught flak on the other side of "the pond' for playing ala Hendrix. And you're right: his playing on " Simple Sister' was dynamite! :guitar::tiphat:

 

[John Watt]

It's interesting that you thought "Simple Sister" was the one song Robin got into the most.
When I saw Procul Harem in '70 I had never heard that song before,
but it was the one song that got the crowd going the most.

 

[White Knight]

Yes John I do believe that it was their big crowd pleaser for awhile, perhaps because of the repetitive /building bass and piano lines--if memory serves--all of which really underlay the whole structure of the piece and acted as immediate identifiers of same in peoples' minds. However, that's just an uneducated guess on my part.

 

[John Watt]

Actually, that read like a very educated guess.
But I think it might even be something simpler, like it's a fast song.
Procul Harem didn't play very many fast songs, getting progressive themselves.
The keyboardist also started the concert by saying they weren't going to play "A Whiter Shade of Pale".
He said they were tired of always having to play that song,
playing only that song when they had a chance to play one song,
and if anyone requested it they would stop and walk off stage.
That's how it happened.

At the time, my girlfriends' grandmother bought the sheet music for her home organ.
I learned it with her, a real performance piece when we visited,
even if we tripped over the light fandango.

I can sympathize with Robin Trower, how he changed to the same guitar and amp with effects Jimi used,
and what accusations other guitarists would make, especially back then when Jimi just passed away.
The fact that Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton all made the same change at the same time,
put pressure on a lot of guitarists to get into the Marshall volume and tone zone.
But that's just the rock world.
I was more worried about the huge fins on the cars, riding my bike home with only one hand,
the other hand holding my new crybaby wah-wah.